Lexington County’s $450M penny tax plan now up to voters. Will they back it?
Voters will now have the final say on a sales tax-funded plan to spend at least $450 million to fix Lexington County’s roadways.
On Tuesday, Lexington County Council approved plans for a referendum next Election Day, Nov. 8, on whether county voters will approve the penny tax plan — and the attached list of projects that go along with it.
A penny sales tax would pay for around 400 different projects, some of them covering multiple roads, across the county. The referendum would go toward funding $450 million worth of projects, although other projects on the longer priority list totaling more than $600 million could also be funded if the penny tax brings in more revenue over its eight-year lifespan.
Roads have become a major concern in one of the fastest-growing counties in the state. A similar referendum failed to get enough voter support to pass the sales tax in 2014, and an effort to add another list of road projects to the ballot in 2020 was abandoned when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
County council has emphasized road improvements as the goal of the penny tax, even rejecting an earlier version of the project list council members felt included too many other kinds of projects. The specially-appointed committee tasked with drawing up the list then dropped $27 million worth of projects from the list, mostly infrastructure improvement initiatives proposed by the county’s municipalities.
The top-ranked projects include at least $109.6 million in countywide repaving projects. The top three repaving packages could get underway as soon as next year, the commission was told, and roads from differently ranked groups could be paved in the same area at once.
The largest standalone project among the top-ranked is widening and repaving Longs Pond Road, at an estimated cost of $64 million.
The top 20 projects on the final list include:
▪ Lexington County’s top eight repaving groups.
▪ Intersection improvements at Fish Hatchery Road and Pine Ridge Drive in Pine Ridge.
▪ Corridor improvements on Meeting Street in West Columbia, including sidewalks, landscaping and parking.
▪ Improvements to Hope Ferry Road and Sunset Boulevard in Lexington.
▪ Realigning Mineral Springs Road connector to Hope Ferry Road in Lexington.
▪ Resurfacing Fish Hatchery Road from U.S. 321 to Friendship Court.
▪ Intersection improvements at U.S. 321 and Mack Street in Gaston.
▪ Improvements to Woodrow Street at Lake Murray Boulevard in Irmo.
▪ Intersection improvements to S.C. 23 and Mitchell Street, Batesburg-Leesville.
▪ U.S. 378 corridor improvements in West Columbia.
▪ Signal improvements at South Lake Drive and Interstate 20 in Lexington.
▪ Street improvements in Gilbert.
▪ Widening Longs Pond Road.
One of the county’s busiest corridors was not included in the final list, after estimates showed work on U.S. 378 could cost $137 million all on its own. Commissioners decided the cost of widening U.S. 378 would crowd out too many other projects under consideration, some of which might help alleviate traffic on the cross-county thoroughfare.
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