Increase could fund new roads, bus initiative near USC
Richland County voters approved a penny sales tax increase Tuesday, a vote that could fund a number of transportation initiatives throughout the county and near USC’s campus.
The county election commission announced Wednesday that the increase, which would raise the sales tax in the county to 8 cents, had gained approval. It passed with a six-point margin — 53 percent to 47 percent — with 98 percent of precincts reporting Thursday.
The tax is expected to generate $1.07 billion over the next 22 years to fund infrastructure projects, build new bike lanes and greenways and right the CMRTA bus service.
Many of those funds would head toward projects around USC’s campus, including $50 million for projects related to Innovista.
According to a list of projects proposed by the county, that money would pay for an extension of Greene Street from near the Colonial Life Arena to an upcoming extension of Williams Street, on the other side of Huger Street, which the funds would also pay for. Under the proposal, Williams would run from an extended Senate Street to Greene.
It would also build a bridge and “pedestrian promenade” over the railroad tracks by the arena, put in bike lines and sidewalks down Greene Street and improve the intersection of Greene and Lincoln near the arena, according to the proposal.
It would add to a number of significant projects happening on that side of Assembly Street and contribute to the westward migration of campus. USC is constructing the new Darla Moore School of Business building there, and it’s announced its intent to build a privately funded residence hall in the area. It’s also bandied about the possibility of expanding the Greek Village there.
That development would happen with or without the sales tax, USC spokesman Wes Hickman said, but the new project “helps bring vitality to the area.”
Hickman emphasized the project’s safety implications, adding that it complemented USC’s plan to make Assembly Street intersections safer for pedestrians.
“Any enhancement in addition to that is obviously a positive,” Hickman said.
Flush with new funds, the CMRTA system could expand its service to the campuses of USC and other schools, like Midlands Technical College, Bob Schneider, the system’s executive director, said.
In the next few years, CMRTA hopes to establish a downtown circulator route to move the system’s core focus toward USC and connect the campus with Five Points, retail centers and other spots students live and work, Schneider said. It would also roll out a marketing campaign targeted to students.
It would give the system the potential to increase its ridership on high-density college campuses with plenty of people who might need a ride.
“That’s our bread and butter to be honest,” Schneider said.
The tax would also pay for a greenway along Rocky Branch Creek and a slew of bike lines on and around USC’s campus, including on parts of Blossom, College, Main, Pendleton, Pickens, Senate and Sumter, as well as Greene, according to a proposed list of projects.
But when those projects will break ground isn’t yet clear, as the election hasn’t been certified and county council will have to receive and endorse the certification, said Yanisse Adrian-Silva, a spokeswoman for the county.
That process was slowed Thursday night when Circuit Judge Casey Manning ordered the state Election Commission to recount every ballot cast in the county after the state Democratic Party raised questions about Tuesday’s vote.