SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) Bumpy, pothole-ridden roads in Spartanburg County have been a long-time concern for residents. But county council said a penny sales tax would be a way to fix this.

“We don’t really have a plan B,” said Chairman A. Manning Lynch, chairman of Spartanburg County Council. “There’s no amount of tax increase that anyone would support on property taxes and second, even if it was an outrageously high increase of property taxes to pay for roads, we would not generate the kind of money…nothing close to what we can generate with the penny sales tax.”

On Tuesday county council approved a resolution to appoint a designated commission. County council will now hand over the list of roads they’ve come up with and the commission will use this list to create road improvement projects.

“There’s been continued development of a recommended project list with considerations including feedback from council’s March 2023 retreat, DOT municipalities, validation of project cost, areas of higher growth, pavement condition, traffic volume, crash data and system functionalities,” said Travis Brown, SCDOT.

This list will now be turned into potential projects that residents could see on their ballot in November.

“We’re not going to be adding more tax, we’re just going to be rolling that one over if I understand it correctly and it would not be any more problem on the taxpayer and I sure don’t want to raise property taxes and this is the alternative we got,” said Councilman Bob Walker, Spartanburg County Council.

Councilman David Britt said the result of the current penny tax, which increased the sales tax from 6 cents to 7 cents for six years, can be used as an example.

“The courthouse, city hall, the law enforcement center, our Emergency Services facility and now our joint city-county complex that will be built, I think we’ve proven we are good stewards of your money,” said Councilman David Britt, Spartanburg County Council.

The penny tax would go to county and state roads. County council said it’s less painful than a property tax, with it generating an estimated 30% of its revenues from out-of-county spenders.

“Our roads need some money spent on them and that’s just plain,” said Lynch. “Anyone who drives on them knows that.”

If it’s approved, the new penny sales tax would be in effect for six years just like the current one.