This November, voters in Greenville County will vote on a one-penne sales tax.
During a special meeting, council members voted to send the bill to the ballot box for voters to decide on.
The ballot question, which will be asked alongside citizens’ nominations for president, Congress, state legislature and local government, is: “Should a special sales and use tax of one percent be imposed in Greenville County for not more than eight years to raise the amounts specified for the following purposes?”
The voting question will also refer to the planned projects for road expansion, improving intersections, increasing road safety, relieving traffic jams and bridge and road drainage.
At the end of the ballot question, voters are instructed to vote “yes” if they support the sales tax and “no” if they do not support it.
The bill passed on August 6 by a vote of 8-4, with Council members Benton Blount, Steve Shaw, Stan Tzouvelekas and Rick Bradley voting no. While the Greenville County Council normally only has one meeting in August, council members had to approve the one percent sales tax referendum by mid-August to put it on the ballot. Council members approved the bill, but voters will have the final say on whether or not it is implemented.
If passed, the bill would increase the county’s sales tax from the current 6% to 7%. Greenville County is one of three counties in the state without a local sales tax. It would impose a 1% tax on retail purchases in the county, but exempt items such as gasoline and groceries.
If implemented, more than $1 billion is expected to be raised for road construction projects. The law would take effect from May 1, 2025, to April 30, 2033. Proceeds would be transferred to a separate county account so they would not be combined with other county funds.
The Council would also establish an oversight committee of six Council-appointed members to oversee the projects and funds.
The vote came after a six-member Greenville County Capital Project Sales Tax Commission created a list of more than 1,400 road construction projects, along with 31 road safety and congestion relief projects and road-related drainage projects, that it will fund. Last December, the council passed a resolution initiating a countywide inventory of all non-interstate roads and bridges maintained by the county, the state and the five cities within the county.
Greenville County has begun collecting sales tax to address deteriorating roads, most of which are in mediocre or poor condition, according to the county.
In September, Assistant County Administrator for Community Development and Planning Tee Coker and Assistant County Administrator for Engineering and Public Works Hesha Gamble presented the condition of the roads to the council, saying they were deteriorating and expected to only get worse.
More: “Decades of underinvestment”: Greenville County’s roads are falling into disrepair. There is no easy solution.
“We are dealing not just with years but decades of underinvestment,” Coker said.
The county has 1,800 miles of roads, more than any other county in the state, but only 28 to 32 miles can be paved each year.
Greenville County spends approximately $78 million annually from a variety of sources, including the state Department of Transportation ($27 million) and the county Transportation Committee’s fund from state gasoline taxes ($4 million).
The county allocates $12 million of its annual budget to roads, the least of any county. Charleston County, for example, allocates just over $100 million of its budget to roads.
Greenville County spends less than $50 per capita on roads each year. By comparison, Spartanburg spends about $75 per capita, and Charleston spends just over $350 per capita.
According to TRIP, a nonprofit organization that studies transportation issues, the state ranked last in 2022 in the number of traffic fatalities per vehicle mile traveled. In 2023, the South Carolina Department of Public Safety found that Greenville County was second only to Spartanburg County in having the “higher number of traffic fatalities.”
Council members disagree on financing of road construction projects
All council members agreed that the county’s roads are in a terrible state. However, not all council members agreed that the penny sales tax was the right solution.
“The truth is, this is double taxation. We’re paying the state to pave something it’s already been paid for,” Blount said last month, arguing that since the state imposes a tax on gasoline that’s supposed to generate money for road construction, the county shouldn’t impose another tax.
Some council members also disliked the fact that there are also state roads underneath the streets.
Other council members said the referendum must reach taxpayers because county council members would not impose the tax with their votes, but would simply submit it to citizens for a decision.
“As bad as the roads are right now, every Greenville County resident should have a say in this,” said Chris Harrison, an outgoing Republican city council member who voted for the measure.
The county has published a list of roads approved by the commission to be paved. The projects include:
- $473,919,000 for road improvement, repaving and reconstruction projects
- $216,100,000 for 51 intersection improvement projects
- $313,200,000 for 31 road safety and congestion reduction projects
- $43,613,000 for 37 bridge and road drainage projects.
Savannah Moss covers politics for the Greenville News. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her @Savmoss.
