County road tax debate continues in Mauldin

MAULDIN — Proponents and opponents of a 1 percent sales tax hike to pay for road improvements traded barbs today, two weeks before Greenville County voters decide the question in a referendum.

Members of a coalition urging a yes vote on Nov. 4 told reporters that sales tax foes were trying to "disorient" voters and have no plan of their own to fix the county's deteriorating road network.

"It's clear they have no plan," said Bob Knight, leader of Citizens for a Better Greenville County, which favors the sales tax plan. "They have a hope that the General Assembly will fix the problem, which they have not done for 25 years. And as a wise man once said, 'Hope is not a plan.'"

The only alternative to raising the sales tax by 1 percent is "no action, no relief from congestion, no resurfacing and no repair of our roads," Knight said.

A leader of the opposition, however, said the only group misleading the citizens "are the politicians and lobbyists promoting the sales tax."

Dave Schwartz, state director of Americans for Prosperity, which opposes the tax, noted that county officials disclosed only recently that groceries would not be exempt from the tax.

"If they can't be honest during the campaign, how can we possibly trust them to be good stewards of tax dollars after the election?" Schwartz said in a statement issued after the press conference.

County officials have said they were surprised to discover only recently that groceries would not be exempt from the particular sales tax plan they picked out of various options in state law to put up for a countywide referendum.

They have vowed to lobby state lawmakers to change the law and exempt groceries before tax collections could start in May if voters approve the tax.

Knight also said at the press conference that opponents are wrong in claiming that Greenville County Council would be able to spend nearly $700 million expected to be raised by the tax over eight years on anything they choose.

Under state law, he said, county officials can spend the money only on a previously disclosed list of improvements, mostly road and bridge projects, but also some trails and sidewalks.

"There's just no truth to that whatsoever," Knight said. "It clearly says in the state law this money has to be spent on transportation projects. There's no question about that."

But Schwartz insisted that attorneys he's talked with say certain language in the ordinance authorizing the referendum gives "the politicians the authority to spend the money however they want."

Appearing at the press conference with Knight were three Mauldin residents who plan to vote yes.

They are John Whitehead, a Mauldin lawyer; Janice Holcombe, outreach pastor at First Baptist Church of Mauldin; and Wilfredo Leon, publisher of a weekly newspaper for Latinos.