Monday, August 31, 2015
Sign Up for the Citizen Alert Notification
Sign-up for Citizen Alert Notification by visiting https://member.everbridge.net/index/453003085611698#/login to receive the latest info on Hurricane Fred and other named storms this Hurricane season.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Erica Remnants -- Thank the Lord..
Erica passed us by! But got keep watch on the coast of Africa. When will November come!
Friday, August 28, 2015
Monday, August 24, 2015
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Rethink Folly Road Open House
The Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments (BCDCOG) invites community members to attend an Open House to continue the conversation about the future of the Folly Road corridor, extending from the Wappoo Cut Bridge on James Island to Center Street on Folly Beach.
Community Open House | Wednesday, August 26, 2015
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Lowcountry Senior Center, 865 Riverland Drive, Charleston, SC
In May 2015, a public design charrette was conducted to develop a vision for the Folly Road corridor. Since the charrette, the ideas generated have been further studied and detailed. A draft summary report, as well as appendix of analysis materials, is now ready for review here:
Attend the Open House to learn more about the ideas for mobility, urban design, and green infrastructure on Folly Road, as well as give us your feedback!
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Great News--Town Closed on Pinckney Park Property
The Town closed on the Pinckney Park property today. Finally! We started pursuing this site two years ago.
Pinckney Park is located at 461 Fort Johnson Road. It is 7.37 acres.
We will be having an "open house," on Sunday, August 23rd from 1 to 5. This is an opportunity for the public to take a look at the property.
There will be a public Workshop at 5:30 on Thursday, August 27 at Town Hall. This will be an opportunity for the public to share ideas about the new park.
The Town purchased the property from Mr. Jerome Harris. He said that the property has been in the Pinckney family since 1875. (Mr. Harris' mother was a Pinckney.) Mr. Harris and his wife are pleased that the land will be preserved and that they and their family members will be able to visit the Park.
The price was $890,000. It was funded by the Town's urban allocation from the Charleston County Greenbelt fund. Everyone should give County Councilman Joe Qualey a big thank you. He requested that the Town receive (back) its allocation after it was reincorporated in 2012.
Lyndy Palmer served as real estate agent for the Town. It was a long process with much back and forth between the Town and the Harris family. Thank you Lyndy.
Town Administrator Ashley Kellahan worked with the Cathy Ruff at Charleston County Greenbelt to work through the approval process. Thank you.
The Town hopes to advertise a Request for Qualifications for park design in September.
Pinckney Park is located at 461 Fort Johnson Road. It is 7.37 acres.
We will be having an "open house," on Sunday, August 23rd from 1 to 5. This is an opportunity for the public to take a look at the property.
There will be a public Workshop at 5:30 on Thursday, August 27 at Town Hall. This will be an opportunity for the public to share ideas about the new park.
The Town purchased the property from Mr. Jerome Harris. He said that the property has been in the Pinckney family since 1875. (Mr. Harris' mother was a Pinckney.) Mr. Harris and his wife are pleased that the land will be preserved and that they and their family members will be able to visit the Park.
The price was $890,000. It was funded by the Town's urban allocation from the Charleston County Greenbelt fund. Everyone should give County Councilman Joe Qualey a big thank you. He requested that the Town receive (back) its allocation after it was reincorporated in 2012.
Lyndy Palmer served as real estate agent for the Town. It was a long process with much back and forth between the Town and the Harris family. Thank you Lyndy.
Town Administrator Ashley Kellahan worked with the Cathy Ruff at Charleston County Greenbelt to work through the approval process. Thank you.
The Town hopes to advertise a Request for Qualifications for park design in September.
Mr. and Mrs. Harris with me in front of the oak tree after the closing.
The plat from 1923
View from Pinckney Park
Another view from Pinckney Park
Aerial Photo of Pinckney Park
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Letter to the Editor from JIPSD Chair
The new Chair of the JIPSD, June Waring, recently published a letter to the editor in the Post and Courier. The occasion of the letter was a Brian Hicks column that only mentioned the JIPSD in passing. He had claimed that the Town doesn't provide any real services, mentioning that there is another body that provides fire protection and solid waste collection in the Town. I suppose the JIPSD felt compelled to respond against the implied notion that the Town should take over the provision of fire protection and solid waste collection so that it would no longer be a "paper town."
The Chair of the JIPSD asserts that the JIPSD had to sign a contract to continue providing services to the Town's residents before the Town was incorporated. She is mistaken in two major ways. The application submitted by Free James Island for incorporation of a Town on James Island did need to make some provision for fire service. If we said that we were planning to obtain fire service from some other government body, rather than proposing to set up our own fire department, we were required to have a letter from that other body. I thought that having the JIPSD continue to provide fire service in the new Town was the best approach. I appreciate that the JIPSD wrote a letter stating that they would continue to provide services in the Town. However, if the JIPSD had refused, we could have proposed setting up our own fire department instead.
More importantly, a letter from the JIPSD is no contract. Free James Island did not sign an agreement with the JIPSD that the Town would continue to obtain any service from the JIPSD or allow the JIPSD to continue to collect taxes in its jurisdiction. And even if Free James Island did sign such an agreement, it would not be binding on the voters and elected officials of the newly formed Town. If someone had run for Mayor in 2012 on the platform of setting up a Town fire department or contracting with the City of Charleston for fire services, then if the voters elected that candidate and a like-minded Council, the Town could have gone that route.
If the JIPSD Commissioners tried to cut off services in the Town of James Island (a possibility I have considered,) we would use that letter as part of our legal response. I believe it does bind the JIPSD. However, their original charter and the laws of South Carolina governing special purposes districts and municipalities also provides the Town with plenty of legal recourse against such an abuse of power. South Carolina law requires that any transfer of service rights from the JIPSD to the Town be by negotiation and agreement. In my view, the best approach is for the voters of the Town to elect JIPSD Commissioners who will come to a fair and reasonable agreement with the Town.
The JIPSD Chair claims that the Town may use 29% of the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) to pay for a Town Hall or anything else but 71% of the LOST money belongs to the taxpayers of the island. That statement is false. The 29% and 71% percentages do not apply to municipalities at all. A municipality is required to provide a credit against the tax liability of its taxpayers at least equal to the revenue it receives from the Property Tax Credit Fund. A tax credit is a reduction in the amount of a tax that must be paid. The Town introduced a municipal property tax for 2015 and provided a credit against the tax liability of Town taxpayers. The total credit is equal to the total amount of revenue the Town expects to have received from the Property Tax Credit Fund plus interest by the end of the 2015-16 fiscal year. The credit on each tax bill will be equal to the tax liability that would otherwise be owed to the Town. This will zero-out the tax liability of each taxpayer.
The JIPSD Chair states that I didn't want to distribute money to the people as had been done in prior versions of the Town. That is mostly false. The first incorporation of the Town, between 1992 and 1997, never used LOST revenue to mail checks. The second incorporation of the Town, between 2002 and 2004, never used LOST revenue to mail checks. It was only in the third incorporation between 2006 and 2011, that the Town introduced a program of using revenue from LOST to mail out checks to JIPSD taxpayers starting in 2008. When I became Mayor in 2010, I learned first hand that this created an administrative nightmare. No other municipality in South Carolina uses LOST funds to mail checks. No LOST funds have been used to mail out checks in the fourth incorporation that started in 2012. However, I would note that it is not simply a matter of what the Mayor wants to do. Any check writing program would require approval by Council and no member of Council favors using LOST funds to have the Town or anyone else write thousands of checks.
The JIPSD Chair claims the Town's property owners want their LOST money. There was an election in 2014 and Trent Kernodle ran on a platform to "mail the checks it is just like Christmas." He lost. I knocked on over 1,000 doors and only a handful of people told me they wanted the Town to mail checks.
The JIPSD Chair states that there is a citizen's lawsuit to get the LOST funds. Two former JIPSD Commissioners and the "former" General Counsel of the JIPSD are suing the Town. Who is that? Trent Kernodle and some of his political backers. What is he doing? He lost the election, and now is trying to have a court overrule the verdict of the voters.
The JIPSD Chair states that I have been trying to shift the supposed duty to distribute LOST funds to the JIPSD. That is false. I have never proposed that the JIPSD mail any check to any taxpayer. What I have proposed is that the JIPSD receive less of Town taxpayers' money and have the Town pay the JIPSD for services, using our LOST funds.
The JIPSD Chair states that "he don't seem to believe that the JIPSD is prevented from meddling with those funds by law." This is true, though there is no need to add the word "seem." There no law that prohibits the JIPSD from receiving payment for services from a municipality when that municipality receives LOST funds. The JIPSD has been receiving funds from the City of Folly Beach and the City of Charleston for years and both of them receive funds from LOST.
The JIPSD Chair states that I even proposed some kind of monetary exchange by which the mayor would take over the town portion of sanitation services. She claims that is unlawful. This is false. I have proposed that the Town purchase solid waste collection from the JIPSD by contract. I don't think that is accurately described as "the mayor taking over the sanitation service." The proposal made by the Town is lawful. The South Carolina Code allows for the purchase of services by one government body from another, including specifically municipalities like the Town and special purpose districts like the JIPSD. The South Carolina Constitution provides broad authority to local governments to come to mutually beneficial arrangements.
The JIPSD Chair had an opportunity to hire a new General Counsel that could provide them with sound and objective advice. She voted against that course. Too bad. Are the majority of Commissioners unwilling or unable to provide even the most minimal critical scrutiny to Trent Kernodle's arguments? Or are they complicit in this effort to promote their preferred policy of "mailing the checks" by making false and misleading claims that all other alternatives are illegal? Regardless, in 2016, June Waring, Eugene Platt, and Carter McMillan are up for election. Hopefully, in 2017, there will be a majority of JIPSD Commissioners who are willing to work with the Town on tax relief.
The Chair of the JIPSD asserts that the JIPSD had to sign a contract to continue providing services to the Town's residents before the Town was incorporated. She is mistaken in two major ways. The application submitted by Free James Island for incorporation of a Town on James Island did need to make some provision for fire service. If we said that we were planning to obtain fire service from some other government body, rather than proposing to set up our own fire department, we were required to have a letter from that other body. I thought that having the JIPSD continue to provide fire service in the new Town was the best approach. I appreciate that the JIPSD wrote a letter stating that they would continue to provide services in the Town. However, if the JIPSD had refused, we could have proposed setting up our own fire department instead.
More importantly, a letter from the JIPSD is no contract. Free James Island did not sign an agreement with the JIPSD that the Town would continue to obtain any service from the JIPSD or allow the JIPSD to continue to collect taxes in its jurisdiction. And even if Free James Island did sign such an agreement, it would not be binding on the voters and elected officials of the newly formed Town. If someone had run for Mayor in 2012 on the platform of setting up a Town fire department or contracting with the City of Charleston for fire services, then if the voters elected that candidate and a like-minded Council, the Town could have gone that route.
If the JIPSD Commissioners tried to cut off services in the Town of James Island (a possibility I have considered,) we would use that letter as part of our legal response. I believe it does bind the JIPSD. However, their original charter and the laws of South Carolina governing special purposes districts and municipalities also provides the Town with plenty of legal recourse against such an abuse of power. South Carolina law requires that any transfer of service rights from the JIPSD to the Town be by negotiation and agreement. In my view, the best approach is for the voters of the Town to elect JIPSD Commissioners who will come to a fair and reasonable agreement with the Town.
The JIPSD Chair claims that the Town may use 29% of the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) to pay for a Town Hall or anything else but 71% of the LOST money belongs to the taxpayers of the island. That statement is false. The 29% and 71% percentages do not apply to municipalities at all. A municipality is required to provide a credit against the tax liability of its taxpayers at least equal to the revenue it receives from the Property Tax Credit Fund. A tax credit is a reduction in the amount of a tax that must be paid. The Town introduced a municipal property tax for 2015 and provided a credit against the tax liability of Town taxpayers. The total credit is equal to the total amount of revenue the Town expects to have received from the Property Tax Credit Fund plus interest by the end of the 2015-16 fiscal year. The credit on each tax bill will be equal to the tax liability that would otherwise be owed to the Town. This will zero-out the tax liability of each taxpayer.
The JIPSD Chair states that I didn't want to distribute money to the people as had been done in prior versions of the Town. That is mostly false. The first incorporation of the Town, between 1992 and 1997, never used LOST revenue to mail checks. The second incorporation of the Town, between 2002 and 2004, never used LOST revenue to mail checks. It was only in the third incorporation between 2006 and 2011, that the Town introduced a program of using revenue from LOST to mail out checks to JIPSD taxpayers starting in 2008. When I became Mayor in 2010, I learned first hand that this created an administrative nightmare. No other municipality in South Carolina uses LOST funds to mail checks. No LOST funds have been used to mail out checks in the fourth incorporation that started in 2012. However, I would note that it is not simply a matter of what the Mayor wants to do. Any check writing program would require approval by Council and no member of Council favors using LOST funds to have the Town or anyone else write thousands of checks.
The JIPSD Chair claims the Town's property owners want their LOST money. There was an election in 2014 and Trent Kernodle ran on a platform to "mail the checks it is just like Christmas." He lost. I knocked on over 1,000 doors and only a handful of people told me they wanted the Town to mail checks.
The JIPSD Chair states that there is a citizen's lawsuit to get the LOST funds. Two former JIPSD Commissioners and the "former" General Counsel of the JIPSD are suing the Town. Who is that? Trent Kernodle and some of his political backers. What is he doing? He lost the election, and now is trying to have a court overrule the verdict of the voters.
The JIPSD Chair states that I have been trying to shift the supposed duty to distribute LOST funds to the JIPSD. That is false. I have never proposed that the JIPSD mail any check to any taxpayer. What I have proposed is that the JIPSD receive less of Town taxpayers' money and have the Town pay the JIPSD for services, using our LOST funds.
The JIPSD Chair states that "he don't seem to believe that the JIPSD is prevented from meddling with those funds by law." This is true, though there is no need to add the word "seem." There no law that prohibits the JIPSD from receiving payment for services from a municipality when that municipality receives LOST funds. The JIPSD has been receiving funds from the City of Folly Beach and the City of Charleston for years and both of them receive funds from LOST.
The JIPSD Chair states that I even proposed some kind of monetary exchange by which the mayor would take over the town portion of sanitation services. She claims that is unlawful. This is false. I have proposed that the Town purchase solid waste collection from the JIPSD by contract. I don't think that is accurately described as "the mayor taking over the sanitation service." The proposal made by the Town is lawful. The South Carolina Code allows for the purchase of services by one government body from another, including specifically municipalities like the Town and special purpose districts like the JIPSD. The South Carolina Constitution provides broad authority to local governments to come to mutually beneficial arrangements.
The JIPSD Chair had an opportunity to hire a new General Counsel that could provide them with sound and objective advice. She voted against that course. Too bad. Are the majority of Commissioners unwilling or unable to provide even the most minimal critical scrutiny to Trent Kernodle's arguments? Or are they complicit in this effort to promote their preferred policy of "mailing the checks" by making false and misleading claims that all other alternatives are illegal? Regardless, in 2016, June Waring, Eugene Platt, and Carter McMillan are up for election. Hopefully, in 2017, there will be a majority of JIPSD Commissioners who are willing to work with the Town on tax relief.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Finally, the JIPSD Responds in our Sewer Bill.... and it Stinks.
The JIPSD is increasing property taxes in the Town by approximately 4% and cutting back on our garbage services by 50%.
As usual, I proposed discussions--more than two months before the July 31 deadline to make changes in the 2015 tax bill. As usual, there were no discussions. After the deadline passed, we all got their response with our sewer bills. And the response was just as stinky as Plum Island.
It is too late for the JIPSD to lower taxes in the Town on the 2015 tax bill. So it is too late for the Town to enter a solid waste contract with the JIPSD for the 2015-16 fiscal year.
The new JIPSD Chair, June Waring, signed a newsletter claiming that the JIPSD "serves" an area with 24,000 people. There are currently 11,520 people in the Town of James Island. However, there are fewer than 14,000 registered voters in the JIPSD and over 9,000 of them are in the Town.
The JIPSD Commissioners should remember that they don't own a private corporation but are elected officials accountable to the voters. Approximately 2/3 of the voters in the District are in the Town. Nearly all of the other 1/3 were in the Town before and one of my key goals is to provide them an opportunity to return. Once we reunite the Town, 100% of the voters and taxpayers in the JIPSD will be in the Town.
The Town never agreed to stay out of the "business" of the JIPSD. The JIPSD provided a letter promising to continue to provide services in the prospective Town. Free James Island made no promise that the Town would always obtain services from the JIPSD or allow the JIPSD to collect taxes in the Town's jurisdiction. I would never make a promise to bind all future generations of James Islanders to some particular approach to providing fire protection, solid waste collection, sewer, or anything else. More importantly, Free James Island had no authority to bind the voters or elected officials of the Town to do anything.
Further, the application Free James Island submitted to the South Carolina Secretary of State specifically included the possibility of the Town collecting its own property tax and obtaining solid waste collection services from the JIPSD by contract. And that is what I proposed to the JIPSD in May.
One of the problems with the JIPSD's approach to discussions with the Town is that they never ask us any questions. I never proposed that the JIPSD have two different types of garbage trucks. That is up to them. I would welcome the introduction of rolling garbage bins in the Town. Is it really true that the JIPSD management can't figure out how to schedule twice a week pick up in the Town? How much would creating an appropriate schedule cost? The Town would be open to compensating the JIPSD for that or any other necessary cost. Obviously, we would have to pay significantly more for continued twice a week service.
If the added cost of twice a week service turned out to be too high for us to afford, then we would have had to settle for one day a week like the unincorporated portion of the District. But why not discuss it?
The South Carolina Constitution provides for different tax rates by a local government in different areas based upon different services. Further, it allows for the provision of services by one government entity to another by contract. The South Carolina Code provides for a special purpose district to have a lower property tax rate in a municipality when those taxes fund different services within the municipality than in other areas of the district. It also allows for the provision of services by a special service district to a municipality by contract.
The Town proposed that the JIPSD continue to collect taxes in the Town to provide for fire and other miscellaneous services, but not solid waste collection. While the JIPSD taxes would be lower in the Town than in the unincorporated portion of the District, there would be no injury to the taxpayers in the unincorporated area of the District. Their taxes would be the same as before and part of their taxes would continue to pay for solid waste collection as well as fire and other miscellaneous services. The lower JIPSD taxes in the Town would be consistent with the South Carolina Constitution because the people in the Town would not be paying for solid waste services by paying taxes to the JIPSD. The Town would be paying the JIPSD for solid waste service on behalf of our residents
The newsletter article then brings up the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST.) The Town has introduced a property tax and has provided credits against that millage for the 2015 tax year. We are now applying the LOST statute exactly as do the vast majority of South Carolina municipalities in the counties that have adopted LOST. All of those other municipalities use all of the revenue received from LOST for general purposes. Paying for services by contract, including by contract with another government body such as a special purpose district, is one such purpose. No other municipality in South Carolina mails "refund" checks.
Since the JIPSD refused to negotiate an agreement for solid waste collection, the Town has no need of funds to pay for solid waste services. The JIPSD continues to collect taxes in the Town's jurisdiction for that. The Town will be using the revenue to pay for a new Town Hall by lease-purchase agreement. Unlike many other municipalities in the state, the Town's millage is low enough and the credit high enough to zero out the Town tax for all of our taxpayers.
While I was open to creative solutions for providing a Town LOST tax credit against the JIPSD or County tax bills, I think that providing a credit against our own millage puts the Town beyond legal challenge. As an aside, the Town has never tried to compel the County or the JIPSD to provide town LOST credits against their millage on the tax bill. We asked that they agree to do so. The South Carolina Constitution gives local governments broad authority to make mutually beneficial agreements. But, I no longer think pursuing such an agreement is in the Town's best interest.
What is the difference between the County and the JIPSD? Only one member of Charleston County Council has a significant number of Town voters in his district--Councilman Joe Qualey. The only other member of Council that has any Town voters in her district is Councilwoman Anna Johnson, and nearly all of her constituents don't even live on James Island. The other 7 members of County Council represent no James Island voters.
Every JIPSD Commissioner has 2/3 of his or her constituents in the Town. Three of them--Commissioners Waring, Wilder, and McMillan--don't live in the Town. But they are all elected at-large and all of them represent all of us. I expect more from JIPSD Commissioners than most members of County Council. Joe Qualey only has 1 of 9 votes. (In reality, there are more members of County Council than JIPSD Commissioners who are helpful to the Town.)
Incredibly, the JIPSD newsletter article appears to threaten our voting rights. The JIPSD would force the Town to pay them money while taking away our right to vote in JIPSD elections.
I will never accept taxation without representation for the people of our Town. Fortunately, the South Carolina Constitution protects our right to vote in JIPSD elections as long as they continue to force us to pay for their services.
The JIPSD newsletter article also proposes that the Town be forced to pay the JIPSD for solid waste collection without the JIPSD picking up any garbage or trash in our Town. That is an obvious rip-off.
What is the excuse? The City of Charleston and Folly Beach agreed to such a ridiculous plan years ago. I suppose they had their reasons. Most importantly, they don't want any services from the JIPSD. (They don't want anything to do with the JIPSD.) And I am sure that a major consideration is that only a small part of their territory and few of their citizens are subject to such an unreasonable and unfair agreement.
The Town is in a completely different situation from the City of Folly Beach and the City of Charleston because we have always proposed that the JIPSD continue to provide services to the Town. We just want to pay for at least some of the tax-funded services directly rather than having the JIPSD cover all of the costs for all of them by collecting taxes in our jurisdiction. Further, the entire Town is within the territory of the JIPSD and all of our residents currently vote in JIPSD elections and all of our taxpayers pay JIPSD taxes--currently about 1/2 of the total property tax bill for homeowners in the Town.
The newsletter article claims that the Town's proposal will increase costs and the tax burden for those outside of the Town. No specifics were provided. None ever are. I am confident that there are no significant costs at all, but if there are, the Town would of course offer to cover them. That is why we should have discussions.
I have never proposed that the Town do anything but pay our fair share of costs. Nearly every voter and taxpayer in the JIPSD was in the Town before 2011. We are working to reunite the Town so that every voter and taxpayer in the JIPSD is back in the Town. I would never propose a deal that is unfair to our former and future citizens.
The deadline for the JIPSD to lower rather than raise their property tax on the 2015 tax bill has passed. It is too late for a solid waste contract with the JIPSD for the 2015-16 fiscal year.
I plan to make a similar proposal again next year, but I anticipate that the majority of JIPSD Commissioners will again say no. In my view, the best opportunity will be after the next JIPSD Commission election. June Waring, Eugene Platt and Carter McMillan will be up for re-election in 2016. I plan to ask each of them where they stand on a solid waste contract with the Town. (And this time, I will be sure to ask if any of them are getting free legal help from Trent Kernodle on the side.)
If there is a majority of JIPSD Commissioners who want to work with the Town instead of "just say no," after November of 2016, then we will have the opportunity for a Town and JIPSD that work together to benefit all of the people of James Island--including some needed tax relief.
Sunday, August 2, 2015
Taxes in the Town
I don't like any tax, however, my primary goal for the Town has always been to keep the Town from increasing the tax burden on our residents and property owners. This is conditional on maintaining the level of service that existed before the formation of the Town. I also have worked for improved services, but that is conditional on avoiding any increase in the tax burden.
I can't claim perfection, but services have improved without any significant increase in tax burden. Certainly, there has been no increase in Town taxes like Mayor Riley and other Town opponents claimed during our incorporation fight.
I have never promised that the Town would have no taxes. Mayor Mary Clark would frequently brag that the Town has never had taxes and never would. Over a decade ago, as a member of Town Council, I told her that she should look at our budget--we have all sorts of taxes in the Town. But it went in one ear and out the other. She would be back bragging on how we had no taxes and never would.
Of course, up until now, the Town had no property tax millage. Council has just approved a 20 mil property tax on a 3-2 vote, but also property tax credits so that the Town won't be increasing anyone's property tax. This proposal is very consistent with my primary goal of not increasing the tax burden in the Town.
Reviewing material from my 2010 campaign for Mayor, I have found nowhere that I promised I would always oppose a Town property tax. I would think my view then, like now, was a goal of not increasing the tax burden in the Town.
Further, while avoiding tax increases is primary, I have also worked to reduce the property tax burden in the Town. My approach has been to have the Town use the revenue we receive from the LOST property tax credit fund to purchase services from the JIPSD on behalf of the Town's residents. In my view, the amount of tax collected by the JIPSD on property tax bills should be reduced, so the property taxpayers in the Town would pay less. The JIPSD would get some or all of its money to cover the cost of services in the Town from the Town government rather than getting all of it from directly collecting property taxes within the Town's jurisdiction.
I am not sure when I first began to advocate that approach, but it was sometime after I became Mayor in 2010 and saw first hand the administrative nightmare created by mailing tax "refund" checks. This approach was mentioned in the last newsletter the Town mailed in 2011, right before Mayor Riley and the South Carolina Supreme Court closed us down. It was not original to me. This is exactly what Mayor Joan Sooy had worked out with the JIPSD and Charleston County Auditor in 1995. Unfortunately, the first Town was ruled illegally formed just before the tax bills including the Town tax credit were to be mailed by the County Auditor.
Using LOST funds to reduce the amount collected on the tax bill was outlined in the Town's application for incorporation that we submitted in November of 2011. It was also outlined in the material distributed by Free James Island during the election campaign for incorporation in the spring of 2012. Nothing submitted by the Town in our incorporation application and none of the Free James Island literature promised the Town would mail refund checks. Nothing promised that we would never have a Town property tax.
While I was unopposed as candidate for Mayor in 2012, reduced property tax payments to the JIPSD in exchange for the Town paying for JIPSD services was part of my platform. I asked every candidate for Council in 2012 whether they would support my plan for tax relief. I explained why "mailing checks" was a bad idea. All of them agreed other than Sam Kernodle. Sam Kernodle didn't support mailing the checks. He favored spending the LOST money on Town services. Interestingly, Sandi Engelman, who is now party to a suit aimed at forcing the Town to "mail the checks," agreed with using the money to pay for services from the JIPSD in exchange for a reduction in the amount paid to the JIPSD on the tax bill. She expressed no interest in "mailing the checks" in 2012.
The Town was only open again for business in August of 2012, past the deadline to do anything with the 2012 tax bill that comes out in October. However, I immediately asked the County Auditor to create a Town tax district. They finished in the spring of 2013. I then shared the proposal for property tax relief with the JIPSD, in plenty of time to allow for lower taxes on the 2013 tax bill. A Town tax credit would be put against the JIPSD taxes and the Town would pay the difference to the JIPSD for services. The Town received a letter back from them refusing cooperation and stating that the Commissioners believed that citizens preferred to receive a check from the Town. (We now know that this is the personal preference of Commissioners Hollingsworth and Platt. They want a check in their hand.)
At that point, I came to the conclusion that the best approach would be for the Town to collect its own property tax and provide a credit against that tax. If the Town has its own property tax, it must provide a credit. My proposal, of course, was for the JIPSD to lower its taxes in the Town, and have the Town pay the JIPSD for services by contract. That approach had also been included as a possibility in the Town's application for incorporation in November 2011, though it was stated as a less likely approach than providing a credit against JIPSD property taxes.
In November 2013, Town Council voted 4-0 for a resolution instructing me to negotiate with the JIPSD for them to cease collecting taxes in our Town and have the Town instead collect taxes. The Town would purchase fire and solid waste services from the JIPSD by contract. Because the Town would be obligated to provide a property tax credit against our own taxes, this would have allowed for a tax reduction on the 2014 tax bill. Councilman Blank and Mullinax and Councilwoman Berry were all on board. ( I expected Councilman Kernodle to oppose, but he missed the November meeting. That was not unusual.)
I wrote the JIPSD and they said no. While the letter was signed by then JIPSD Chairman David Engelman and Vice Chairman Donnie Hollingsworth, they later said at a JIPSD Commission meeting that it was all over their head and Trent Kernodle wrote the letter. So, in his letter, Kernodle argued that having the Town pay for services from the JIPSD would be illegal and advocated that the Town mail the checks. The Town provided a response proposing further talks and pointing out the obvious errors Kernodle's arguments, but there were no talks.
I spoke with Senator Thurmond about the matter, and he suggested we talk to Charleston County about having a tax credit against the County tax bill. While a good idea, it turned out to be a dead end. During discussions between the County Attorney and Town Attorney, it was apparently suggested that the County would argue before the Supreme Court that the Town shouldn't receive any LOST funds because it has no property tax. That was a bit disconcerting.
During the spring and summer of 2014, the Town received opinions from the South Carolina Attorney General rejecting Trent Kernodle's arguments.
Trent Kernodle ran for Mayor in 2014. One of his planks was to mail the checks. He said that it was just like Christmas when he received the checks from the Town. The last set of checks mailed by Mary Clark arrived right before the 2010 Town election. A special Christmas for election day courtesy of the Mayor. (Interestingly, Councilman Sam Kernodle never once proposed that the Town mail the checks. He never even asked to put it on the agenda. I think the plan has been all along for the Kernodle's to hand out theses political Christmas presents--one way or another.)
Cooperation with the Town was a major issue in the 2014 JIPSD Commission elections. Commissioner Inez Brown-Crouch, who has aways worked with the Town came in first. Commissioner Cubby Wilder, who promised to work with the Town, came in second. Kay Kernodle, who was committed to fighting the Town on every issue, came in third. On election night, it looked like former Town Councilwoman Mary Beth Berry would win and so we would have 4 Commissioners who would work with the Town. However, absentee votes allowed Chairman Hollingsworth to squeak back in. So, there were only three Commissioners who would support the Town--McMillan, Brown, and Wilder. It looked obvious to me that we could expect to lose 4-3 on every issue.
After Commissioner Wilder was sworn in, however, it became clear that the Town could not count on his support. It is understandable. He owns a building on Mosquito Beach that he rents out to a nightclub. Charleston County found various code violations, which could have forced him to close down. Trent Kernodle said during his interview to return as JIPSD General Council just last week that he has been providing Commissioner Wilder with free legal help on the matter. It is natural that Commissioner Wilder would feel a moral obligation to vote on Commission matters in a way that would help the Kernodle's achieve their political goals--including the Kernodle "mail the checks" plan. And so, we are back to 5-2 against the Town whenever it counts.
Anyway, at the Town's budget workshop in March 2015, I asked each member of Town Council if they favored mailing checks. Not one said they did. Councilmen Blank and Milliken were very vocally opposed. Councilman Stokes was opposed as well. (Of course, I had asked him before I endorsed him in the 2014 election.) I had to ask Councilman Mullinax, but he also said no.
Also at the March budget workshop, several members of Council argued that the Town had waited long enough for tax relief and that unless we can get the JIPSD to agree to something this year, we should start to spend the LOST money. Councilman Milliken was most vocal in favor of spending the money. (His wife, Susan Milliken, apparently proposed to members of County Council that we spend most of what we receive each year from the LOST property tax credit fund to keep open the Camp Road library branch after 2017.) There was no vote, but listening to each member of Council, it was clear that there was a majority in favor of spending the money if my longstanding plan to get tax relief was not implemented and soon.
In March of 2014, I met with JIPSD Commission Chairman Hollingsworth to outline a proposal that the Town collect a 35.1 mil tax and pay the JIPSD for fire service by contract. In exchange, the JIPSD would lower its property tax by 35.1 mils. The Town would provide a LOST credit against our own tax. This was in plenty of time for a very significant tax cut on the 2015 tax bill and lower taxes thereafter. A few days later, I emailed him the proposal in writing and asked him to forward it to his finance staff so we could begin discussions.
The next week, the Town was served with a class action lawsuit from former JIPSD general counsel Trent Kernodle, with former JIPSD Chair David Engelman and his wife, Sandi and former Commissioner Rod Welch as parties. The suit seeks to force the Town to carry out Kernodle's campaign plank--mail the checks. I don't think the timing was an accident.
Due to the suit, I am more convinced than ever that it is in the best interest of the Town to provide a tax credit against our own tax millage. That is what the vast majority of municipalities eligible for LOST revenues do. I believe it puts the Town beyond legal challenge. The worst scenario for the Town would be a court ruling that only municipalities with property tax are eligible to receive revenue from the LOST property tax credit fund. That would mean that our money would be divided up among the municipalities that do have property tax. I don't think that outcome is likely, but we won't have to worry about that any more if we are providing a credit against our own millage.
I will continue to try to find a majority of JIPSD Commissioners who will reduce the property tax they collect in the Town and accept our money in exchange for the provision of services. I will continue to try to find a majority on Town Council that will agree to pay for JIPSD services by contract. I will continue to work for lower property taxes in the Town.
Right now, I think it is in the best interests of the Town and the JIPSD to have a contract for the provision of solid waste services. Council approved the needed Town budget 4-1 on first reading in May. I wrote the JIPSD to ask them to put in on their agenda for a vote. As usual--there was no vote by the JIPSD.
Unfortunately, it will be very difficult to accomplish tax relief as long as a majority of JIPSD Commissioners are in Trent Kernodle's back pocket--especially as long as we have a pending lawsuit that Kernodle hopes will provide him another big payday at the expense of the Town. The next JIPSD election is in 2016. (Sadly, I fear that some of those suing the Town have substantial influence on our own Town Council, but they don't have a majority like they do on the JIPSD.)
In the meantime, I have agreed with other members of Council that we should no longer continue to accumulate the revenue we receive from the LOST property tax credit fund as we have for the last three years, but instead use money we expect to receive in 2015-16 to help pay for our new Town Hall. There are financial benefits to paying it off sooner rather than later.
I have not given up on the goal of reducing property tax in the Town.
And most importantly, the Town tax millage and credit proposal will not increase anyone's tax burden. And that has always been my primary commitment to the voters of the Town.
I can't claim perfection, but services have improved without any significant increase in tax burden. Certainly, there has been no increase in Town taxes like Mayor Riley and other Town opponents claimed during our incorporation fight.
I have never promised that the Town would have no taxes. Mayor Mary Clark would frequently brag that the Town has never had taxes and never would. Over a decade ago, as a member of Town Council, I told her that she should look at our budget--we have all sorts of taxes in the Town. But it went in one ear and out the other. She would be back bragging on how we had no taxes and never would.
Of course, up until now, the Town had no property tax millage. Council has just approved a 20 mil property tax on a 3-2 vote, but also property tax credits so that the Town won't be increasing anyone's property tax. This proposal is very consistent with my primary goal of not increasing the tax burden in the Town.
Reviewing material from my 2010 campaign for Mayor, I have found nowhere that I promised I would always oppose a Town property tax. I would think my view then, like now, was a goal of not increasing the tax burden in the Town.
Further, while avoiding tax increases is primary, I have also worked to reduce the property tax burden in the Town. My approach has been to have the Town use the revenue we receive from the LOST property tax credit fund to purchase services from the JIPSD on behalf of the Town's residents. In my view, the amount of tax collected by the JIPSD on property tax bills should be reduced, so the property taxpayers in the Town would pay less. The JIPSD would get some or all of its money to cover the cost of services in the Town from the Town government rather than getting all of it from directly collecting property taxes within the Town's jurisdiction.
I am not sure when I first began to advocate that approach, but it was sometime after I became Mayor in 2010 and saw first hand the administrative nightmare created by mailing tax "refund" checks. This approach was mentioned in the last newsletter the Town mailed in 2011, right before Mayor Riley and the South Carolina Supreme Court closed us down. It was not original to me. This is exactly what Mayor Joan Sooy had worked out with the JIPSD and Charleston County Auditor in 1995. Unfortunately, the first Town was ruled illegally formed just before the tax bills including the Town tax credit were to be mailed by the County Auditor.
Using LOST funds to reduce the amount collected on the tax bill was outlined in the Town's application for incorporation that we submitted in November of 2011. It was also outlined in the material distributed by Free James Island during the election campaign for incorporation in the spring of 2012. Nothing submitted by the Town in our incorporation application and none of the Free James Island literature promised the Town would mail refund checks. Nothing promised that we would never have a Town property tax.
While I was unopposed as candidate for Mayor in 2012, reduced property tax payments to the JIPSD in exchange for the Town paying for JIPSD services was part of my platform. I asked every candidate for Council in 2012 whether they would support my plan for tax relief. I explained why "mailing checks" was a bad idea. All of them agreed other than Sam Kernodle. Sam Kernodle didn't support mailing the checks. He favored spending the LOST money on Town services. Interestingly, Sandi Engelman, who is now party to a suit aimed at forcing the Town to "mail the checks," agreed with using the money to pay for services from the JIPSD in exchange for a reduction in the amount paid to the JIPSD on the tax bill. She expressed no interest in "mailing the checks" in 2012.
The Town was only open again for business in August of 2012, past the deadline to do anything with the 2012 tax bill that comes out in October. However, I immediately asked the County Auditor to create a Town tax district. They finished in the spring of 2013. I then shared the proposal for property tax relief with the JIPSD, in plenty of time to allow for lower taxes on the 2013 tax bill. A Town tax credit would be put against the JIPSD taxes and the Town would pay the difference to the JIPSD for services. The Town received a letter back from them refusing cooperation and stating that the Commissioners believed that citizens preferred to receive a check from the Town. (We now know that this is the personal preference of Commissioners Hollingsworth and Platt. They want a check in their hand.)
At that point, I came to the conclusion that the best approach would be for the Town to collect its own property tax and provide a credit against that tax. If the Town has its own property tax, it must provide a credit. My proposal, of course, was for the JIPSD to lower its taxes in the Town, and have the Town pay the JIPSD for services by contract. That approach had also been included as a possibility in the Town's application for incorporation in November 2011, though it was stated as a less likely approach than providing a credit against JIPSD property taxes.
In November 2013, Town Council voted 4-0 for a resolution instructing me to negotiate with the JIPSD for them to cease collecting taxes in our Town and have the Town instead collect taxes. The Town would purchase fire and solid waste services from the JIPSD by contract. Because the Town would be obligated to provide a property tax credit against our own taxes, this would have allowed for a tax reduction on the 2014 tax bill. Councilman Blank and Mullinax and Councilwoman Berry were all on board. ( I expected Councilman Kernodle to oppose, but he missed the November meeting. That was not unusual.)
I wrote the JIPSD and they said no. While the letter was signed by then JIPSD Chairman David Engelman and Vice Chairman Donnie Hollingsworth, they later said at a JIPSD Commission meeting that it was all over their head and Trent Kernodle wrote the letter. So, in his letter, Kernodle argued that having the Town pay for services from the JIPSD would be illegal and advocated that the Town mail the checks. The Town provided a response proposing further talks and pointing out the obvious errors Kernodle's arguments, but there were no talks.
I spoke with Senator Thurmond about the matter, and he suggested we talk to Charleston County about having a tax credit against the County tax bill. While a good idea, it turned out to be a dead end. During discussions between the County Attorney and Town Attorney, it was apparently suggested that the County would argue before the Supreme Court that the Town shouldn't receive any LOST funds because it has no property tax. That was a bit disconcerting.
During the spring and summer of 2014, the Town received opinions from the South Carolina Attorney General rejecting Trent Kernodle's arguments.
Trent Kernodle ran for Mayor in 2014. One of his planks was to mail the checks. He said that it was just like Christmas when he received the checks from the Town. The last set of checks mailed by Mary Clark arrived right before the 2010 Town election. A special Christmas for election day courtesy of the Mayor. (Interestingly, Councilman Sam Kernodle never once proposed that the Town mail the checks. He never even asked to put it on the agenda. I think the plan has been all along for the Kernodle's to hand out theses political Christmas presents--one way or another.)
Cooperation with the Town was a major issue in the 2014 JIPSD Commission elections. Commissioner Inez Brown-Crouch, who has aways worked with the Town came in first. Commissioner Cubby Wilder, who promised to work with the Town, came in second. Kay Kernodle, who was committed to fighting the Town on every issue, came in third. On election night, it looked like former Town Councilwoman Mary Beth Berry would win and so we would have 4 Commissioners who would work with the Town. However, absentee votes allowed Chairman Hollingsworth to squeak back in. So, there were only three Commissioners who would support the Town--McMillan, Brown, and Wilder. It looked obvious to me that we could expect to lose 4-3 on every issue.
After Commissioner Wilder was sworn in, however, it became clear that the Town could not count on his support. It is understandable. He owns a building on Mosquito Beach that he rents out to a nightclub. Charleston County found various code violations, which could have forced him to close down. Trent Kernodle said during his interview to return as JIPSD General Council just last week that he has been providing Commissioner Wilder with free legal help on the matter. It is natural that Commissioner Wilder would feel a moral obligation to vote on Commission matters in a way that would help the Kernodle's achieve their political goals--including the Kernodle "mail the checks" plan. And so, we are back to 5-2 against the Town whenever it counts.
Anyway, at the Town's budget workshop in March 2015, I asked each member of Town Council if they favored mailing checks. Not one said they did. Councilmen Blank and Milliken were very vocally opposed. Councilman Stokes was opposed as well. (Of course, I had asked him before I endorsed him in the 2014 election.) I had to ask Councilman Mullinax, but he also said no.
Also at the March budget workshop, several members of Council argued that the Town had waited long enough for tax relief and that unless we can get the JIPSD to agree to something this year, we should start to spend the LOST money. Councilman Milliken was most vocal in favor of spending the money. (His wife, Susan Milliken, apparently proposed to members of County Council that we spend most of what we receive each year from the LOST property tax credit fund to keep open the Camp Road library branch after 2017.) There was no vote, but listening to each member of Council, it was clear that there was a majority in favor of spending the money if my longstanding plan to get tax relief was not implemented and soon.
In March of 2014, I met with JIPSD Commission Chairman Hollingsworth to outline a proposal that the Town collect a 35.1 mil tax and pay the JIPSD for fire service by contract. In exchange, the JIPSD would lower its property tax by 35.1 mils. The Town would provide a LOST credit against our own tax. This was in plenty of time for a very significant tax cut on the 2015 tax bill and lower taxes thereafter. A few days later, I emailed him the proposal in writing and asked him to forward it to his finance staff so we could begin discussions.
The next week, the Town was served with a class action lawsuit from former JIPSD general counsel Trent Kernodle, with former JIPSD Chair David Engelman and his wife, Sandi and former Commissioner Rod Welch as parties. The suit seeks to force the Town to carry out Kernodle's campaign plank--mail the checks. I don't think the timing was an accident.
Due to the suit, I am more convinced than ever that it is in the best interest of the Town to provide a tax credit against our own tax millage. That is what the vast majority of municipalities eligible for LOST revenues do. I believe it puts the Town beyond legal challenge. The worst scenario for the Town would be a court ruling that only municipalities with property tax are eligible to receive revenue from the LOST property tax credit fund. That would mean that our money would be divided up among the municipalities that do have property tax. I don't think that outcome is likely, but we won't have to worry about that any more if we are providing a credit against our own millage.
I will continue to try to find a majority of JIPSD Commissioners who will reduce the property tax they collect in the Town and accept our money in exchange for the provision of services. I will continue to try to find a majority on Town Council that will agree to pay for JIPSD services by contract. I will continue to work for lower property taxes in the Town.
Right now, I think it is in the best interests of the Town and the JIPSD to have a contract for the provision of solid waste services. Council approved the needed Town budget 4-1 on first reading in May. I wrote the JIPSD to ask them to put in on their agenda for a vote. As usual--there was no vote by the JIPSD.
Unfortunately, it will be very difficult to accomplish tax relief as long as a majority of JIPSD Commissioners are in Trent Kernodle's back pocket--especially as long as we have a pending lawsuit that Kernodle hopes will provide him another big payday at the expense of the Town. The next JIPSD election is in 2016. (Sadly, I fear that some of those suing the Town have substantial influence on our own Town Council, but they don't have a majority like they do on the JIPSD.)
In the meantime, I have agreed with other members of Council that we should no longer continue to accumulate the revenue we receive from the LOST property tax credit fund as we have for the last three years, but instead use money we expect to receive in 2015-16 to help pay for our new Town Hall. There are financial benefits to paying it off sooner rather than later.
I have not given up on the goal of reducing property tax in the Town.
And most importantly, the Town tax millage and credit proposal will not increase anyone's tax burden. And that has always been my primary commitment to the voters of the Town.
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