After nearly a half-hour discussion March 12, Lancaster City Council opted to table the resolution to support Lancaster County’s 1% transportation sales tax initiative, which will likely be on the November ballot as a referendum.
Matt Berry, director of sanitation and maintenance operations, presented a list of 30 proposed roads in need of repair. The resolution was to support the referendum and endorse the list of city projects to be included.
Council was frustrated that despite being a large funding source for the county, the city would receive little in return.
City Administrator Flip Hutfles said his understanding of the reason behind the proposed referendum is the county’s desire to get U.S. 521 widened in the Panhandle. Hutfles said the S.C. Department of Transportation has not prioritized the funding for this project.
Half of the funds from the additional 1% sales tax is expected to fund that project, Hutfles said. The remaining funds will go toward maintenance of 1,400 miles of roads.
Mayor Alston DeVenny said the city has no funding sources for road paving, while the county has the 1% sales tax and the County Transportation Committee. With half the money being used up immediately, he wanted the road list to be prioritized.
“In essence, we are voting to support passing the 1% sales tax referendum on the November ballot, but can’t prioritize our road needs,” he said. “How can we support this when we are a huge collector of sales tax and then hand it over to them and get one or two roads fixed?”
Councilor Jackie Harris supported his stance.
“We should get our fair share if we pay into this,” she said. “We pay county taxes as part of the county.”
If passed, the 1% sales tax would be in place for 25 years and is estimated to raise $375 million. Of this amount, an estimated $210 million will be used for widening U.S. 521 from S.C. 75 north to the state line.
The other widening projects are Harrisburg Road from S.C. 160 to the state line, Barberville Road from S.C. 160 to state line, Henry Harris Road from U.S. 521 to Marvin Road, Calvin Hall Road from S.C. 160 to state line and Riverside Road.
This will leave about $50 million for remaining county/SCDOT/municipal roads.
New website
Council got its first look at the newly designed and interactive city website. City clerk Tracy Rabon demonstrated a visual walk-through of the website which is still under construction.
New features include a citizen request tracker, which sends residents’ requests or complaints to appropriate departments. Real-time updates will keep resident and departments informed of progress. If no action is taken on the request within a set time period, the city administrator will be notified electronically.
Other new features include an employee portal for news and job postings. Citizens will be able to personalize the website to fit their needs. A user-friendly calendar will link to See Lancaster events, providing details of each event.
Each department will assign an employee to keep their pages current. Rabon said posts on the website will simultaneously post on social media. Official release is expected in three to four months.
Annexations
In other business, city council voted unanimously to approve final readings on two annexing ordinances.
One ordinance was necessary to have water and sewer services reconnected to property at 734 W. Brooklyn Ave. Service was disconnected 12 months ago. City code requires a resident to execute a utility service annexation agreement if the structure has been without water and sewer for six consecutive months.
Annexing the $63,900 appraised property will generate $775 in property tax for the city and will not place any additional burden on police, fire and utilities.
The second ordinance will grow the city by nearly 3 acres. The property is located in the vicinity of 1701 Evans Drive. Owner Howard Strickland Jr. plans to subdivide the parcel into three single-family residential homes.
The city will provide police, fire and trash services. While it is just past the outer edge of the fire department’s 1.5 miles of coverage, the fire chief does not anticipate any issues.
The potential appraised values of the three houses is $975,000 and will generate nearly $8,000 annually in property tax.
