Greenwood County’s penny tax success to inspire next Abbeville County try
As Greenwood County geared up to put a capital project sales tax in place in November after the levy was approved in referendum by a wide margin, officials in Abbeville County were trying to figure out why their tax was defeated.
Almost a year later, a six-person commission met Thursday to start the process of getting another capital project sales tax on the ballot in Abbeville County in 2018 and is eyeing taking an approach similar to the one taken in Greenwood County.
Greenwood City Manager Charlie Barrineau, who helped organize Greenwood County’s successful bid, said the approach taken by the county and commission responsible for the list of projects played a part in the tax’s success.
“We just felt like, if we’re going to go through this, we’re not just going through it to go through it,” Barrineau said. “The goal was to get it passed. So if it’s got to pass, the more people we got involved on the front end, the greater likelihood it would pass.”
The defeated 1-percent additional sales tax in Abbeville County would have raised $9.6 million for the county over eight years to fund 21 projects — such as a new civic center in Abbeville and water lines in the Starr-Iva area — and in November when it was voted down by a 7-point margin, then County Director David Porter said a similar tax would likely appear on the ballot later.
The Greenwood County tax — which is expected to raise $85 million in eight years to fund 27 projects — was approved by a referendum with 65 percent of the vote.
At the meeting Thursday, David Garner, who replaced Porter as county director in July, put forward a commission structure and marketing strategy similar to the one used for Greenwood County’s successful tax.
Just as was done in Greenwood County, Garner recommended the commission in Abbeville delegate vetting projects falling under its five focus areas — public safety, infrastructure, education and quality of life, economic development, and parks and recreation — to five respective subcommittees.
Greenwood County Manager Toby Chappell said when he and Barrineau were considering a structure for the commission, the subcommittee organization seemed preferable because it brought a larger number of interested parties into the process.
“It allowed us to get more people involved in the process and it allowed us to bring more people who had knowledge of that subject to the table,” Chappell said. “We were able to put a lot of people that had some interest in that area at the table. So it wasn’t all staff trying to make decisions for an organization.”
Garner also recommended the commission consider coordinating with an independent organization, such as the Abbeville Area Chamber of Commerce, to promote the tax.
In Greenwood County, the Greenwood Area Chamber of Commerce did public outreach for the tax through an ad campaign which included a social media presence, public meetings and billboards.
Chappell said the chamber’s outreach was invaluable to the tax’s success.
“It’s almost like different chapters of the same book,” Chappell said. “The first chapter is the project application part, then you have the subcommittee part and then the commission part. And when all their work is done, then the chamber takes over and starts marketing it.”
During Abbeville County’s first attempt to get the tax passed, some opposed it because they believed many of the projects only benefited certain municipalities and should not be paid for through county tax dollars. Harry Stille, the former mayor of Due West and a former state representative, spoke out against the tax in 2016 because he believed each municipality should be responsible for its own projects. He said as the process to form a new list begins, his concerns remain the same.
“If Due West or Abbeville or Calhoun Falls wants something, then they ought to fund it themselves within the domain of their taxable revenue,” he said. “It crosses barriers and, to me, that’s not fair to the taxpayers.”
At the meeting Thursday, Garner said there would have to be a focus on ensuring each project would be a benefit to the county as a whole rather than to an individual area.
Barrineau said when selecting members of the commission and subcommittees, representing every area in the county was an important consideration.
“We literally mapped out where everyone lived in Greenwood County and diligently looked to involve people from every part, from Troy all the way up to Hodges and Ware Shoals and Ninety Six.”
Chappell said the most important thing in Greenwood County was getting everyone involved on the same page.
“The big words that whoever does this model has got to agree to are organization and cooperation,” he said. “You’ve got to cooperate and you can’t get into the mindset of, for example, ‘I’m Ware Shoals and all I care about is what’s good for Ware Shoals,’ because it’s going to fail. It is. You’ve got to get everybody together and to move together.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Oct 19, 2017
By CONOR HUGHES chughes@indexjournal.com