With one short sentence, the South Carolina Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for Charleston County to raise its sales tax by a half percent May 1 to pay for new roads and parks and to resuscitate its bus system.

In making its decision, the court refused to hear an appeal by newly elected Charleston County Councilman Joey Douan, the tax's most persistent and vocal critic.

County voters rejected the tax in 2000, but when it passed by a narrow margin in 2002, Douan began his fight. The Supreme Court sided with him in 2003, citing flaws with the ballot language that forced a new referendum.

That referendum was held in November, and 59 percent of county voters approved the tax increase.

Many said that strong support would make the court hesitant to hear another appeal from Douan.

The county had corrected the biased ballot language the court cited in tossing out the 2002 referendum.

"It looks like we're on go," County Administrator Roland Windham said Thursday.

"This is wonderful news," said Charleston Mayor Joe Riley. "The overwhelming vote of our citizens has been affirmed. We were confident that the question was worded correctly and that this lawsuit was a waste of time. Clearly, the S.C. Supreme Court recognized that and acted decisively."

County Council Chairman Leon Stavrinakis said he'd been certain the court would reject Douan's challenge.

"This means unequivocally that the county's ballot was legal and the question was presented properly," he said. "It's great. It means we don't have this cloud anymore."

Just as in 2002, Douan protested the vote before the county and state election commissions. This time, however, both unanimously upheld the result, and the Supreme Court refused to reconsider those decisions.

Douan said he had not had a chance to speak to his attorney Tommy Goldstein and was unaware of what options, if any, he still might have to fight the tax.

"I have been told that the Supreme Court refused to hear it, but I haven't been notified," Douan said.

Douan claimed the county violated state law because voters weren't given a chance to vote separately on roads, public transit and open space. He also maintained that open space wasn't a proper use of the money. For months before the vote, he tried to convince the county to change the wording.

Douan filed a separate civil lawsuit in Charleston County Court of Common Pleas, but there's been little action in that case.

On Monday, Douan will be involved in a different election protest as Democrat Colleen Condon asks the county's Board of Elections and Voter Registration to set aside the results of the Jan. 11 special election in which he beat her by 18 votes.

The county's sales tax is set to rise from 6 percent to 6.5 percent on May 1. The tax will remain in effect for 25 years or until it raises $1.3 billion, whichever comes first. Most of the money will pay for new roads, including $72 million still owed on the new Cooper River bridge.

The court's decision might be sweetest to the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority, which would have run out of money this year without the tax.

CARTA had slashed its service by 75 percent, halting all service on weekends and holidays, because the 2002 sales tax was thrown out.

The bus system plans to gear back up with expanded service on July 1, but the longer Douan's appeal lingered, the more uncertain that timetable was.

This summer, CARTA plans to add express routes, neighborhood routes and park-and-ride lots. It will restore service to Mount Pleasant and James Island and put the DASH trolleys back on the road in downtown Charleston.

CARTA's expansion will be a boon to residents with disabilities who rely on its Tel-A-Ride service to get around town. That service also was slashed.

By law, 83 percent of the sales tax is scheduled to be spent on roads, bridges, drainage and public transportation, while the rest will be spent on open space, a vague term that ranges from city parks to regional parks to even buying development rights to protect rural lands.

The new tax money also will make this a more interesting year for County Council, which ultimately will decide how it's spent.

Council is expected to appoint separate citizens committees to make recommendations about how the road and open space money should be spent. It is seeking consultants to help prioritize both road and open space needs.

Only a handful of road projects are pinned down.

When approving the half-cent tax, voters also agreed to let the county issue about $77 million in bonds to help fund improvements to Johnnie Dodds Boulevard in Mount Pleasant, a new traffic circle at Glenn McConnell Parkway and Bees Ferry Road, three James Island projects, a new ramp at Savannah Highway and the Highway 61 connector and a new road connecting Ashley Phosphate Road and Palmetto Parkway in North Charleston.