Index-Journal withdraws FOI request to county over CPST data

Greenwood’s daily newspaper has rescinded a Freedom of Information Act request to county officials that sought more details about the process used to generate the $87.9 million dollar amount placed on 2016 ballots as part a capital project sales tax initiative.

The Index-Journal on Sept. 9 asked county leaders for “any materials used to calculate the latest projection of the Capital Project Sales Tax; From July 1, 2018 to today, any correspondences to or from Josh Skinner, Toby Chappell or the Treasurer’s Office pertaining to the collection of the Capital Project Sales Tax, to include projections of future collections; Documentation pertaining to the eight quarterly checks received thus far from the current Capital Project Sales Tax; and records pertaining to how money has been spent or disbursed thus far from the funds collected from the Capital Project Sales Tax.”

During a Tuesday County Council meeting, Chappell, the county manager, answered several of those questions. Under state law, the penny sales tax can be assessed for 8 years or until the $87.9 million figure is reached.

The Index-Journal withdrew its FOI request on Thursday after the presentation addressed many of the points included in the newspaper’s query.

In late August, county officials acknowledged that revenue was lagging behind projections by as much as $20 million, prompting a nearly 6,000-word report by the Index-Journal that ran Sept. 8 exploring the issue further.

Tuesday, Chappell and other county leaders said they expect the 1-cent tax to vastly outperform that conservative $67.9 million estimate, which if realized would leave 10 of the 27 projects on ice.

“The number $20 million has been thrown around in the media recently. Is it possible that the 2016 capital project sales tax will be $20 million short in 2025? The short answer is yes. However, it’s also possible that you win the South Carolina Powerball at 1 in 292 million odds, and it’s possible that FERC may approve our fuse plug issue, but it’s not likely,” Chappell said.

On Sept. 10, the state Office of Revenue and Fiscal Affairs, in response to a question by county leaders about how much a 1-cent tax could generated, provided an estimate of $5.81 million in first-year collections.

But since Greenwood County brought in $8.4 million worth of sales tax dollars in 2010 through a 2007 penny tax initiative, officials asked for a second look at the numbers.

And on Sept. 30, 2015, Chappell said, the state came back with an updated projection of $9.5 million.

Extrapolating that across eight years, Chappell said, gave the county a baseline figure of $76 million.

As a hand-picked committee waded through applications, the costs of projects making the cut were recalibrated to take into account inflation and annual growth, adding about $11 million to the number, for a cap of $87.9 million.

For a $20 million shortfall to take place, “you’d have to have catastrophic economic events to occur, none of which the county knows of or anticipates,” Chappell said.

To date, $17.52 million has been raised since the tax took effect on May 1, 2017.

Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Sep 19, 2019

By ADAM BENSON abenson@indexjournal.com

Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/news/index-journal-withdraws-foi-request-to-county-over-cpst-data/article_cb0cce80-1f67-5101-ba94-9c95b56b955b.html