Storm Water Utility Fee Increase

Last night,  Town Council voted on first reading to increase the Storm Water utility from $38 to $48 per year.   Second and final reading will be at our July 21 meeting.   If it passes second reading, it will appear on your property tax bill this October.

The Town participates in the Charleston County Stormwater Utility.   All local governments must have a stormwater program due to federal mandates.  Failure to comply would result in massive fines (millions.)   The purpose of these mandates is to control pollution in stormwater runoff and so protect our waterways--our marshes and creeks and also the rivers and the harbor.

We could have our own Stormwater program.  The City of Charleston and the Town of Mount Pleasant have their own.   The charge for homeowners in Mount Pleasant is $60 and the charge for homeowners in the City of Charleston is $72.   I think we have been getting a good price from Charleston County, even after the increase.

The reason for the increase is a mandate for increased monitoring of local waters, especially problem areas.  We have plenty of water on and around our Island that needs monitoring and we have some trouble areas too.  

I believe that this proposed fee increase will be more than sufficient to cover these added costs.  Any extra money raised from the Town beyond what is required for the enforcement program will be available to the Town for any project related to drainage.   The Town could have adopted a higher fee that would result in more money available for drainage projects.

Those James Islanders who live in the unincorporated area will pay the fee set by Charleston County which will match that in the City of Charleston--$72 per year.   The extra money will be used by Charleston County for drainage maintenance in the unincorporated area of the County, including the unincorporated
portions of James Island.  

It seems that Charleston County is moving towards funding basic drainage maintenance using the stormwater fee rather than general funds.   Over the years, I have had people ask me why their drainage ditches were not cleaned when they pay this stormwater utility.   I  had responded that the stormwater utility is used to fund regulation of stormwater pollution and not stormwater maintenance.   That will be less true in the future for unincorporated Charleston County.

Rather than increase the fee in the Town by more than  the $48 minimum required by Charleston County to continue in their regulatory program, I believe we should see how much of the $48 is available for drainage projects.   Of course, the Town uses other funds for drainage projects as well.  We will continue to look at our drainage needs and funding sources in the future.   Drainage maintenance is a major priority of the Town.

Last night, Council voted unanimously to stay with the County program and charge the minimum amount possible--$48.  Second and final reading will be in July.

Half-Cent Sales Tax Meeting Wed. June 22 at 6:30 James Island Middle

Charleston County Transportation will be holding a public meeting on James Island to obtain input about projects to fund with the proposed additional 1/2 cent sales tax. It will be on Wednesday, June 22 at 6:30 PM at James Island Middle School. Projects currently listed for James Island are $15 million worth of pedestrian and intersection improvements. Included are pedestrian improvements on Camp Road and Folly Road along with intersection improvements at Secessionville and Fort Johnson and Camp and Fort Johnson.

Who Will Represent the Town of James Island in the SC Senate?

I have spoken with three candidates for South Carolina Senate District 41 about changes I believe the Town needs in Columbia.     I emailed Tim Mallard several days ago and he has not gotten back in touch.

My first priority is legislation necessary to unite the Town.  That is, legislation that will allow those residents who were in the Town in 2011 and were left out of our incorporation election in 2012 to vote on whether they want to be back in the Town.

I think our best opportunity is House Bill 4203 .

Culver Kidd, who is the only candidate who lives on James Island, knew about the bill and promised to work to get it passed.   He has a good working relationship with Representative Peter McCoy.  As for fixing the millage cap as it applies to new municipalities, clarifying the refundability of tax credits, and the treatment of municipalities that annex versus incorporate in special purpose districts--he was open to proposals I have made, but would not say yes without further study.  He didn't want to tell me later that he has changed his mind.   That seemed sensible enough.

The other three candidates live in West Ashley.    Perhaps it should be no surprise that they were not as familiar with the issues facing the Town of James Island.

Sandy Senn explained to me that she would be representing people both within the Town and within the James Island Public Service District so she would need to do her homework to understand the implications for all sides and for all similarly situated entities in the state. That sounded sensible enough.   She seemed most open to fixing the absurd implications of the millage cap for new municipalities.

Of course, most of the voters in the JIPSD are in the Town.   My goal is to reunite the Town so that everyone in the JIPSD will also be in the Town.   I told her this.  There is at least some hope that James Islanders could persuade her to help us.

Roy Maybank asked many questions and explained that he would need to carefully study all of these issues.  That sounded sensible enough.  When I followed up with him later, he was more confident that he would work with Representative McCoy to help the Town much as has Senator Thurmond.

There are many issues facing South Carolina and the Lowcountry.   I certainly will consider all issues when I cast my vote.   But for the issue closest to my heart--reuniting our Town-- I think Culver Kidd is the best choice.

Another Half Cent for Transportation?

Some time ago, Charleston County Council Chairman Elliot Summey held a meeting with area Mayors.   I came right after my 11:00 class finished, so I was late for the noon meeting.   The turnout was light.   It was just Folly Beach, Isle of Palms and James Island.    The County Administrator and Assistant Administrator was there.   The fried chicken was good.   I appreciated it.   With a small group, I learned a good bit.   I hope the Chairman does it again.  Maybe we will get a better turnout.

One item the Chairman discussed was the need for another half-cent sales tax.   His argument was that if we are going to improve the roads in Charleston County, we are going to have to pay for it ourselves.   Our ability to get money out of Columbia has dropped off tremendously with the loss of Senator Glenn McConnell and Representative Bobby Harrell.

If there is going to be a sales tax on the ballot, I certainly would like there to be some money earmarked for James Island projects.   I had begun discussions with Town staff about what we should propose.

Then I read in the paper that a list of projects had already been developed!   We quickly checked to make sure we didn't make some mistake and miss the request for our input.   No, it turns out that the only municipalities that were asked were Charleston, North Charleston, and Mount Pleasant.   The rest of us?  Well....

As for the COG (the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of governments,) the Town has not had any input into their project list either.   Now, the Town of James Island has representation on the policy committee.   I attended the last CHATS meeting where COG approved the Rethink Folly Road Project.  (The Town, the City of Charleston, Charleston County, and Folly Beach all had already approved it.)   Lately, Mayor Pro-Tem Leonard Blank has been representing the Town.   Before that, Town Administrator Ashley Kellahan represented us.  (I like going, but the meetings are usually Monday morning when I am teaching class.   Now that The Citadel is on summer break, I can make the COG meetings.)

But never have we had an opportunity to have projects in the Town added to their list.   That is because they only update their lists every few years, and last time the Town had been closed down.   Charleston County had jurisdiction in the Town parts of James Island then.   (The Harbor View Improvement project is on the COG list.)  However, COG staff is supposed to meet with us this summer and talk about transportation projects in the Town--the time to update the list is rolling around again.   

Speaking of COG, the James Island Intergovernmental Council voted to ask COG to put intersection improvements for Secessionville and Fort Johnson on their list.  SCDOT suggested we do that.  The intersection is under City of Charleston jurisdiction, but the whole point of the intergovernmental council is to get beyond that.   

Of course, Town staff talked to the County staff about whether we missed the memo to give our input for transportation projects.  They told us that they just asked the "big three," but that they would be having public meetings and we could give our input too.   Better late than never. 

Included in the City of Charleston's request for James Island was $15 million for pedestrian and intersection improvements.   Nothing specific was listed, but I have to admit that pedestrian and intersection improvements are exactly the sort of thing I would have proposed.     Good choice, Mayor Tecklenburg! 

I have asked Town Council to make suggestions, but I am now asking you.  Please let us know if there are transportation improvements that you think are important on James Island.   I expect that County Councilman Joe Qualey will insist that some of our projects be included.   I would hope that County Councilwoman Anna Johnson would want to help James Island too.   You can call Town Hall at 795-4141 or me at 697-7020.

Just this weekend, I read that County staff has arranged public meetings throughout the County but that the one on James Island has yet to be determined.  Of course, we would be happy to host any such meeting at Town Hall.   My preference, however, would be James Island Charter High School.

I am not saying that we should all vote for this tax increase.   What I am saying is that support it or not, we are better off with projects on James Island if it passes.   We will be paying the taxes regardless of where the money is spent.