|
Web posted Wednesday,
October 27, 2004
|
 |
Candidates spar over transfer fee
HILTON HEAD ISLAND: Chalk, Wynn disagree
over island's lucrative loophole.
By Frank Morris
Carolina Morning News
Republican Richard Chalk has accused Greg
Wynn, his independent opponent in next Tuesday's
State House District 123 election, of distorting
his position on the real estate transfer fee in
campaign literature.
Chalk said Monday that
Wynn's campaign stepped over the line by
incorrectly stating, in an e-mailed campaign
advertisement, that "Chalk has vowed to eliminate
the transfer fee."
Wynn, responding
Tuesday, said he stood by the statement. He said
it was a fair interpretation of the position Chalk
gave for a June 7 Carolina Morning News story,
"even though (Chalk) didn't flat out say that" he
vowed to eliminate the fee.
A special
exclusion in a state law passed in 1991 makes the
town of Hilton Head Island the only local
government in South Carolina that can charge a fee
on real estate sales. The Town Council uses
revenue from its 0.25 percent transfer fee,
started in 1990, to buy land for growth control,
preserving open space and building
parks.
The exemption from legislation
blocking local real estate transfer fees
everywhere else in the state was won by then state
Sen. Holly Cork of Beaufort County.
Wynn, a
small businessman, said he is a strong supporter
of the transfer fee program and would support
passing legislation giving other local governments
the same option.
Chalk, a commercial real
estate broker, said that while he is
philosophically opposed to the transfer fee, he
has never vowed to eliminate it.
"My
position on it is that it's a non-issue. It's only
an issue because (Wynn) has made it an issue,"
Chalk said.
He said he would not rule out
the possibility of someday backing legislation
against Hilton Head's fee, "because one day the
people might say, 'We've got all the parks we need
... and we don't need this tax
anymore.'
"What I'm saying is that, for
now, it's not an issue." Chalk said.
"I
just don't want to be held down to a pledge. To
me, to say 'never' is never. I don't have any
plans to do anything. As far as I'm concerned,
it's not an issue. If folks someday want to make
it an issue, that's a horse of a different
color."
Tuesday, to clarify his position,
Chalk said, "I would never initiate an effort to
eliminate it" unless the Town Council asked him to
do that.
Also Tuesday, Mayor Tom Peeples
said has endorsed Wynn's candidacy for several
reasons, including Wynn's support for Hilton
Head's transfer fee and Chalk's June statement
that "he was philosophically opposed to the real
estate transfer fee and wouldn't go after it his
first term."
The Hilton Head community has
shown strong support for the transfer fee in
referendums, and Chalk's position "tells me he
doesn't know as much about our community as he
needs to," Peeples said. "I don't want anybody (in
Columbia) who is opposed to a real estate transfer
fee in any way, shape or form."
Chalk said
Tuesday that House District 123 Rep. JoAnne Gilham
has endorsed him and his campaign Tuesday mailed a
copy of her support letter to
voters.
Gilham, a Republican, did not seek
re-election in order to honor a pledge to serve no
more than three terms. She was not available for
comment Tuesday afternoon.
Wynn said the
June newspaper report on what Chalk said "speaks
for itself" and justified the statement in the
e-mailed advertisement and a similar statement in
a Wynn campaign brochure.
The earlier news
article reported that Chalk, when asked whether
other local governments should get rights to
impose property transfer fees like Hilton Head's,
said the fee "is a hugely popular thing here, but
we're taxing a special segment of the population
to benefit everybody who lives here."
He
said he would probably oppose expanding the tax
option, based on philosophical
grounds.
Asked if he would seek to repeal
Hilton Head's exemption, he said, "Not in my first
term," when he would have "too many fish to fry."
However, "philosophically, I am concerned about
it," Chalk said in June.
Wynn said, "If
you're philosophically concerned or opposed to
something, you're not going to defend
it.
"I think he's vowed to eliminate it on
the state level. He's indicated he would vote
against expanding it. I guess we're talking
semantics here," Wynn said.
"Mr. Chalk has
stated he's philosophically opposed to the fee,
won't vote to give (the ability) to other
communities and - while he would not vote to
rescind it in his first term - he has not ruled
out the possibility in a future term."
Wynn
said his intent was not to exaggerate Chalk's
stance but to "show his lack of foundation in this
community and what this fee has meant to the
community."
The transfer fee program has
allowed the town to develop a public parks system
and to protect open space from development, Wynn
said. "I think it's something we as a community
should value and protect and promote."
He
said it would not be a campaign issue if Chalk
would come out and said, "I support this fee; I'll
defend this fee; and I'll be glad to give other
local communities the opportunity to have this fee
in their tool box."
Chalk said Tuesday
afternoon that "I would say I supported it three
times from my pocketbook when I bought a piece of
property on Hilton Head." And, he added, "I've
said I will not independently go and initiate
anything (to repeal Hilton Head's fee), which is
what (Wynn's) saying I'm going to
do."
Peeples, who won the nonpartisan
mayoral race three times since 1995, also is a
Republican. He said he also endorsed Wynn "because
he has been in the community for 23 years and has
given back to the community through his work with
the schools and through Rotary."
The mayor
said Wynn also gained his support by taking a
stand in favor of the 1 percent capital project
sales tax plan up for a referendum vote on
Tuesday. Chalk has taken a neutral stand on the
referendum.
"What we need is someone who is
going to go to Columbia and not take the expedient
path of no comment but will stand up for what we
need," Peeples said.
Chalk said he was not
taking a position on the sales tax referendum
because "it's already an issue before the voters,
and the people will decide, and I've got to go to
Columbia and do the best to represent the
interests of my constituents."
Wynn said,
"I guess that's the politically prudent thing to
do. I think the voters of Hilton Head deserve to
know how officials stand on issues that affect the
community."
Reporter Frank Morris can be
reached at 785-7470 or
frank.morris@lowcountrynow.com
| | |
.gif){kind=spacer}
.gif){kind=spacer}