Commission Holds Q&A Meeting on Penny Sales Tax

On Tuesday, September 29th members of the Capital Project Sales Tax Commission held a Q&A session.  Local media outlets were invited to attend in person and the event was live streamed on Facebook for others to watch live or later.  

Click here to watch the video.

In the meeting they covered the process year-to-date, the projects included and addressed some key questions.

• Does this hit every part of the county? The tax is applied county wide and there are many projects occurring county wide such as the park renovations.  While the tax is county wide, we can expect approximately 40% of the tax to be paid for by visitors from outside the county.
• How were the projects selected?  There was a specific process and format for submission of projects.  16 out of the 17 projects submitted were accepted so there was about a 94% chance of getting a project approved if the process and documentation was complete.
• Why go the route of getting bonds? If we bond it out and solicit bids for the projects, it is anticipated that bidding on the projects will be aggressive and there may even be some cost savings.  Furthermore, interest rates are expected to remain low which is further incentive to proceed with a bond.

Another Facebook live event is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, October 6th.  More information on that once finalized.

The referendum for a 1-cent Capital Project Sales Tax (CPST) for Laurens County will be on the ballot on November 3rd. The list of 16 projects was approved and ranked in order of importance by a six-person commission and presented to council earlier this year.  To see the proposals as submitted for each project click here.  More information will be provided in the coming weeks.