Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept/Oct 2021

42 www.MountPl easantPodcas t . com | www. ReadMPM. com | www. I LoveMountPl easant . com the same time. I am on the Flood Resiliency Committee and, in an effort to promote tree planting, announced the goal of planting 95,000 trees in Mount Pleasant. Our Public Services department took this idea and created the “Take Root” initiative to share the concept more easily and broadly. ON TOWN FINANCES Haynie: If we are governing right and protecting your quality of life, it stands to reason that housing values will go up. And they have. The law requires municipalities to re-examine our property tax rates after the new property assessments are made by the county. At that meeting, we rolled our tax rate back from 41 mills to 39 mills, and 2 mills go into a lockbox to service bond debt enabling us to improve our drainage and transportation infrastructure. This was a solid compromise. Our tax rate is still the lowest in the region. I do not know of any other municipality that has done it this way. For voters to make a comparison, my opponent had an excused absence from the meeting at which this was decided, so I recommend finding out where my opponent stands on this. Landing: In general, I am against raising property taxes and fees and fought against this in committee and Council meetings. While our citizens don’t necessarily want more big box companies, the question is, how do you continue to pay for things without that continued source of large money? The solution is to have great businesses on our side of the bridge that bring jobs and services, pay property taxes at 6% rather than 4% and create ongoing revenue for their businesses, which help pay the bills for the town. A great example is the “technology campus” that was announced nearly two years ago on Long Point Road at the site of the old Van Smith Concrete location. Right now, the property taxes are negligible, but if this is redeveloped into a job- creating, well-situated facility right near Highway 526, this business will pay substantially more property taxes and business revenue license fees. It is essential that we keep our “AAA” rating — in order to continue to accomplish this for the future, we have to be proactive. My experience is very extensive in the finance field, and it is going to take a lot of vision, critical thinking and creativity to deal with the challenges facing us in the future. ON SETTLEMENT COMMUNITIES Haynie: We are on a conscious path to reach out to the unincorporated parts of the settlement communities through our task force, while we continue to protect the parts that are in the town with our Sweetgrass Basket Overlay District and Charleston County zoning community conversations. We are working on better communication, better trust and better coordination. Annexation is always voluntary, but you have to start with dialogue. When members of settlement communities such as George Freeman, John Wright and Lewis Jefferson come and speak to us about their needs, it’s imperative we listen because they are watching and asking themselves why they should trust us. I feel confident in my voting record on the items that protect our settlement communities. Landing: I respect the history of the families who were here before the Civil War and will work hard to empower everyone to have a seat at the table while maintaining their heritage. My friend John Wright is president of the African American Historical Settlement Communities Commission. He recently approached me about a meeting with the heads of the settlement communities regarding ideas they want to pursue. We need to establish more trust with an eventual goal of everyone coming into the town and being able to vote. When Six Mile incorporated a number of years ago, I asked one of their leaders what helped them make that decision. Among other things, it was keeping zoning in place so they could continue to maintain their agricultural traditions. Another community leader mentioned his idea to create a Gullah cultural center on the north end of town to welcome visitors to Mount Pleasant. Sweetgrass baskets are one of the most historic distinctions of our community and need to be highlighted and celebrated, along with the food and other cultural treasures. feature Kathy Land i ng at the Owl Bear R ibbon Cut t i ng.