It’ll take a $250 million loan to keep these Richland road projects on schedule

To keep long-promised Richland County road construction projects afloat, county taxpayers will take out a loan for $250 million early next year.

Road projects are moving along faster than the county is collecting money from its 1 percent transportation sales tax. Taking out a $250 million loan, or bond, will allow many construction projects to continue without delay over the next few years, officials say.

Richland County Council members approved borrowing the money Tuesday night.

Without the loan, a number of high-profile projects would have to be delayed up to two years, according to officials overseeing the transportation penny program. They include the widening of Bluff, Shop, Atlas and Pineview roads, Lower Richland Boulevard, and Spears Creek Church Road in Elgin.

Richland County voters agreed in 2012 to initiate the $1.07 billion, 20-plus-year transportation penny sales tax program. At the same time, they also gave the county permission to borrow up to $450 million that would be paid back with future revenues from the sales tax.

“We’re borrowing this money to get the work done quicker and to save the county money in the long run,” Councilwoman Dalhi Myers said.

Now that money for road projects will be available as soon as possible, Myers wants the county to ensure that the work gets done as soon as possible, too, she said.

County administrator Gerald Seals had cautioned County Council members against the loan, warning it will cost the county some $16 million in interest and borrowing fees. And that’s $16 million that won’t be able to go toward road projects, which already are ballooning in costs compared to original estimates.

Councilman Norman Jackson said he worried those interest costs could rise much higher.

He and councilman Bill Malinowski were the only two out of 11 council members to vote Tuesday against borrowing the money.

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 7:52 PM with the headline "It’ll take a $250 million loan to keep these Richland road projects on schedule."