The S.C. Association of Counties completed its Legislative Policy Development process for the 2015 session in December. A complete publication containing the group’s policy positions is being prepared. In a Dec. 17 memo to the Governor, and sent to media outlets, the SCAC Board of Directors said they will likely oppose any legislation that calls for the transferring of roads to local governments and will seek to get the legislature to fully fund the local government fund.

In regards to state infrastructure needs, the SCAC board said that for 50 years the General Assembly adopted a system that included the intake of secondary roads into the state highway system. It is estimated, the memo said, that the percentage of secondary roads in good condition is 10 percent. Counties do not have the financial resources to fund the necessary maintenance costs on the roads within the state system.

Recently passed legislation limiting local governments’ abilities to raise revenues and a failure of the state to provide cost shared revenues have strangled the financial ability for counties to provide minimal services for their constituents. Adding the secondary highway system as a burden on county government and county taxpayers will ensure the financial collapse of many local governments.

Many counties, especially rural counties, have neither the residential nor commercial tax base to assume the perpetual maintenance cost of roads, even if given new revenue sources. Absent a constitutional amendment, no revenue source is safe from the whimsy of a future General Assembly.

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