Hilton Head officials push prioritized projects and protections for local penny tax proceeds amid trust concerns

Town officials from Hilton Head Island presented prioritized projects and conditions to the Beaufort County Transportation Advisory Committee on March 11, urging clearer assurances about how revenues from a proposed countywide transportation sales-tax (the “penny”) would be allocated and reported.

Sean Gillen, assistant town manager for Hilton Head Island, said the town council adopted a resolution supporting six projects to recommend to the committee for consideration in a proposed transportation sales-tax. The list includes intersection improvements at Squire Pope and Spanish Wells along the 278 corridor, Gumtree Road improvements, Main Street enhancements, William Hilton Parkway/Chaplin Corridor work, and Sea Pines Circle improvements.

Gillen said the resolution includes seven conditions, the principal one asking that tax revenues collected within the town be retained for the town’s projects (with any overages released to the county only after town projects are complete). “There are some conditions that they put into the resolutions that they're asking the committee to request the county to consider,” he said, noting the request is aimed at rebuilding trust after the 2018 referendum failed in part on trust issues.

Mayor Allen Perry told the committee that lack of trust contributed to the 2024 defeat of a prior penny proposal and that voters need assurance funds will be used for the projects identified. “If you want the residents of Hilton Head to vote for it, there's got to be some assurance that the funds will be utilized where they are appropriated based off of the projects,” Perry said.

Gillen and town staff also cited crash data to justify hotspot projects: the presentation showed a heat map with 1,108 collisions over an eight-year period (2016–2024), six fatalities (two involving pedestrians) and major-injury counts they said are concentrated at the Squire Pope/Spanish Wells area and William Hilton Parkway; the presenter's slides show those two intersections account for more than 40% of collisions in that part of town.

Committee members asked for design and cost-estimate timelines, how projects would interact with the proposed new bridge project, and whether the town’s requested conditions would lead to siloing funds by municipality. Staff said county staff will assist in refining cost estimates and that coordination with bridge permitting and federal processes will be required.

Public comment earlier in the meeting included a call to include bridge repairs in the referendum. Stu Bridal, who identified himself from District 1111, told the committee he thought widening could be reduced from an 11-lane design to a 6-lane solution and estimated additional bridge-related fixes could cost "30 to 50,000,000." Chair and county staff said they would consolidate project lists from municipalities and refine estimates for the committee to rank ahead of the county council deadline.

Next steps: the committee will hear the City of Beaufort presentation next week, continue working meetings in late March, and is expected to present a recommended ranked list to county council by May 11.