By Betsy Finklea
Mayor Tally McColl came before the Dillon County Council on Wednesday, April 22 to request that the Dillon County Council put a referendum on the November ballot asking the voters to approve or disapprove adding a one percent capital sales tax.
“This proposal isn’t just about raising funds, it’s about investing in the long-term growth, safety, and prosperity of our county,” McColl said.
“Over the past several years because of this council’s efforts, we’ve made great strides in our community in attracting new businesses, improving infrastructure, and enhancing the quality of life for all residents,” McColl said. “However, we continue to face challenges that require long-term sustainable funding.” Within our three municipalities and around our entire county, we face challenges funding needs we have like water and wastewater, McColl said. We need new frontage roads to attract tourism and new retail development. We need emergency services and emergency equipment. We need projects that cannot be funded in our current budget and can only be funded in a penny sales tax that we are requesting that you put on the ballot in November.
“A one-cent sales tax would provide a fair and effective way to address these needs for the citizens and visitors alike,” said McColl. The beauty of a tax like this is that it takes the burden off of your property owners and it lets everyone who participates in our economy pay the one-cent tax, he said.
Over the next seven years, this penny sales tax could raise upwards from $25 to $30 million. Of that money, 40-45 percent would be paid by people who do not live in Dillon County.
“We are one of the very, very few counties in South Carolina who have not initiated a penny sales tax,” said McColl. “Placing this on the November ballot gives the citizens a chance to have their voices heard. This is about transparency, accountability, and community choice,” said McColl.
“The citizens of Dillon need a chance to decide if they agree with this path forward,” said McColl, who stressed that this is the only way to fund these costly needs for our county.
McColl urged the council to seriously consider placing this referendum on the ballot in November.
McColl said this has been talked about for two years. He said these items are going to have to be done eventually, but this is an opportunity to let everyone share in the payment including non-citizens of Dillon County.
The council did not make a decision as to whether they would place it on the ballot at this meeting.
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