Beaufort County was the first county in the state to put the Greenspace Tax legislation on the ballot. And on November 8, 2022, the bill passed!
This important issue known as the Greenspace Tax will help preserve land in Beaufort County and the wildlife and birds that depend on it to survive. This measure couldn’t be more aligned with our mission at Hilton Head Island Audubon to preserve and protect birds. Members of HHIA and people interested in our mission helped us spread the word about why this bill was so important to pass.
WHAT IS THE GREENSPACE TAX?
SC State Senator Tom Davis (District 46, Beaufort and Jasper Counties) wrote the Greenspace Tax bill and was instrumental in getting it through our state legislature last summer and then passed by the Beaufort County Council to allow it onto our Fall 2022 ballot. Our congratulations and heartfelt thanks go out to him for all his hard work and on this important issue!
Known as the “Penny Tax”, the Greenspace Tax will collect a maximum of $100 million over two years to “purchase land, conservation easements and buy down density to slow and prevent development.” This 1¢ tax can be renewed two more times – potentially raising a total of $300 million! Only 10% of land in southern Beaufort County is still unclaimed from development, so now is the time to do all we can to save what’s left.
THE YES VOTE
Voting yes on November 8 made sure our slice of the Low Country stays intact and preserves the reason most of us came to this area in the first place: it’s a beautiful place. Its attractive, natural environment is teeming with incredible, diverse ecosystems (marshes, beaches, forests…) and wildlife that we love and appreciate. But all this beauty is threatened and disappearing fast. Without measures like the Greenspace Tax, run-off, pesticides, and other harmful effects of development will eventually destroy the marshes, beaches and land beyond repair, along with the birds and wildlife that depend on them. Passing the Greenspace Tax is our best chance to help save wildlife habitats that remain and prevent the type of catastrophic disaster that places like Chesapeake Bay ended up with.
Beaufort County Council members saw the value of this bill after listening to the experts at SCDNR and several great conservation organizations on its importance. And after helping get this bill passed in the legislature and in Beaufort County, Senator Tom Davis was instrumental in getting the word out as well, doing a speaking-engagement blast at several venues on Hilton Head Island and throughout Beaufort County before election day.
Hilton Head Island Audubon aligned with other conservation-minded organizations, including SC Audubon, Coastal Conservation League, Conservation Voters of South Carolina, Open Land Trust, and Trust for Public Land, to support this bill. These organizations developed an excellent, concise website – voteyesforgreenspace.com – that explained the ballot question on the Greenspace Tax in easy-to-understand terms.
As of April, 2023, the County is still accepting applications for the committee to run this initiative. Hilton Head Audubon encourages people who believe that this is an excellent opportunity to protect our environment and the birds we love. If you or someone you know is interested, please check out this link.