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%. 

  

I proposed an alternative--the JIPSD could cut taxes rather than increase them by transferring service rights to solid waste collection to the Town.   I proposed that the Town pay them to pick up garbage and trash in the Town by contract.   I even offered to negotiate on the basis of continued two day a week pick up.   My only condition was that they lower the property tax they levy in the Town so that they are no longer collecting monies from our taxpayers for the cost of solid waste collection.   They could continue to collect taxes in the Town to pay for fire and the other miscellaneous services they provide.   The result would have been a significant property tax cut in the Town rather than a tax increase.

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.