School Board and County Council Scheduled Conflict to Raise Taxes
Greenville County Council and the Greenville County School Board were obsessed with raising taxes at their Tuesday, June 3 meetings. Could it have been a coincidence that the School Board scheduled their special called-meeting to raise taxes again at the exact same time that the County Council was holding a public hearing and vote on the largest proposed tax increase in county history?
The School board voted 9 to 2 to raise property taxes by 4.9 mills for operating expenses. The board has raised taxes 21.8 mills in only 5 years with all incumbent board members being returned to office.
Roger Meek, one of the trustees voting for the tax increase and up for election this year, said the increase is necessary just to maintain the same level of education for children.
Superintendent Burke Royster said all district employees would get at least a 2 percent pay increase this year. The teacher raise is funded by the State. Royster said the millage increase would only cost the owner of the average car no more than an additional 84 cents on their tax bill. The average car used as the basis for that estimate was an eleven -year-old Ford or Honda. Owners of newer cars, boats, rental property and small businesses will take the hardest hit from the school tax increase.
Lynda Leventis Wells and Pat Sudduth were the only board members to vote against the increase. Both Wells and Sudduth are up for reelection this year.
Only two citizens opposed to the tax increase attended the public hearing and gave their views a few minutes before the final vote was cast by the twelve-member board.
On the same evening, Greenville County Council by a vote of 8 to 3 voted to put a one-cent sales tax increase on the ballot in November. The measure passed is called the “Transportation Projects Funding Referendum Ordinance.” Due to the death of a council member, District 26 was not represented. The sales tax increase will bring in $67 million to the county budget the first year and continue for the next eight years.
The Ordinance that was passed was described as: “An Ordinance to levy and impose a one percent (1%) Sales and Use Tax, subject to a referendum within Greenville County pursuant to Section 4-37-30 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, as amended; to define the purposes and designate the projects for which the proceeds of the tax may be used; to provide the maximum time for which such tax may be imposed; to provide the estimated cost of the projects to be funded from the proceeds of the tax; to provide for a county-wide referendum on the imposition of the sales and use tax and prescribe the contents of the ballot question; to provide for the conduct of the referendum by the Greenville County Election Commission; to provide for the administration of the tax, if approved; and other matters related thereto.”
A public hearing was held prior to the final vote on the referendum. Thirty-minutes were allowed for each side of the issue. The proponents of the tax increase spoke first. They represented special interests that in most instances would expect to benefit from the tax hike. Homebuilders, Bike Clubs, environmentalists, realtors and sidewalk advocates made up most of the list of speakers in favor of the tax. At least three of the advocates were members of the commission that developed the plan and another trio spoke of the need for sidewalks at Duncan Chapel Elementary School where a child was allegedly allowed to get in the street and was hit by a car.
Their theme was mostly to allow voters to decide if they want a tax hike. The themes of “letting voters decide,” and doing it “for the children” are winning strategies. For 50-years the slogan “give women the right to choose” has been very successful in deceiving the public. “Give women the right to kill their unborn babies” would not work.
The mantra, “its for the children” has been successfully used by liberal activists and change agents across the nation and locally to raise taxes almost annually, accrue hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and convert once locally controlled education centers into federal government and special interest foundations controlled indoctrination centers.
Advocates believe that getting the referendum on the ballot was the toughest hurdle. They believe that with their coalition of organizations they can persuade or apply pressure to enough voters to ensure passage. The list provides something for almost everyone except for the individuals who are going to pay most of the taxes.
Those hurt most by a 16 percent sales tax increase will be the elderly on fixed incomes, young working families not on welfare and retail merchants.
Some customers who are purchasing large appliances, furniture, mechanical equipment, and clothing will go to Spartanburg County where the sales tax is less to save $15, $20, $30, or $100 on a purchase. When this happens, Greenville County retailers lose business and the County actually loses tax revenue.
Elderly citizens on fixed income have cried before County Council and pleaded for them to abandon the sales tax increase. The majority of Council that has consistently advocated the tax increase ignored their pleas. Patricia Taylor, became so upset by the lack of concern for the elderly on fixed-income, that she is mounting a petition campaign to get on the ballot and challenge Councilman Fred Payne in the General Election. Payne is one of the strongest and outspoken advocates for the sales tax increase.
Several opponents of the sales tax increase recognized that 8 council members were going to support the tax increase referendum regardless of what citizens said. As a result, members of the South Carolina Chapter of Americans for Prosperity decided to use part of their three-minute time allotment to protest the 8 with a moment of silence. Council would not allow silence by the speakers and when sheriff deputies began to move in, the speakers left the podium.
