Let’s get more signatures for this petition

OUR ONE CHANCE TO BE HEARD

On Nov. 3, Beaufort County is seeking approval for a $780 million Referendum for road projects. At the same time, Hilton Head Town Council just approved its Corridor Master Plan costing $125.8 million. Together, these total nearly $906 million, which, with inflation and cost overruns, will easily reach One Billion Dollars. Unfortunately, these proposals both have the same fatal flaws:

1 - They provide broad lists or plans, but the plans are not sufficiently mature to assure that the projects can actually be delivered on time and on budget. Officials seem more concerned with selling than delivering projects.

2 - The officials behind them avoid detailed public input and scrutiny, and avoid answering basic questions.

Past results from this bunch have been hopelessly disappointing. 

For example, after almost 8 years, the County has completed only 6 of their promised 34 projects from the 2018 referendum. How can they now handle 87 projects? The County also vastly changed and expanded the scope of its bridge project after our referendum vote, finally causing it to crash when it ran out of funds.

It is no wonder that the Editors of The State said in 2024: “Beaufort County wants to raise your taxes. But it can’t be trusted with your money”. 

This Nov. 3 is our one chance to get past the politicians' back-room planning and 3-minute sham public comment periods. Here is how I would use it: 

County $780 Million Sales Tax Referendum 

I would VOTE NO, because the list of 87 projects is too large, too hard to manage, and too easily manipulated. The referendum is too loosely worded and permits projects to be changed, de-prioritized, and other pet projects to be slipped in, without public approval. 

For example, words at the head of the ballot project list stating “not limited to” are a recipe for a $780 million blank check. Their so-called Citizen’s Oversight Committee can also be easily overwhelmed by County politics.

If you vote Yes, it will be impossible to go back. You will have given the County a blank check and thrown away 9 years of your control and choices. They will assume you approved all the projects, and anything they add or change, and ignore further input.

If you vote No, there will be many next opportunities, including hopefully, a smaller list of well- planned better locked-in projects, overseen by outside unbiased project managers who are not afraid to say the train is running off the tracks.

Hilton Head Town Council Election

For years, we have watched Town Council flounder, without a plan for the Town portion of the 278 Corridor. As a result, the Town basically agreed to whatever the County wanted - taking their leftovers. That is one of the reasons that, despite paying 31% of sales taxes into the County, Hilton Head received nothing in promised congestion relief when the bloated County 278 project crashed due to scope expansion, overspending,  and poor management. 

Finally, concerned citizens had to intervene with Senator Davis to force the town to develop its own Corridor Master Plan. But what did we get?

First, we got a so-called independent review, dominated by Mayor Perry, basically supporting  County plans. Then we got a secret study over many months and unknown costs, using embedded town consultants and carefully orchestrated (unethical) 2 by 2 meetings of Town council, set up by Mayor Perry to avoid a quorum, avoid public oversight, and avoid public input.

That smells like a textbook case of zero transparency and an incestuous relationship with inbred non-independent consultants. 

Their plan proposes to spend $125.8 million on questionable projects that work only in one direction and avoid the full scope of our problem, including efficient CIP links. I believe that we can do much better, including better traffic management and better safety, with less community impact, if we conduct an open study using outside experts, instead of an inbred one with Mayor Perry’s hands on the scales.

His deliberate efforts to avoid transparency, and manipulate the study and scales, make me believe that it is time for Mayor Perry to be replaced. 

Looking at the field, I would recommend Dave Ferguson. He has the most management experience, no Realtor ties, and has committed to form a Citizen and expert team to more closely and transparently look at options to solve the Town’s corridor problems, over their actual scope.

Steven M. Baer, former Member of Beaufort County Council 2007 - 2013