When the city of North Augusta released its own final version of the list of projects to benefit from the next cycle of the Aiken County penny sales tax, the 150-acre Country Club property was at the top and assigned $3 million.
The list that’s now gone through two of three readings at Aiken County Council, and which looks all but certain to appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, would allocate nothing to it.
The reasoning is that even as the acreage has been in the city of North Augusta’s inventory since 2019, its physical location is unchanged – Edgefield County.
“The Capital Project Sales Tax is an Aiken County tax for Aiken County projects,” explained Aiken County Council Chair Gary Bunker.
Brett Brannon, who chairs the commission that, per South Carolina law has the final say on what makes the cut for the Capital Project Sales Tax, confirmed Bunker’s understanding.
“We cannot approve any kind of project outside of the bounds of Aiken County,” he said, adding that this was the only reason for its omission from the final ballot list.
Brannon posited that it might have been different if most of the Country Club property’s land were within Aiken County – funding could then be put toward improvements on that particular acreage – but that with so little of it in Aiken County, Brannon said it wasn’t justified to put so much money toward it.
Despite the setback, making something of the property remains at the forefront.
“CPST V was our initial funding strategy for the country club property, but we have the potential for other funding options, which we are now exploring,” North Augusta City Administrator Jim Clifford said. “Based on the Council guidance at the off-site this year, this project will remain a priority.”
North Augusta’s expected a share of the projected $260 million from Capital Sales Tax V, should Aiken County voters renew it this November, remains unchanged at $48.6 million.
The $3 million previously assigned to the Country Club property was redistributed among four other projects already on the list: an additional $1.5 million was put toward parks improvements at Summerfield, Riverview, Creighton and Maude Edenfield parks, bringing the total for this line item up to $4.25 million.
The other $1.5 million was distributed in three $500,000 chunks to downtown improvements, the Riverview Park Activities Center and fire apparatus. These items now are listed, respectively, for $7 million, $1.25 million and $5.97 million.
A final reading on the ballot language is scheduled for July 16 at Aiken County Council. Should it pass, it will be on the Nov. 5 ballot.
