Brian Hicks Yet Again --- He Must Be Joking

In a recent column, Brian Hicks responded to ..what?   Comments on social media somewhere?  He must be joking. But it should be no surprise that he turned it into yet another attack on the Town of James Island.

He claimed that the Town collects no taxes.  If only that were possible. What is unusual is that the 20 mil property tax levied by the Town is low enough that the LOST property tax credit we provide zeros it out so that no net property taxes are paid to the Town.   Unfortunately, the Town has always collected a variety of other taxes, very similar to those collected by other municipalities in South Carolina.

Further, the people of the Town are also in the James Island Public Service District (JIPSD) which is now levying a 64.4 mil property tax. While that millage is lower than in the City of Charleston, it is higher than in the City of Folly Beach or the Town of Mount Pleasant.  One reason why the Town's millage can be so low is that expensive services like fire protection and solid waste collection are provided to the residents of the Town by the JIPSD.   

Because the JIPSD provides no LOST property tax credits, their taxes hit Town homeowners hard.   After last year's 13% increase, the JIPSD property tax burden for homeowners surpassed that in the City of Charleston for the first time.  That won't last long given the recent property tax hike by the City, but that hardly helps Town taxpayers.

Fortunately, the voters of the JIPSD turned out three incumbent Commissioners in November, and the new majority appears open to working with the Town on a tax credit.  That will allow the Town to use is its other sources of revenue to help pay for fire protection and solid waste collection for its residents as is done by most municipalities rather than put all the burden on property taxpayers.

The Town funds the Island Sheriff's Patrol, which is a partnership with the Charleston County Sheriff's Office to provide increased law enforcement. The Town pays for sidewalks, paving roads, drainage repairs, improvements in our parks, and more. We employ our own building inspector and provide zoning and planning services as well.   As a result, negative impacts from excessive development are much less in the Town, though we are heavily impacted by excessive development in the roughly 50% of James Island annexed by the City. The Town frequently partners with the City of Charleston or Charleston County for the provision of services, but we generally are bringing our checkbook.

The people of the Town pay the county taxes which fund our library system.   The distribution of library branches has proven to be political.  A library slated to be closed in West Ashley was kept open.  Why?  Effective advocacy by the member of County Council whose district included that branch.  

I am very happy that James Island will get a new branch library.  I strongly advocated for the Dills Bluff Road site owned by the JIPSD.   There was plenty of room at that site for a new library, a new Town Hall, and a new JIPSD administrative center. At the time, the majority of JIPSD Commissioners didn't want to sell for reasons they wouldn't explain and so quoted insultingly unrealistic prices.   Most of that bunch have since been turned out of office, and with the current Commission things would be very different if we could do it over again.  Sadly, that opportunity slipped through our fingers. 

Finally, I am just baffled by the charges of racism.  The library branch on Camp Road is only about 500 feet from First Baptist Church of James Island, probably the largest on James Island, whose congregation is mostly African American.  That church and our new Town Hall are next door neighbors in the "Down the Island" community--also predominantly black. When the Town passed a resolution renewing our call for the County library system to keep the branch open, both an associate pastor from First Baptist and the leader of the Triangle Grace Association representing the community came to Town Hall to speak in favor.  The Camp Road branch serves an ethnically diverse area, including both Town and City neighborhoods.

   

I have never had a negative word to say about the Grimball Road site for the new Baxter Patrick library branch. After that site was selected, I became an enthusiastic supporter.  It will be a great addition to James Island.   I am sure that it will also have an ethnically-diverse clientele, especially residents of the growing number of predominately white apartment complexes popping up in the nearby areas on Folly Road annexed by the City of Charleston.   

Still, like just about every other elected official on James Island, I think two libraries are better than one. That includes Charleston City Councilwoman Carol Jackson.  I greatly appreciate how our new County Councilwoman, Jenny Honeycutt, did her best to reverse a decision made years ago and save the library branch on Camp Road.   I am very thankful that she has won support from County Council to lease the building to the Town after the move.

We are still considering options, but I believe that we can continue to provide some level of library service--working with the Charleston County library system.   The current level of service is likely out of reach, but something more akin to operations at the Folly Beach branch--also a partnership between a municipality and the County system--would be feasible.  And yes, I certainly expect that, as usual, the Town will be bringing a checkbook.