10/22/2024
Brian Hicks on how Half truths can stop road improvements in Charleston County. There’s truth in what he says.
Hicks: Half-truths could doom the half-cent sales tax, and perpetuate our growing gridlock
* By Brian Hicks [email protected]
* Oct 20, 2024
It’s kind of scary watching the left, Mount Pleasant and all those Exchange Club guys join forces.
They're battling elected officials, West Ashley residents and the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce over the proposed half-cent transportation sales tax.
Who do you root for there?
Well, depends on how much you enjoy gridlock.
These disparate factions have their reasons to oppose the county's third sales tax on the Nov. 5 ballot, few of which have anything to do with our actual problems.
The Exchange Club wants to hurt CARTA because the public transportation agency wouldn’t let it renege on a land deal. Don’t ask; it’s complicated.
Mount Pleasant doesn't see enough in this for the town … probably because the county already tackled its biggest traffic problems.
Remember the nine-figure improvements to Johnnie Dodds? Or the Ravenel Bridge, which the county’s still paying for? Or Highway 41, funded by the previous sales tax but unbuilt because locals can't agree on its route?
The left (actually, an assortment of environmentalists and non-commuting Johns Islanders) wants to save the island from developers.
Since the last time they derailed 526 — when it would've cost a quarter as much — Johns Island’s population and number of homes has gone up 150%.
Turns out, developers don’t really care about adequate infrastructure. They’ll build anyway. Because, demand.
By decade's end, Johns Island's population will have doubled in 20 years ... with the same two ways on and off the island.
So, great job guys.
Now, we're all entitled to our own opinion … and these days too many think that includes their own facts. And these anti-tax campaigns are rife with facts that sound damning — when extenuating circumstances and pertinent details are omitted.
Let’s look at those.
The county hasn’t finished most projects from the last transportation sales tax.
True — it just broke ground on that Main Road flyover promised in 2016. But that argument only works if voters don't understand how the tax works, or how long road construction takes.
The county has completed two-thirds of the projects from its first two transportation sales taxes. The rest are underway.
Know why they aren’t done? Because the county finances projects as the money's collected. It’s called pay-as-you-go, and the county started this with the second round of sales tax projects to avoid overloading its bonding capacity ... and paying more interest with our money. So far, it's saved taxpayers about $200 million.
And, frankly, you can only do so much at once. One reason the flyover's behind is the county had trouble attracting bidders. Too much work out there.
The transportation sales tax will cost a family $1,200 per year.
Absolutely true … if your family spends $240,000 annually on local taxable items. The average family, however, will pay just shy of $10 a month.
Which they're already paying, since this referendum extends an existing tax.
Greenbelt projects will be shortchanged.
Also true, if nearly a half-billion dollars is shortchanging anyone. That's just funning with statistics.
This referendum dedicates $432 million to greenbelt projects, slightly more than the first two referendums combined. But it's a smaller percentage because this referendum is twice the size of the last one.
And it's only that big because 526 delays drove up the road's cost so much. Which brings us to …
This is all about extending 526 to Johns Island.
Actually, it's one-third about 526. A few points about that.
• Not building the road when it would've cost $500 million to $700 million absolutely did not stop growth on Johns Island (see above statistics). It has simply driven 20% of West Ashley roads over-capacity, because all the new Johns Island residents drive through it to get to their jobs downtown or in North Charleston.
• Despite misleading studies, 526 would save up to 40 minutes on a commute between Johns Island and downtown, and nearly an hour between the island and North Charleston. That 20-second malarkey includes trips between Citadel Mall and, say, Outback.
• No bike lane or public transportation is going to make a meaningful difference to congestion. Sorry, it just isn’t — even the S.C. Department of Transportation says so. You try commuting from Maybank and River Road to MUSC on a 10-speed in this climate.
• The populations of West Ashley, James Island and Johns Island are projected to grow by 63% in the next 25 years, highway or no. That's your reality check.
Remember, a lot of these same folks opposed the James Island connector. How would life around here be without that now?
So, vote against the sales tax if you want. Just understand you'll continue to sit in traffic that's gonna get worse.
Because, as we’ve established, lack of supporting infrastructure got us into this mess, yet it doesn’t stop development in South Carolina.
But half-truths can stop road improvements dead in their tracks.
