Voters Reject Roads Referendum

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

In an election that brought a voter turnout of 18.9 percent, Anderson County voters overwhelmingly rejected a capital sales tax referendum on Tuesday which would have provided funding for maintenance and repair of the county’s roads and bridges. 23,392 of the county’s 127,402 registered voters participated in the election.

More than three times as many people, or 18,370, voted no on the referendum, while 4,920 voted yes.

The county worked with municipalities to list the roads deemed in greatest need of immediate attention. (Complete list here). Public safety was also factored into the list, since poor roads are challenging for law enforcement and first responders including the cost of damage to their vehicles.

More than a third of all county roads are already in poor or failing condition, bringing a price tag of $1 million per mile to remedy. Again, one-third of the bridges in the county cannot be used by firetrucks or school buses due to their aging or questionable structures.

Currently the county hovers in a patch-and-save mode, since funding is limited.  And sadly, no other sustainable funding source for roads and bridges is not in sight.

Funds generated by the South Carolina Gasoline Tax bring in around $8 million annually for the county, which is enough to pave roughly eight miles of failing road.