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Josh Morton: Welcome back to Saluda County Unplugged, shining a light on Saluda County Government. I'm Josh. And I'm Rachel, and we're glad you're here. This week, we're going to give you an update on the 2018 Capital Project Sales Tax, also known as the Penny Sales Tax. We're going to talk about what it is, how it works, what it's funded, and what the future could look like. So let's start with the basics. What exactly is a Capital Project Sales Tax? Have questions or an idea for an upcoming episode? Be sure to email us at publicinfo at saluta county dot sc dot gov. And for all you people that were alive before Y2K, don't forget, be kind and rewind. We'll see you next week. Bye. past several years, Saluda County has taken on some major projects from a new detention center to improvements across the community. A lot of that work has been made possible by the capital project sales tax. So today we're taking a closer look at where those projects stand and what comes next. This week on Saluda County Unplugged. Like we said earlier, the County Council can't just decide to implement a Capital Project Sales Tax on their own. There is a formal process that has to be followed. That process starts with the appointment of a Capital Project Sales Tax Commission. This is a group of Saluda County residents who have been appointed by County and Town Councils who are charged with collecting and assessing proposed projects. So the current CPST is set to expire in early 2027 and the county is now exploring the possibility of a new CPST extending the 1 % sales tax on all purchases for up to another 8 years. And just like before that would require a referendum meaning that voters will ultimately Now before we move into the project updates from the 2018 Capital Project Sales Tax Referendum, I think it's important to step back and recognize that there is another type of penny sales tax that is very different from the Capital Project Sales Tax. While the CPST is a temporary tax that is designed to fund specific projects, the Local Option Sales Tax, Okay, so let's talk about where things stand today, starting with the projects funded by the 2018 CPST. Rachel, since we're going down the list in the order that the projects are funded, we'll start with one that I know is near to your heart as the former library manager, and that is the new Saluda County Library. It definitely is. So 125,000 of CPST funds were used to purchase the old Longstruck store on Butler Avenue for the future Saluda County Library to locate. A commission made up of Saluda County residents has been hard at work for several months working through a variety of project proposals and working on a referendum proposal, called the lost tax is ongoing tax that is used to reduce property taxes. So CPST is used for building and improvements. The lost tax is used for tax relief for property owners. And both of these taxes are important for our community, but they completely different purposes. ⁓ And when hear somebody talk about the lost tax, it's not lost. know exactly where it is. The reason why the library hasn't moved yet is because these funds were just for the purchase of the building. The library had to secure additional funds to renovate the building to get it ready for us to move into. the funds have been secured and they are hoping to put the renovation out for bid soon so that they can relocate in the near future. So a capital project sales tax is a 1 % sales tax on all purchases that's used specifically to fund major capital projects, things like buildings, infrastructure, and large improvements that serve the public. It is temporary, with South Carolina law capping it at 8 years maximum, and it's project-based, meaning that funds can only be used for specific projects identified at the very beginning. Funds cannot be used for anything else. Ideas for projects are submitted by the councils, by various departments within our county and town governments, and even from other sources. those projects are then reviewed by the commission to ensure that they meet the requirements set out in state law. They're discussed, they're debated. When you look on your tax bill and you see lost, that doesn't mean anything was lost. That stands for local option sales tax. that sales tax is in place to reduce the property tax burden on property owners. And you want to see the impact that it has on your ⁓ specific bill, you can actually look on your tax bill whenever you receive that in the mail. and then they're prioritized. And the commission chooses projects that will benefit the community as a whole. They place them in priority order and then they submit them to the county council as a proposed referendum. The county council then considers and potentially adopts an ordinance which has to go through multiple readings and all of that just gets us to the place where that referendum can be placed on a ballot. And that is exciting news for our community. I know that our library has long outgrown the current facility and have been looking forward to having a facility that will better meet the needs of the community so that we can continue to provide the much needed library services to our residents. Yeah, and outgrowing a library is an incredible thing to do. It's always good to have everyone in there. If y'all go in on Mondays or Fridays and you go look in where they're doing story time, approved, this new CPST be put in place when the current one expires. There would not be an increase and the overall sales tax in Saluda County would remain at its current rate of 8%. We're a future episode right now to discuss the new proposal ⁓ And the capital project sales tax really is one the most direct ways for citizens to have a say in how their tax dollars are being used because it is one of the very few times when citizens get to vote directly on whether or not to fund the projects. So it can't be used to fund day-to-day operations or any projects that are not on the
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list of projects approved by the voters at the outset. Right. I think that's one of the most important parts of the CPST. It has to be voted on by the citizens of Saluda County. It cannot be implemented by the County Council. And there is an entire process that has to be followed to ensure that the projects are formulated with public input. And that's what we'll be talking about next. Or you can go on the Saluda County website and do a property tax search look up your taxes from last year or this year or whenever. And you look on ⁓ the bill, you'll see where it says local option credit. And that telling you how much of your property tax is being offset by the local option sales tax. But again, that is a separate one cent sales from the capital project sales tax that we're talking about today. They are crammed like sardines into a tiny room and it'll be fantastic to be able to give everyone some room to move around and breathe. absolutely. And another $125,000 was allocated for the construction of an animal shelter in Saluda County. Now, obviously $125,000 is not enough money to construct a full-scale animal shelter. It wasn't enough money in 2018 to construct a full-scale animal shelter. And so this is where and voters decide yes or no on whether to approve the one cent sales tax those specific projects which must be constructed in the priority order recommended in the proposed referendum. And that brings us back to 2018. So in 2018, Saluda County voters were asked to approve a project sales tax. So as discussions move forward, stay informed, ask questions, and be engaged. And that's it for this week's episode of Saluda County Unplugged. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. for up to eight years starting on May the 1st of 2019. And that referendum passed with 53 % of voters voting in favor of the referendum. And this allowed the county to move forward with the projects on that list. And again, this isn't open-ended. The projects were clearly listed so that voters knew exactly what they were supporting by voting in favor of the referendum. the Saluda County Council had to get a little creative in stewarding the funds that were available. So knowing that the 125,000 wouldn't quite be enough to build a full-blown shelter, the County Council partnered with Edgefield County, who was already building an animal shelter starting in 2023, to provide care for stray animals from Saluda County. So they were able to take the 125,000 that was allocated for the animal shelter and construct a smaller temporary shelter within Saluda County where animals can be housed temporarily before they're picked up by their owners or before they're transported to the shelter over in Edgefield County. that partnership has allowed the county to provide animal control services at a much lower cost to the Saluda County taxpayers. ⁓ $175,000 was awarded to the town of Ridge Spring for a downtown revitalization. That project was completed in 2020 and if you ride through downtown Ridge Spring, it is precious. It is super cute. Everyone comments on how pretty downtown Ridge Spring looks. Yeah, it really turned out the town of Saluders recreation district received $50,000 to reconstruct the restrooms at Brooks Rostam Park. And parents, you know, when you have to your kid out to the bathroom, y'all are outside playing. It's always to have ⁓ a nice environment to go into. ⁓ Finally, the largest project funded by the Capital Project Sales Tax is the new Saluda County Detention Center. And this project accounts for the majority of the CPST funding and it is the final project to be completed. And the reason why it is the final project to be completed is knowing how much it would cost and that the projects have to be completed in order. The 2018 Capital Project sales tax commission put the projects in order with the jail being at the end so that the other projects would get constructed before they ran out of money. So that's part of why that was done that way. Now this facility is not 100 % complete yet, but it was substantially completed at the end of March and it will be ready for occupancy within the next few months. And this project wasn't a project that the county just wanted and so they threw on there. It was something that the county had to build. That's right. The State Department of Corrections basically told Saluda County that we had to construct a new detention center to replace the current facility, which has been in place since the 1970s. Back in 2023, Sheriff Josh Price was quoted as saying, facility is just old and worn out and we don't have appropriate space, particularly for women. And this new facility will also create a safer environment for both the inmates and the deputies. And it's a facility that as much as we don't want to have it, we have to have it in our community. So that's a look at where all of the money from the current capital project sales tax has been spent.