Rickenmann formally launches campaign for Columbia mayor, talks tax reform

It’s been no secret that Columbia City Councilman Daniel Rickenmann has been planning to run for mayor of Columbia.

On Wednesday he stood in front of Columbia City Hall and made it official.

Rickenmann formally kicked off his campaign at a Wednesday news conference, and asserted that business and reforming Columbia’s tax structure will be key planks in his platform. There are two other candidates in the mayoral fray: Longtime at-large Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine and Sam Johnson, who was a top aide to current Mayor Steve Benjamin.

Benjamin, who is in his third term and is Columbia’s first Black mayor, announced earlier this year he wouldn’t be seeking re-election.

Rickenmann, 51, was first an at-large city councilman, elected citywide, from 2004-12. He returned to council in 2017 as a representative in District 4, which is in the northeastern part of the city and includes neighborhoods like Kings Grant and Brandon Acres/Cedar Terrace, among others. Rickenmann was an owner and partner in several former Columbia restaurants, including Birds on a Wire and Yo Burrito. He now works as a business consultant in renewable energy development. His wife, Laura, is a Columbia pediatrician.

“After talking to my wife, my daughters and my friends, I decided to run, because our city is at an important crossroads,” Rickenmann, a University of South Carolina graduate, said Wednesday. “We are at a crossroads our city simply cannot ignore. When I look across our state and our nation, I know that our city needs to have a clean, clear path. We need to have a plan to address the biggest issues holding our city’s progress back, (including) a deeply flawed tax structure that competing cities do not have.”

It is perhaps unsurprising Rickenmann is talking about the capital city’s tax structure, as he was a key proponent of a $25,000 tax analysis the city commissioned in 2020. That study was authored by Rebecca Gunnlaugsson, principal at Acuitas Economics and former chief economist with the state Department of Commerce. It concluded that property taxes in the Columbia area — levied by numerous entities within Richland County — are the highest in the state among large metros and have stymied growth in the capital city in the last decade.

City Council has tapped three additional economists to advise on a committee that could help address some of the issues raised in the study.

The veteran councilman, who, like Devine, has already raised more than $100,000 for his mayoral run, said he thinks he would have a better chance at spurring real change in the tax issue if he was elected mayor.

“I think the mayor’s office always has the bully pulpit and is the leading beacon for the community and the region,” Rickenmann said. “I think it is important because all the things we talk about — affordable housing, job creation, investment — all stems around the tax structure. ... If we want to grow all the aspects of our community, we have to tackle it.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 4:31 PM.

Chris Trainor

The State

Chris Trainor is a retail reporter for The State and has been working for newspapers in South Carolina for more than 21 years, including previous stops at the (Greenwood) Index-Journal and the (Columbia) Free Times. He is the winner of a host of South Carolina Press Association awards, including honors in column writing, government beat reporting, profile writing, food writing, business beat reporting, election coverage, social media and more.