Beaufort County committee backs 10‑year, $950 million transportation sales tax plan and forwards recommendation to Council

Beaufort County’s Public Facilities & Safety Committee voted on June 4 to recommend a 10‑year, $950 million transportation sales‑and‑use tax referendum to County Council, after debating program length, which projects to prioritize and whether municipal projects should be included. The committee also adopted an amendment excluding municipal item "5 b" (Bluffton) from the recommendation.

The meeting centered on staff presentations of four program options — 15, 12, 10 and 8 years — and how shortening the term trims the number or value of projects. Jared Fraley, the county staff presenter, told members the packages reflect tradeoffs across buckets such as greenbelt, mass transit (including Palmetto Breeze, ferry and Hilton Head Airport), safety, dirt‑road paving, resurfacing, pathways, resiliency/evacuation projects and specific large corridors including US‑278 and the Triangle project. Fraley said state discussions with the State Infrastructure Bank and DOT identified about a $190 million shortfall on US‑278 that the county may need to fill if external funds do not materialize.

The committee debated which term would be palatable to voters and large enough to fund essential work. "8 is too few years, so I think we should eliminate 8," a committee member said, arguing the shortest option would not deliver critical projects in rural areas. Other members urged sticking with longer terms to preserve resiliency and dirt‑road priorities. Several members proposed compromises (9–12 years); the group ultimately focused on a 10‑year package priced at $950 million as a middle ground.

The committee’s first formal motion to support a 10‑year program with unspecified municipal funding failed on a 5–5 roll call. After further discussion about specific bucket allocations, a subsequent motion to set the program at 10 years and $950 million passed. Committee members then negotiated bucket amounts — for example, trimming proposed amounts for US‑278 and the Triangle project to free funds for dirt‑road paving, resiliency/evacuation work, safety and pathways — and agreed to forward the assembled recommendation. The committee recorded an amendment to exclude project "5 b" for Bluffton; the amendment passed and the final recommendation was sent to County Council for consideration.

Members emphasized the interplay between existing 2018 referendum funds and the new proposal. Fraley reminded the group that the county still holds prior referendum collections (about $145 million collected in 2018, with roughly $135 million largely committed to three projects) and that the 2024 proposal represents additional funding on top of those earlier balances. He also warned that some projects already far along in design (Ladies Island Corridor and SC‑46 improvements) may not be eligible for future federal grants if local work has advanced, making local funding more important for those items.

Chair (speaker 1) closed by summarizing the committee’s decisions and reminding the public: "If this is passed in November, . . . our sales tax would actually remain the same when this goes into effect," because other pennies currently in place would drop off. The recommendation — a 10‑year, $950 million referendum with the committee’s bucket allocations and an exclusion of Bluffton item 5 b — will be considered next by Beaufort County Council.

Votes at a glance - Failed motion (initial 10‑year motion): motion moved by speaker 10; roll call resulted in a 5–5 tie (yes votes: McCallum; Howard; Lawson; Glover; Dawson; no votes: Reed; Brown; Kaepernick; Passameth; Cunningham). The motion failed. - Adopted motion (10 years, $950,000,000): motion moved by speaker 9; roll call returned a majority in favor and the committee adopted the 10‑year, $950M package. A subsequent amendment excluding municipal project "5 b" (Bluffton) passed and was incorporated into the recommendation.

What comes next The committee forwarded its recommendation to Beaufort County Council for further readings and final action. Council will receive the committee’s recommended term (10 years), funding total ($950 million), bucket allocations and the exclusion of Bluffton item 5 b; Council may revise, adopt, or reject the measure during its legislative process.