CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – Those both for and against the transportation sales tax are making their last-ditch effort to sway undecided voters.
Two separate news conferences were held on Wednesday. The first urged voters to vote yes and the second urged voters to vote no.
If the tax is renewed, Charleston County residents would pay a half-cent sales tax for 25 years, starting in 2027. From that money, $5.4 billion will go toward 22 large-scale transportation, drainage and greenbelt projects.
Officials for the tax say the renewal is necessary to fund several projects that will relieve traffic congestion and accidents.
They believe voting no is a vote to kill Charleston’s transportation program.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with some agenda, we just need to get it done,” North Charleston Mayor Reggie Burgess said. ”If we can get it done, the county, city and state can do so much more around that. It’s time, it’s time.”
Vice Chairwoman Jenny Honeycutt is in favor of the tax and says there’s a lot more to do as the county continues to grow.
“One of the very misleading messages is that parts of the county may not gain as much from this, but we are regionally connected, and it has always been our priority to make sure every area is represented,” Honeycutt said. “In other sales taxes, east of the Cooper has seen much more improvement while Johns Island and south parts of Charleston haven’t, and now it’s their turn.”
Officials against the tax say the only project listed as a priority is the Mark Clark Extension, which will consume almost half of the entire 2024 tax and lead to overdevelopment.
Councilman Larry Kobrovsky is voting no and wants to see council to create something that covers all needs of the county in a fiscally responsible manner.
“They are hundreds of millions of dollars short of being able to build those other things and they aren’t committed to it, those other projects are just a wish list,” Kobrovsky said. ”There’s no way of knowing whether or not it’s going to be done. I ask people to vote now and make us come back with something that is definite.”
The decision is up to the voters, and we’ll know what they’ve decided in less than a week.
For more information on the referendum, click here.
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