The city of Greenville has taken the initial step to bring a penny tax proposal before voters in the November election to fund infrastructure projects and provide property tax relief to residents.
Greenville City Council unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance to add a 1% local sales tax referendum to the ballot at its July 13 meeting. The second reading of the ordinance is expected to take place on Aug. 10.
The South Carolina General Assembly passed the Municipal Tax Relief Act in May, which allows cities to impose a 1% sales tax if approved by voters. Previously, only counties could propose such a tax.
Only municipalities within a county without a penny tax may request their own. Greenville County is one of three counties in South Carolina that does not have a local sales tax.
Read more about the Municipal Tax Relief Act
If approved by voters, the proposed 1% local sales tax would add an extra penny to every dollar spent on eligible retail purchases in the city, exempting most groceries, prescription medicines or gasoline.
The city of Greenville estimates that a penny tax could generate $511.6 million over the next eight years, approximately $64 million annually.
State law requires that at least 20% of the tax revenue – estimated to be $102.3 million – must be used to reduce property taxes for owner-occupied homes in the city. According to the city, a home valued at $250,000 would receive a $300 annual tax reduction.
The remaining $409.3 million would fund 527 proposed capital projects, estimated to cost a total of $410.8 million.
A majority of the tax revenue – approximately 294.9 million – is proposed to go towards roadway improvement projects, such as street resurfacing, sidewalk additions, bridge replacements and intersection improvements.
The penny tax revenue would also be used for:
$32.4 million for stormwater enhancements
$41.9 million for sewer infrastructure upgrades
$17.6 million for public assembly facilities, administration buildings and public safety projects
$24 million for two fire station replacements
City staff ranked each project into three priority tiers to reflect the order in which the project would be funded and completed. Tier one projects include the rebuilding of the Queen Street bridge, replacing the West Greenville Community Center, renovating the Greenville Transit Center and improving Wade Hampton Boulevard.
“The city tax is imperative for us to be able to do the types of improvements that we’ve been talking about and have identified as being necessary for this community for years,” said Greenville City Councilmember Ken Gibson.
Greenville residents are invited to review and provide feedback on the city’s proposed project list at a public meeting scheduled for July 28. The drop-in style meeting will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Greenville Civic Design Center at 15 S. Main St.
The project list must be finalized before City Council’s final reading of the ordinance and cannot be changed once adopted. The city is required to submit the penny tax referendum to the Greenville County Voter Registration and Election Board by Aug. 17.
Greenville County has also taken steps to put its own local sales tax referendum on the November ballot to fund road, green space and transportation initiatives. If both tax measures were to pass, qualifying purchases in the city of Greenville could potentially see a 2-cent-per-dollar sales tax.
Greenville Mayor Knox White and other city council members endorsed both the city’s and the county’s penny tax proposals at Monday night’s meeting.
“I hope that over time as people begin to study this, they see what’s in it, that they’ll see that the two complement each other,” White said.
Additional agenda items
City Council gave initial approval to appropriate $1 million in state funding for the Greenville Police Department’s School Resource Officer Program.
City Council approved the first reading of an ordinance to appropriate $535,049 in opioid settlement funds to support the Greenville City Fire Department’s Opioid Response Team.
City Council gave initial approval to appropriate $228,331 in state funding to purchase one brush loader for the city’s public works solid waste division. The state grant was awarded through the fiscal year 2026 Solid Waste Hurricane Helene Grant program.
City Council approved the final reading of an ordinance to appropriate $55,211 to purchase ballistic vests for the Greenville Police Department.
City Council approved a resolution requesting the South Carolina Department of Transportation transfer ownership of two blocks of Jenkins Street to the city. This would help the Greenville Housing Fund complete a multi-family affordable housing development called the Huddle at Sterling.
City Council gave final approval for the abandonment of right-of-way along White Oak Road and Bradley Boulevard for the completion of street improvements as part of the Wade Hampton Boulevard Corridor Improvement Project.