By Ryan Castle, CTAR CEO
The Charleston Trident Association of REALTORS® supports a yes vote on all three Charleston County referendum questions on the November 3 ballot: the renewal of the half-cent transportation sales tax, the transportation bond, and the extension of the school capital sales tax.
Here is why we do, and why we think it matters to your business and your clients.
The real question is how we pay
Roads, schools and infrastructure get paid for one way or another. The question on this ballot is whether that happens through a dedicated sales tax or through property taxes. CTAR strongly supports the sales tax approach.
A sales tax is shared by everyone who uses our roads and benefits from our community, including the millions of visitors who come here every year. A property tax falls on homeowners and businesses alone. It raises the cost of owning a home, it shows up in your buyers’ monthly payments through escrow, and it gets passed along to renters. With affordability already the biggest hurdle for so many of the clients you work with, shifting these costs solely onto property owners is the wrong direction.
A dedicated sales tax also comes with accountability. The money can only be spent on what voters approve, the project lists are public, and the program is audited.
Questions 1 and 2: Roads, transit and the Greenbelt
For more than 20 years, the half-cent transportation sales tax has been the county’s dedicated source of funding for roads, transit and land preservation. If it is not renewed, that money goes away, and there is no realistic replacement other than significant property tax increases and increased costs on home ownership and business formation. Question 1 renews the tax. Question 2 allows the county to borrow against that revenue and build sooner. Construction costs and land prices are rising faster than the interest on the debt, so waiting costs more.
Roads are a quality of life issue. For our members, roads are a business issue. You spend your days driving between showings, closings and listing appointments, and every hour in traffic is time away from clients. But this is about much more than business. Congestion takes time away from families, makes daily life harder, and shapes how people feel about living here. Safer roads, intersection upgrades, drainage improvements and congestion relief make every part of the county a better place to live.
REALTORS® have to be the leading voice on improving the quality of life. We believe the quality of life in Charleston is already good, and we believe it can get better. This referendum is one of the most direct ways to make that happen.
The Greenbelt proves conservation and property rights go together. The Greenbelt program is a pro-property-rights program. It protects farms, forests, wetlands and water quality through voluntary conservation easements and purchases from willing landowners, never through government mandates or restrictions on what people can do with their land. It shows that we do not have to choose between conserving the land that defines the Lowcountry and protecting private property rights. We can do both at the same time, and the Greenbelt has been doing it for two decades.
Lowcountry Rapid Transit is a housing opportunity. The plan continues funding for Lowcountry Rapid Transit (LCRT), the region’s first bus rapid transit line. Beyond moving people, LCRT is one of the best opportunities we have to expand housing affordability. Transit corridors are exactly where “missing middle” housing makes the most sense: townhomes, duplexes, cottage courts and smaller multifamily homes that give first-time buyers, teachers, nurses, first responders and working families more options near where they work.
CTAR has been working on how to backfill housing along the LCRT corridor once the line is built. Learn more at chsmissingmiddle.com.
Question 3: The school penny
The school capital plan reflects the priorities CTAR looks for in any school investment: early childhood education, career and technology education, and planning ahead so our schools keep pace with a growing county and economy.
Early childhood education. The plan adds Universal Pre-K classrooms and replaces the Mary Ford Early Learning center. Strong early learning gives children a better start and gives working families the support they need as we have seen study after study that shows the cost of early childhood education is keeping potential first-time homebuyers locked out of homeownership.
Career and technology education. The plan includes a new career and technology wing at Burke High School. CTE programs connect students directly to good jobs in the skilled trades, health care, manufacturing and other fields our regional employers are working hard to fill.
Planning for growth. The plan builds a new elementary school in West Ashley and adds space at Johns Island Elementary and Lucy Beckham High, along with replacements and renovations for aging schools across the county. As the region’s economy grows, our school infrastructure has to grow with it. Families and employers look at schools when deciding where to live and locate, and keeping pace protects both neighborhoods and property values.
This extension pays for all of this through a dedicated, recurring source of funding. Without it, that money would have to come from property taxes.
It also lowers property taxes today. A portion of the one-percent sales tax pays down existing school debt each year, which lets the district retire debt that would otherwise sit on property tax bills. If the penny is extended, the average Charleston County homeowner will have seen more than $1,000 in property tax savings between their house and their cars. That savings only continues with a yes vote.
What this means for REALTORS®
Traffic, school quality, drainage, green space, water quality, and affordability are part of nearly every conversation you have with clients. This referendum addresses all of them, and it does so without adding to the cost of owning a home or starting up a business.
Vote yes, yes and yes!
Early voting runs Monday, October 19, through Saturday, October 31, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at county early voting centers. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. If you live in Charleston County, please vote yes on all three questions, and share why with your clients, friends and neighbors by using the media provided in the Yes for CHS public folder.