Bus system likely to seek vote on half-cent sales tax

The public authority that runs Columbia’s bus system will likely ask voters for a half-cent sales tax increase in November 2006 to provide a permanent source of revenue, according to authority officials and Columbia Mayor Bob Coble.

The referendum would likely include property tax rollbacks and road repairs as well as bus money, Coble said.

Transit officials must find money to avoid the dilemma facing Charleston’s bus system, which is on the verge of collapse just seven years after it was transferred from SCE&G to a public authority.

The Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority cut a similar deal with SCE&G a year and half ago. Officials predict that, like Charleston’s, Columbia’s system will quickly use up all of the millions of dollars the utility paid into a bus trust fund. In Columbia’s case, that could be as early as 2010.

“If the bus system shuts down, it would have a devastating impact on the economy, as well as the lives of the citizens who depend on it for their jobs and getting medical attention,” Coble said. “It is an essential service that must be preserved. We have to find a way to pay for it.”

State law allows a local option sales tax of up to 1 percent for transportation. County councils must put the initiative on the general election ballot.

Property tax rollbacks and road repairs would make the initiative more politically palatable to the county councils, Coble said.

“A half cent would be five times more money than you would need” for the bus system, Coble said. “You would have to use the remaining money for other purposes, such as property tax relief.”

A half-cent sales tax would generate about $33 million a year in Richland County and $17 million a year in Lexington County, according to the S.C. Department of Revenue.

Columbia transit authority chairman Butch Spires estimated the system would need $8 million to $9 million a year.

“We’ve been good stewards of the money in the past 15 months we’ve had the system,” he said. “We just want adequate resources to run the buses in the future.”

The buses operate in Richland and Lexington counties. But Coble predicted the sales tax would likely be requested only in Richland, which has about 90 percent of the routes and riders.

Richland County Council Chairwoman Bernice Scott couldn’t be reached for comment. But vice chairwoman Joan Brady, a member of the transit authority, said the system has few other options.

“I don’t think anyone went into this with the understanding that the bus system would be self-sufficient,” she said. “It all depends on how the referendum is presented.”

Brady said property tax rollbacks would have to be a “major component” of the initiative.

Lexington County Council Chairman Smokey Davis said it would be “difficult” for a bus referendum to pass on the west side of the river.

“Realizing the conservative nature of the citizens, there might be some resistance,” he said. “The routes are helpful in certain areas of the county, but don’t expand very deep in the county.”

However, Davis said the council has discussed sales tax increases in the past for such things as property tax rollbacks and road improvements.

LOWCOUNTRY BLUES

Seven years ago, SCE&G transferred Charleston’s bus system to a public authority. The utility paid the authority $25 million and donated harbor-front property for the Charleston aquarium.

Columbia’s authority struck a similar deal a year and half ago, with the utility and the city paying $70 million in cash and other considerations.

Charleston has twice tried to pass sales tax referendums. In 2000, Charleston County voters turned back a half-cent sales tax hike by only 932 votes out of about 100,000 cast.

In 2002, a referendum passed by 691 votes out of about 80,000 cast. But the S.C. Supreme Court tossed out the vote, ruling the wording favored approval.

The half-cent sales tax in Charleston County would have raised about $1.3 billion over 25 years — 82 percent for roads and bridges, including the new Cooper River bridge, and 18 percent for buses.

Since 2002, the Charleston system has reduced the number of routes from 17 to seven, dropped the frequency of the remaining routes and ended service after 8 p.m. on weekends.

Only about 19 drivers and other employees are left, down from about 90 people employed when SCE&G ran the system.

Nonetheless, it still needs $2 million to stay afloat until November.

Gov. Mark Sanford, who ruled out a special April ballot, identified $800,000 in state grants and loans to keep the buses rolling until the general election in November.

“We got them 40 percent of the way there,” Sanford spokesman Chris Drummond said.

But Charleston County and the cities of Charleston, North Charleston and Mount Pleasant must come up with another $1.2 million to keep the system running.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley and riders’ groups are making a strong push to pass another referendum. S.C. native Jesse Jackson spoke at an event Thursday to drum up support.

If this referendum fails, Charleston could lose its public transportation system.

“The economic and human toll would be catastrophic,” Columbia’s Coble said. “I don’t know if they can make it to November.”

REGRESSIVE TAX

Columbia’s bus system is heading down the same road unless a dedicated funding stream can be found before the SCE&G money runs out.

Coble said sales taxes are the best way to fund the system, even though poor people, who make up the vast majority of bus riders, would be hurt most.

“It’s regressive and not deductible, but it’s paid in small increments by a wide range of people,” Coble said. “That offsets some of the regressive aspects.”

But there is likely to be strong opposition to any tax increase for public transportation.

Former Lexington County council member David James has followed the bus issue for years. He said a publicly funded bus system is a thing of the past.

“I don’t think people in the Columbia area would agree to raise their taxes for something they are not going to directly benefit from,” he said. “It’s hard enough to get people to vote for schools. I think it will be impossible to raise the money for this.”

Last year, about half of the Columbia system’s $9.2 million in operating expenses was paid from the SCE&G trust fund and other subsidies from the utility. Fare box revenues and passes were only about $1.9 million.

James said he believes those types of costs are too high for the public to absorb.

“I’m not advocating this,” he said. “But it would probably cost less to buy a car for everyone who uses the system.”

Mitzi Teel-Javers, the Columbia bus system’s interim executive director, said the authority obviously has a selling job to do before the voters will pass a referendum.

And the service needs to get better to attract more riders and revenue, she said.

“We have to also improve the reliability and convenience of the service to reach more people.”

Reach Wilkinson at (803) 771-8495 or jwilkinson@thestate.com