This post has a comprehensive list of news coverage related to the recent Intergovernmental Agreement and actions by Charleston County with half cent sales tax dollars.<\/p>\n
News Coverage January 2019-present:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Excerpt: Charleston County is ready to spend more money than they\u2019ve ever spent on any single project to make the Interstate 526 extension a reality. To recap: On Tuesday, after years of disputes, the S.C. Transportation Infrastructure Bank and the county finally reached enough of a consensus on how the road project would be funded to start negotiating a new agreement.<\/p>\n The major selling point, for the bank at least, was that Charleston County agreed to cover anything beyond what the bank had already agreed to \u2014 $420 million \u2014 when the project was originally envisioned.<\/p>\n Excerpt:\u201d Charleston County\u2019s new deal to complete Interstate 526 is an unprecedented legal and financial commitment by a South Carolina local government \u2014 one in which the county has agreed to most of the risk, state officials said Wednesday.\u201d<\/p>\n Excerpt: But state Sen. Thomas Alexander, R-Walhalla, who led a subcommittee formed especially to scrutinize the deal, said he still had questions, including whether it\u2019s legal for the current Charleston County Council\u2019s ability to bind future councils to a local expense expected to top $300 million. Alexander also asked if the project might face a hurdle because it was not included on the ballot question when county voters were asked to approve a sales tax increase for roads.<\/p>\n Excerpt: The Coastal Conservation League\u2019s attorney has sent the state a detailed letter questioning the deal, and Jason Crowley of the environmental nonprofit sat in on Wednesday\u2019s meeting. The county\u2019s presentation made no mention of how using sales tax money would impact other potential sales tax projects, and Crowley said after the meeting that completing Interstate 526 would jeopardize funding for other projects planned in North Charleston, West Ashley and Mount Pleasant, as well as needed resiliency and drainage projects.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead, every cent is going toward a road that will go from one place that floods to another place that floods,\u201d Crowley said.<\/p>\n Excerpt: Its problems have stemmed from shaky political support in recent years, as well as ballooning costs. DOT Director Christy Hall said Wednesday the most recent estimate places the price tag at $725 million in today\u2019s dollars. She said the department likely will have an updated estimate in about two years, after more early design and permitting work is done.<\/p>\n Hall and state Transportation Infrastructure Bank Chairman John White appeared before a state Joint Bond Review Committee that is scrutinizing \u2014 and eventually would need to approve \u2014 the new deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Excerpt: \u201cThe powerful Florence Republican said at the time that he is not opposed to the project but wants to do more \u201cdue diligence\u201d on funding plans. Leatherman also sits on the panel led by Gov. Henry McMaster \u2014 the State Fiscal Accountability Authority, that gives final approvals to all major state projects.\u201d<\/p>\n Excerpt: \u201cThe Joint Bond Review approved the original 526,\u201d he said. \u201cThe model they came up with is so different, it has to go back to Joint Bond Review for approval on that project. It\u2019s a new project as far as the committee is concerned. The price changed, the source of money changed.\u201d<\/p>\n Opinion Editorials:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Excerpt: \u201cDue diligence for a $700 million public project is not to be taken lightly,\u201d says Leatherman, R-Florence. \u201cCharleston needs this and many other traffic improvement projects. A process is now in place, and I\u2019m hopeful we can move this forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Excerpt: \u201cMany things in life are complex. But this is not one of them. It is indisputable that flooding threatens the survival of this 350-year-old city. There \u2009isn\u2019t enough money under rocks or in bake sales to respond to this existential crisis.<\/p>\n Exactly the same funds available to complete I-526 can save the city. And they are the only sources adequate to do the job. The logic that allows County Council members to shift sales tax funding from sales tax projects, like the overpass at U.S. 17 and Main Road and the widening of S.C. 41 in Mount Pleasant, enables them to deploy the taxes in defense of homes, businesses and neighborhoods that flood.\u201d<\/p>\n Excerpt: \u201cThe hospital district is crucial to our entire community\u2019s physical and economic health. Flooding renders it dysfunctional and must be addressed. Meanwhile, the county claims that there is excess funding for a project mired in years of controversy, with questionable public support, and even more doubtful long-term improvements for our community. This demonstrates a lack of proper triage as it pertains to road and infrastructure projects in our area. Webster\u2019s defines \u201ctriage\u201d as the sorting of patients according to the urgency of their need for care.\u201d<\/p>\n Excerpt: \u201cWe live in a region that places much value on \u201cprecedent\u201d when considering development and regulation because we fear that with one small misplaced step we could find ourselves at the bottom of a slippery slope. Well, on Feb. 12 County Council took a flying leap off that slippery slope by showing complete disregard for our informed votes and our tax dollars.<\/p>\n Charleston County Council members voted, 7-2, to approve $3.1 million of the half-cent sales tax to fund a project that was never on any list. On Aug. 9, 2016, County Council adopted an ordinance to \u201cdefine the specific purposes and designate the projects for which the proceeds of the tax may be used.\u201d The ordinance included the following list of transportation projects that would be covered with money brought in by the tax.\u201d<\/p>\n Excerpt: And the I-526 extension debate has hijacked a much-needed public discussion about the future of the region \u2014 about projects like bus rapid transit and flood relief \u2014 in favor of a pointless war of words about a road the Department of Transportation\u2019s own projections suggest will cut 36 seconds off of the average trip from Savannah Highway to downtown Charleston.<\/p>\n 2016 Referendum Coverage<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Excerpt: In Charleston County, 51 percent voted for the half-cent sales tax increase, raising the total sales tax rate in the county to 9 percent. The additional tax will raise $2.1 billion to fund mass transit, road improvements and more greenspace. Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg, who endorsed the half-cent sales tax, saw it as a victory. More than half the money will be spent on about a dozen road projects, including the widening of S.C. Highway 41 and Dorchester Road. About $600 million will go to the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority to improve its fleet of buses and develop the area\u2019s first bus rapid transit system.<\/p>\n Excerpt: Sass said the controversial completion of Interstate 526 is not part of the referendum, and he thinks it never should have been. Extending Interstate \u201c526 and this are two separate issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Excerpt: Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg aided the faltering prospects of the pending half-cent sales tax referendum Thursday by formally withdrawing a plan to link the vote to the controversial I-526 project. Doing so simplifies the issue and gives the referendum a chance to pass on Nov. 8.<\/p>\n Excerpt: It is unfortunate that the half-cent sales tax and the Mark Clark project were being discussed at the same time in the last six months.<\/p>\n As I have said many times, each needs to be considered separately. The half-penny sales tax program Charleston County Council passed this summer, which is on the November ballot, was the result of careful study of our road and transit needs and did not include funding for the Mark Clark.<\/p>\n Excerpt: Groups that oppose the road across Johns and James Islands \u2014 including Nix 526 and the Coastal Conservation League \u2014 already have said they would not support a half-cent sales tax referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot. Future income from that sales tax is required to fund a deal that could indirectly allow the road project to move forward.<\/p>\n But now, several groups that think I-526 desperately needs to be completed also are publicly opposing the referendum, largely because they don\u2019t trust local officials to build the road even if the referendum passes.<\/p>\n Excerpt: Charleston County Council on Thursday shot down a proposed sales tax referendum after failing to agree on whether Interstate 526 should be funded with the money, or built at all.<\/p>\n\n
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