Dorchester County Council pushes amendments to one-cent sales tax to final reading

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Dorchester County Council is pushing amendments regarding a one-cent sales tax to a third reading.

Dorchester County Council members say they want the language on the tax to be transparent to the voters who will decide on the tax in a referendum on the November ballot.

They voted unanimously at Monday’s meeting to push one-cent sales tax amendments to a third reading. One of the amendments would remove the Ladson Road Extension from the list of projects the tax would help fund.

“It’s just really a project that hasn’t had the proper vetting to be able to put it on the list,” Dorchester County Council Vice Chairman Jay Byars said. “All the other projects have been talked about for years. They’ve been vetted out. That project just has not been vetted. It was an idea, but it’s something that needs a lot more work before it’s actually put in the public.”

Another amendment adds language about encouraging commuting on paths by biking or walking, on the Sawmill Branch Trail in Summerville for example, to help get traffic off roads. Byars says they wanted the greenspace language to focus on greenspace to buy and conserve property and moved the trail language to the part about infrastructure, so they can build more bike paths and pedestrian trails.

David Chinnis, who represents District 2, says he hopes all the counties can work together to make construction happen at the same time on the road projects to avoid more traffic.

“Highway 78, Dorchester Road, Highway 61, all of these roads across multiple counties working together collaboratively to help all of our citizens is ultimately the goal here,” Chinnis said. “So, hopefully, we can do that.”

Council will have a third reading on the amendments on Oct. 17. Chinnis says it’s possible to see additional amendments still made before the November election.

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