A ten-dollar-a-year increase in the road maintenance fee will start showing up on Greenville County tax bills in January. It was reluctantly approved by County Council Tuesday night.
There is unanimous agreement that the county's roads are in chaotic condition, but the vote to impose the increase was seven to five. Councilman Joe Dill said the decision is "bad timing," with a lawsuit still pending from the last attempt to raise road money.
He refers to a citizen-filed suit claiming the county should refund money collected before the State Supreme Court ruled the 2017 road use fee was unlawful. The General Assembly has since adopted legislation legalizing the fee, so it will increase by ten dollars a year to twenty-five, limited to two years.
That will generate about fourteen million dollars a year, a fraction of the billions Public Works engineers estimate it will take to repair and maintain the county's roads. Councilman Ennis Fant says a one-cent sales tax increase would be a better idea. That would collect revenue from residents and visitors.
