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.