A day after S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster's office issued an opinion saying the question should be broken into three parts, County Council discussed the issue behind closed doors but later opted to do nothing. Council members who both support and oppose the tax questioned the late timing of the opinion.

"It's clearly designed to create confusion and uncertainty among the voting public," said Councilman Leon Stavrinakis, who favors the tax.

"This seems to be a political campaign, and I think that's unfortunate," Councilman Tim Scott said.

Council Chairman Barrett Lawrimore said the county can't change the wording at this time but could further discuss the issue Thursday. "It sort of took them (council members) by complete surprise," he said of the opinion.

"We can't change the ballot wording under normal conditions now. Anything we do would have to go to a court, but nobody discussed that. Nobody mentioned that," he said.

Currently, voters will decide if they want to raise the sales tax to 6.5 percent -- a half-percent jump -- to raise $1.3 billion for road projects, public transit and undeveloped land.

The opinion said the county should give voters a chance to vote separately on roads, transit and the land issues.

However, the deadline for sending the ballot to the printer is drawing near, and some members said the attorney general's opinion didn't address the fact that the Nov. 2 referendum is a redo of a 2002 referendum, which also asked a single question.

Voters narrowly approved the sales tax in 2002, but the S.C. Supreme Court later threw out the result because the ballot wording was biased in favor of the tax.

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