Rock Hill will get its say on which York County roads need repair. What’s your pick?
Rock Hill will get its first chance to make cases for York County roads that need fixing. Starting with two groups that look beyond just Rock Hill.
The Pennies for Progress commission will host its second of at least eight community meetings to collect road input on Wednesday. The commission will gather countywide feedback and county staff budget figures before settling on final road list that, if approved by York County Council, will go to public referendum in fall 2024.
Wednesday’s meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the Rock Hill Operations Center, at 757 S. Anderson Road. The Pennies commission will hear from two of the largest groups involved in area road planning.
The Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study handles federal road funding for a planning area that includes all or part of Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Tega Cay, Lake Wylie, Indian Land and the Catawba Indian Nation. Catawba Regional Council of Governments aids a four-county area in a variety of development functions, including road planning. Both will offer their lists of York County road needs.
The meeting also will have time for citizens to suggest projects. Anyone can submit ideas for road widening, intersection work, repaving, new road alignments or related topics online, too, at penniesforprogress.net.
The first community meeting came March 15 in Tega Cay. Others are planned in Fort Mill, Lake Wylie, York, Clover and Sharon before a second Rock Hill meeting in September. Government centers, community centers and a school auditorium will host events that allow public councils and planning departments to participate, but also any citizen who chooses. Additional meetings may be scheduled.
The next vote is deemed Pennies 5, the fifth public referendum asking York County voters whether a cent sales tax should be charged and money from it used to fund road work. The first Pennies referendum narrowly passed in 1997. Then, 51% of voters opted for a tax to produce an estimated $99 million in road funding.
In the next three campaigns, Pennies passed with no less than a 73% approval. The third campaign in 2011 garnered a top approval rating of 82% in favor.
Pennies campaigns collect for seven years. Voters must then approved a new referendum, each with its own project list, to continue Pennies. Timelines are established to where a favorable public vote on a Pennies referendum will start collections as soon as the prior period ends.
Two more public commission meetings will come, on May 3 in Lake Wylie and May 17 in Clover. York has its meeting in June, Fort Mill in July and western York County in August. The September 20 meeting in Rock Hill will return to the operations center.
Pennies was the first campaign of its kind in South Carolina. Now, communities statewide fund roads and other infrastructure costs using the same or a similar model.
The first four Pennies programs combine for more than $600 million in money that appeared as estimates on ballots. Early Pennies projects cost more than was budgeted, due to construction cost increases and delays. The county brought Pennies in-house and largely those issues were absent during the most recent campaign.
Money from Pennies also brought in state and other funding to partner on large projects. Since 1997, more than $1 billion has gone into York County road improvements, according to the county.
The citizen commission in charge of creating the road list will present it to York County Council. Council can vote to put it to a referendum vote or not, but can’t change it. So public meetings across York County are the opportunity citizens get to make cases for roads, intersections, sidewalks and other transportation spots of interest.
