Lexington County must pay for needed road work, officials say. The question is how
Lexington County is moving forward with plans for a new $30 vehicle registration fee, which county officials say could ultimately be waved if voters approve a one-cent sales tax they have rejected twice already.
A council committee meeting Tuesday was dominated by discussion of how the county can address its crumbling infrastructure, with two alternatives up for debate — the planned road user fee from every registered vehicle in the county, or a one-cent sales tax that could go on the ballot as soon as 2026.
"The penny has to pass sometime for us to do what we got to do," said Councilman Darrell Hudson.
Lexington County has long had an issue with its roadways, especially as it continues to be one of the fastest growing parts of the state , and the county has tried to find ways to finance improvements. A 2023 study found that that 38% of the county's roadways were in "fair" or "poor" condition, and that by the end of the decade 70% of the roads would be in such condition without action.
A proposed list of penny tax projects was put to county voters in 2022, which would have funded an estimated $500 million of work . But that proposal was voted down 55% to 45%, as was a similar proposal put to a referendum in 2014.
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In the absence of that sales tax, Lexington County has moved to introduce another way of raising money to pay for road repairs, a $30 annual fee on the 300,000 vehicles registered in the county. County council already gave initial approval to that idea in April, and agreed to move forward with a public hearing on the idea Tuesday.
The fee would raise an estimated $8 million annually, compared to some $500 million expected to be raised during the eight years of the penny tax.
Hudson told his fellow council members he's tried to find alternate funding sources for road maintenance, working with the Central Midlands Council of Governments. But he's come to believe a penny tax is the best way to meet the county's needs. Despite the previous vote being oriented strictly toward local road improvements without any additional projects, Hudson thinks council members may have to get even more involved in the details.
"We need to find road-only projects that benefit your districts," he said. "We need to get more personally involved in what our communities' want."
Ultimately the project list will be drawn up by a commission appointed by the county and municipalities, with the council having final say over the list. Last time, council members struck some municipal requests that were not directly related to road maintenance to try to make it more appealing to skeptical voters. County Administrator Lynn Sturkie told members any process that might put a new list in front of voters by 2026 would have to get underway soon.
The council members who support the user fee want to be sure voters see it as a trade-off. The road user fee could be dropped in the future, if a penny tax is ultimately approved.
"We talked about a road maintenance fee, and if the penny is on the '26 ballot, then it goes away," said Council Chairwoman Beth Carrigg, adding that the only question is "what's the number" the council adopts to charge for vehicle registrations.
Hudson said county officials would ultimately have to take responsibility for local roads without depending on state money to fix them.
"The state's made clear it's going to focus on interstates and bridges," Hudson said.
