Property Tax Bills

We received the property tax bill for our house.

There was a new line--Town of James Island.   It was all zeros.   The Town millage was zero, the amount of Tax owed the Town was zero, and the percent of the total property tax going to the Town was zero.

This was mostly correct.   The Town millage is not zero, it is 20 mills.  However, because Town Council approved a sufficiently large tax credit, the amount owed the Town is zero and the percent of taxes going to the Town is zero.

There was a note added to the bill that explained this.   The language was agreed to by the County Auditor and the Town.   (It was approved by the Town Administrator and myself, as Mayor.)

Some months ago, I asked the County Auditor if it would be possible to show the Town's millage on the tax bill, as well as the amount of the municipal tax credit the Town would provide to reduce the amount of taxes each taxpayer pays the Town  to zero.   He said that they could do that.    Both the County Auditor and I thought that it would be easy.  Unfortunately, the County's software is not as easy to modify as we thought.   Making the modifications would take several months.   Both the County Auditor and I agreed that delaying the tax bills to people in the Town for months was unacceptable.   And so, the result was as a tax bill showing an incorrect zero millage.

The County Auditor is having their software company develop an upgrade so that next year's tax bill will be accurate.   I offered to pay the cost, which is estimated to be a few thousand dollars.   The Auditor explained that was not necessary and that it is his judgement that the County tax billing software should have this capability.  Next year, the tax bills should be accurate.

Good News on Camp Road Library

Thanks to our County Councilman, Joe Qualey, James Island should be able to keep our existing library branch as well as have a new branch on Grimball Road.    I greatly appreciate his efforts as well as the support of the majority of County Council who voted to renovate our existing library and keep it open.

I am very disappointed that Councilwoman Anna Johnson opposed something clearly beneficial to all of James Island--having two library branches rather than one.

I am especially looking forward to the new branch on Grimball Road.   I think the proposed meeting rooms will really serve a need in our community.

While the Grimball Road community is not in the Town, we want them back.  We continue to work to give the residents there an opportunity to annex.   Representative Peter McCoy has a bill filed in Columbia that will allow us to hold an annexation election in the various areas that used to be in the Town but could not be included in the 2012 reincorporation.

Some months ago, I reported on an email I received from County Council Chair, Elliot Summey, proposing that the County renovate the branch on Camp Road and lease it to the Town for approximately nothing.   The Town would be responsible for the $500,000 per year operating costs.

Neither I nor any member of Town Council was willing to commit to such a huge annual expense.   This would be approximately 20% of the Town's total reoccurring revenue.    Personally, I would be willing to budget some money for that purpose--more like $5,000 per year--closer to what we contribute to other James Island organizations.

Other members of Town Council asked how much the Town of Mount Pleasant or the City of Charleston were being charged to keep open their existing library branches.   The answer was nothing.

I just can't see having a Town budget where the largest single expense by far would be a library branch.

My priority for the Town funds has always been infrastructure.   New sidewalks and paving earth roads continues to be important, though in the last week, some drainage projects have moved up on my list of priorities.   There are plenty of places the Town can spend money.

The Town is planning to build a Town Hall that will certainly cost more than $500,000, but it  will not be  $500,000 each year.     Once the new Town Hall is completed, it should reduce our operating costs by saving  the $70,000 each year we pay in rent.    I hope we will be able to pay off Town Hall within a few years.

The Town pays $150,000 each year for Charleston County Sheriffs Office deputies to provide additional law enforcement in the Town.   If necessary, the Island Sheriff's Patrol can be expanded.

I understand that some members of County Council were considering a reduced size for the new Grimball Road facility and using the funds saved to renovate and keep open the Camp Road branch.   When I explained to County Council Chairman Elliot Summey that the Town could not agree to expend $500,000 per year to keep open the Camp Road branch, I said that I did not support any downsizing for the proposed new library on Grimball Road.

Like most James Islanders, I am very happy that the Island will have two library branches--the existing one and a new, much larger one after 2017.    I certainly hope that County Council can find the funds to pay for both of them.   While $500,000 is more than 20% of our reoccurring funds, it is less than one quarter of one percent of the County's budget.

I am extremely troubled by the offensive claim that anyone who favors keeping open the library branch on Camp Road is racist.     The branch on Camp Road is right next to the  "Down the Island" neighborhood, as is Town Hall and the Camp Center Shopping Center.   I certainly expect that both the existing branch on James Island and the new branch will be patronized by a racially-diverse clientele.

And, of course, that Brian Hicks would try to twist this so to blame the Town of James Island is no surprise.

I do wish he would name some names.

Who on James Island is complaining about the County Council vote because it is conditional on finding sufficient funds?

Who on James Island is complaining that having two library branches--both of which will be open to patrons of all races--is racist?  

Ethics Fine

Last year, Trent Kernodle filed a complaint with the South Carolina Ethics Commission accusing me of using my Town email and the Town website to influence the 2014 James Island Public Service District election.     He complained that I used my Town email to ask the candidates questions and then evaluated their answers and shared the results with voters.

These accusations were false.   I did not use my Town email for these purposes.   My Town email was mayorwoolsey@jamesislandsc.us.     (It is now bwoolsey@jamesislandsc.us.)     I used my gmail account, mayorwoolsey@gmail.com.    This is a free gmail account that I created in 2010, shortly after being elected Mayor.  It does not belong to the Town.

I did not use the Town website to influence the JIPSD elections.   I used my personal blog, "Mayors Corner."    This is a free blog that I created in late 2010.   It does not belong to the Town.

The Ethics Commission investigators agreed that Mayors Corner is my personal property and that I have a first amendment right to speak out on matters that I consider of concern to the  citizens of the Town.    They agreed that I did not use the Town email to write the candidates to ask them questions or communicate the answers or my evaluation of the answers to voters.

However, the investigator discovered a link on the Town website to my personal blog.   If you went to the Town website, and then went to the section of the website for elected officials, and then went to the section for the Mayor, you would find my picture, my Town email, my personal cell phone, and a link to my personal blog, Mayors Corner.  

The investigator also claimed that there was a link on the Town's website to my campaign facebook page.   However, that was false.   The link on the Town's website was to the Town's facebook page.   The investigator most probably found something shared from my personal facebook page, "Mayor Woolsey" to the Town facebook page.   And there was a link on my Mayor Woolsey facebook page to my campaign facebook page.    The investigator admitted that he wasn't very familiar with facebook and this accusation was dropped.

The Ethics Commission decided that because Mayors Corner included posts that were aimed at influencing the result of the election, and that during the 2014 JIPSD election campaign, I had left a link to my personal blog on the Town website, I was in that way using the public property, that is, the Town's website, to influence an election.    For that violation, they fined me $1000 and imposed a $250 administrative fee.

Kernodle's false accusation turned up a single link on an obscure section of the Town's website, and so I had to pay a hefty fine.  

Town Hall Workshop

Bullet Hole Found at Payne Church Sunday Morning

A bullet-hole was found in the front door of Payne Church on Camp Road early Sunday morning. I attended worship service with the congregation in the Fellowship Hall while Charleston County Sheriff's Deputies investigated the church building. The most likely time that the bullet was fired was late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

Pastor Junious and the congregation did the right thing by carrying on with their worship.

But this is intolerable.

Please help us stop terrorism on our Island.

Keep an eye out for our local churches. If you hear a gunshot, call 911.

If you have any information about who is doing these hateful crimes please call Crimestoppers at 544-1111 or use tip411

Help bring this to a stop

Saturday, Sept. 12--James Island Pride Clean Up and Dedication for Ben Rd., Jeffrey, and Lemontree Rd.

This Saturday will be busy for the Town of James Island.  Starting at 9:00, James Island Pride will be holding another regular Community  Clean-Up.       

Volunteering is a great way to benefit your community. We can not keep James Island beautiful and litter free unless there are volunteers willing to donate a little time and effort into making this Community Cleanup a success. Beyond being unsightly, litter presents a threat to wildlife and public health. Pitching in and cleaning up some trash is an easy way for anyone to help out.

Pick up 'Lunch Ticket' and Supplies between 9:00-9:30am. Lunch provided, served at 11:00am for volunteers at Town of James Island.

We Provide:
Water
Safety Vests
Work Gloves
Trash Bags
& Lunch

What to Bring:...
Comfortable Shoes
Sunscreen/ Bug Spray
Your Friends!

 

At 11 there will be a dedication ceremony for three roads that have been paved in the Town--Ben Road, Jeffrey Road, and Lemontree Road.     This will be at Stephen Washington Park, which is the City of Charleston Park located at the corner of Honey Hill Drive and Fort Johnson Road.

The Town initiated both of these paving projects.   The Town contributed its own funds and requested matching funds.  Some of the matching funds for the Ben Road project came from the 1/2 cent sales tax.  The matching funds for Lemontree and Jeffrey came from the Charleston County Transportation Committee, which is made up of representatives of local governments and disburses funds provided by the state. Charleston County Transportation managed both projects on behalf of the Town.  Thank you.

 

I plan to combine the two activities, picking up trash along Fort Johnson, Ben Rd., Jeffrey Road, and Lemontree Road so that they will all be nice and neat before the ceremony.

Town 1 Kernodle 0

As reported last month, the afternoon before our July 23 special meeting, the Town received a letter from one of the out-of-town attorneys working with Kernodle threatening to seek a preliminary injunction against the Town unless we agreed to postpone consideration of our budget amendment that had passed first reading at our July 9 meeting.  We were given a deadline for the morning of July 23 to respond.

The budget amendment levied a 20 mill property tax, provided a $2,948,058 tax credit to zero out the tax for all taxpayers, and budgeted $840,000 to build a new Town Hall and $200,000 to maintain a reserve.    The Town did not meet Kernodle's deadline and they filed a request for a preliminary injunction on the afternoon of July 23.   That evening, Town Council passed the budget amendment 3-2 on second and final reading.

The hearing for the injunction was held this morning.   It all started an 9:30.   There were many motions on other cases before Judge Dennis, but when it was our turn, it lasted only a few minutes.  

Kernodle and the out-of-town attorney introduced themselves.   Our Town Attorney, Bo Wilson introduced himself as did Danny Crowe, former general counsel of the Municipal Association of South Carolina, who the Town has also retained to help defend us from the Kernodle legal attack.

Judge Dennis asked Kernodle what he wanted.   The out-of-town attorney spent about 2 minutes explaining that this was a dispute about the Local Option Sales Tax statute and that they wanted the Town to distribute the funds received from the Property Tax Credit funds to property owners on James Island.   (They are suing the Town to make us carry out Kernodle's campaign pledge to "mail the checks.")

The Judge said that this was something like a case in Berkeley County, and what did they want to enjoin.   The out-of--town attorney said they wanted the Town to not dissipate the LOST funds that it is holding.   That took about a minute.

Judge Dennis said that this is clearly a case at law and that we are talking about a Town.

DENIED!

Our lawyers never  had to say a thing.

It was all over in a few minutes.