Former SC Secretary of Commerce Joe Taylor seriously weighing Columbia Council run
For years, former South Carolina Secretary of Commerce Joe Taylor has been an interested party when it comes to the politics of the city of Columbia, often donating to campaigns and penning editorials about the business climate of the city.
But now it appears he might be ready to take his municipal government inclinations one step further.
Taylor, the businessman and developer who was the state Secretary of Commerce from 2005 to 2011, told The State he is “very, very seriously” considering a run for Columbia City Council in District 4.
The District 4 seat currently is held by Daniel Rickenmann. However, after Mayor Steve Benjamin announced he wouldn’t seek reelection this year, Rickenmann announced he’d be seeking the mayoral post.
District 4 is in the northeastern part of the city, and includes neighborhoods like Kings Grant, Lake Katherine and Gregg Park. Taylor lives in the Tanglewood neighborhood.
Taylor said he would likely make a final decision on his council run later this spring. News of his interest in the District 4 post was first reported by The Post and Courier.
“I think we live in a time when everyone wants to be a senator or a governor or a congressman,” Taylor told The State. “When, in fact, the city council and the county council and the school board races may have a bigger effect on people’s everyday lives than anything else. And, in candor, I don’t think there’s anybody looking after the little guy. I think we need to bring some business sense into local government.”
Taylor, the CEO of Park and Washington LLC, said, if he does indeed run for Council, he would make public safety a priority.
State Ethics Commission records show Taylor has been an active campaign donor in South Carolina through the years, at all levels of government. On the city level, he’s made donations to the Council campaigns of Rickenmann (2017) and Tameika Isaac Devine (2010), both of whom are now running for mayor. He also contributed to the 2019 at-large Council campaign of Sara Middleton, who made a furious, but ultimately unsuccessful, challenge for Howard Duvall’s seat.
Taylor also has been critical of taxes in Columbia, and has trumpeted a sprawling property tax analysis the city commissioned last year that showed the Columbia area having the highest taxes in South Carolina among large metros. Taylor recently penned a four-part opinion series on the study in The State.
The study suggested that, in order for Columbia to become more competitive with places like Greenville and Charleston, the city, Richland County and Richland County’s school districts need to work collaboratively to reduce commercial property tax rates, lobby the state government to overhaul part of its tax code, combine city and county services that are overlapping, and develop a “cooperative financial approach” between the county’s school systems, among other steps.
City Council is working to set up a committee to examine the tax study. The city touted in a news release on Thursday that the area has seen more than $1 billion in announced or active economic development activity since Jan. 2020. The city also said in the release that, in regard to building permit requests, it has received a 35% increase in applications of development projects totaling $471.4 million, compared to $348 million this time last year.
Columbia’s elections will be Nov. 2, with runoffs on Nov. 16, if necessary. Seats up for election this year include mayor, one at-large post, District 1 and District 4. Filing is expected to open in August.
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 11:25 AM.
