Input guides redrafts of proposed Charleston County sales tax plan

Charleston County Council members say they are waiting with bated breath for the first round of public input on the first draft of its 2026 half-penny transportation sales tax referendum.

The council voted Feb. 19 to advance a draft of how to spend the $4.25 billion that the tax would raise by sending it to the public ahead of a March survey. The current draft, which will be taken up again by the council in April, includes adjusted allocations and a list of specific projects proposed for funding under the program. County leaders say the working document is subject to change, and public input will guide those changes every step of the way.

“It’s this public involvement I knew we had to have from day one,” new Charleston County Council Chairman Joe Boykin told the Charleston City Paper this week. “Now we just have to stay the course and continue to receive that engagement and involvement.”

The 2026 draft framework builds on months of engagement, including more than 29,000 individual public comments received by county staff, 600 project ideas submitted to county leaders and about $68 billion in identified transportation needs across the county. But the new surveys mark a fresh round of public input from constituents on the draft referendum.

“The level of responses we’ve already gotten means we are getting the word out, and people are engaging,” Boykin said. “We are getting the desired result, and now, we just have to listen. And I’m waiting with bated breath to see what people tell us.”

Vice Chairman Larry Kobrovsky agreed, adding that balancing the needs of constituents from different areas of the county is a challenge, but an important one. He said that the public input process is paramount to making sure that everyone’s needs are addressed in a way that matters.

“The needs of North Charleston aren’t the same as the needs in Mount Pleasant or West Ashley,” he said. “But we have to make a real impact in all of those areas because we’re all in this together. … No process is going to be perfect to satisfy everybody, but we have to try to come up with the best plan to address the needs of the county in a way that changes people’s lives for the better.”

By the numbers

If approved by voters in November, the proposed referendum would generate about $4.25 billion over 25 years. The county’s combined tax would then come up to a full penny thanks to another tax referendum passed in 2016. The 2016 tax is set to expire in 2042. Under the current draft for the new half-cent, $2.7 billion (63.52%) would be for roads; $860 million (20.24%) for public transit, including $25 million for implementation of a downtown route study; and $690 million (16.24%) for the county’s Greenbelt Program.

Charleston County has collected about $4.56 billion for roads, bridges, transit and greenspace through the two previously approved tax referendums in 2004 and 2016. About $3.4 billion of that comes directly from taxes collected, 30% of which comes from non-Charleston County residents, such as tourists. Some $1.17 billion has been collected in matching funds and leveraged grants.

Boykin pointed to projects listed on the current draft, such as the U.S. Highway 17 South widening project, which would lead into ongoing infrastructure projects like Main Road improvements that will create a network of accessibility greater than the sum of its parts.

“If the widening of Savannah Highway happens, it will include a multi-use path,” he said, “It will intersect the Main Road corridor multi-use path all the way down to Bees Ferry, and that links to Glenn McConnell, and suddenly, we’re getting tons of connectivity for pedestrians all over the place.”

Funds from the tax program have already been used to protect more than 26,000 acres of greenspace, one of the most important impacts of the tax funds, Kobrovsky said.

“I think the Greenbelt and greenspace money is vital to everyone here,” he said. “What people have seen disappear in the last 10 years — we’re on track to double that. … If we don’t put this land off strategically, there won’t be any rural Charleston left. So it’s not just greenspace for greenspace. It’s how we keep development from overwhelming us.”

A new approach

The draft referendum and included public input period is a dramatic shift in process from the previously proposed 2024 referendum, which was rejected by 61.4% of voters. The referendum was voted down by every precinct on James and Johns islands, where about half the funds from the tax plan (about $2.3 billion) would have gone for the extension of Interstate 526. Since its overwhelming defeat, county leaders have completely cut the uber-expensive project from the referendum.

“The easiest place for us to start with the new referendum was with how well it did in 2024, and the answer is not well at all,” Boykin said. “You should learn from your mistakes, and you should be able to take criticism and direction from the voters. … So now, we have a new draft. It’s by no means perfect, but I think it’s getting us in the right direction.”

While supporters of the I-526 extension project said it was vital for traffic relief in West Ashley and parts of the sea islands, it didn’t impact all of Charleston County, Boykin said. And with that large of a price tag, he explained, it really ought to have.

Kobrovsky said the long public input process should be key to ensuring that everyone in the county is supported through the tax program.

“I am a big advocate of listening to the mayors and town councils of different localities because nobody knows their areas better than them,” he said. “We need to listen to them and be responsible to their needs because they are hearing from people on a wider basis. That is invaluable, and I don’t feel that was done last time.”