Greenville County is kicking off a marathon run of public meetings this week to explain a proposed penny sales tax that would fund road repairs, greenways and transit, giving residents a chance to ask questions before they decide the measure's fate at the ballot box on November 3.
The first session happens today at Slater Hall Community Center at noon, according to FOX Carolina News. From there, the county's informational tour fans out to libraries and community centers across Greenville County through October 21, with stops planned at the Travelers Rest Library, Brutontown Community Center, Sterling Community Center, Taylors Library, Blue Ridge Library, Berea Library, Freetown Community Center, Fountain Inn Library, Hughes Main Library, Pelham Road Library, Five Forks Library, Augusta Road Library, Anderson Road Library, Simpsonville Library and Mauldin Library, per the station's report. These sessions focus specifically on the countywide measure and are separate from individual municipal ballot referendums playing out in cities including Greenville and Simpsonville, the outlet notes.
The referendum itself would add a 1% sales tax on eligible purchases across Greenville County, with the same station reporting that groceries, gasoline and prescription medications are all exempt from the tax. The Greenville County Council formally set this up on July 21, voting 8-3 to approve the transportation sales tax referendum ordinance, according to a Greenville County Council video recap. That vote capped potential collections at $1.1 billion over eight years, with the ordinance directing $990 million to road maintenance and improvements, $77 million to greenways and $33 million to public transit, according to the Greenville Journal. By percentage, per FOX Carolina, that breaks down to 90% for roads, 7% for greenways and 3% for transit.
A New Tax Model After Past Rejections
This isn't Greenville County's first attempt at a penny tax, and voters have said no before. A 2024 Capital Project Sales Tax referendum fell short at the ballot box that November, drawing just 48.5% of the vote, FOX Carolina reports. County officials are pitching the 2026 version as structurally different: the transportation sales tax model includes greenways and mass transit alongside roadway resurfacing, rather than the narrower capital-projects framework used two years ago, offering what the station describes as greater funding flexibility.
The stakes for the road network are considerable. Greenville County's StoryMap discusses more than 7,000 roads, and county pavement evaluations show roughly 13% of those roads carry a Pavement Condition Index of 40 or below, placing them in severe backlog status, according to a Greenville County StoryMap. It's the largest county road network in South Carolina, per the same county data.
Municipal Votes Complicate the Picture
Greenville County's countywide question isn't the only tax measure on the November 3 ballot. Voters in Greenville, Mauldin, Simpsonville and Travelers Rest will also weigh in on separate municipal 1% sales tax referendums, a first-of-its-kind multi-jurisdictional ballot situation in South Carolina, according to the Post and Courier. Those municipal measures were made possible after Governor Henry McMaster signed the Municipal Tax Relief Act into law in May, granting cities in counties without an existing local sales tax the authority to propose their own 1% referendums, according to the City of Greenville. Greenville and Oconee were the only two South Carolina counties that had never passed a penny sales tax heading into 2026, which is what opened the door for this new municipal tax law in the first place, per the same city source.
If both the countywide measure and a city's municipal referendum pass in November, shoppers inside those city limits would face a combined 2% local sales tax increase rather than just one cent, per the Bluefield Group. There's also a structural difference in how the money can be used: municipal sales tax law requires cities to direct at least 20% of revenue toward property tax relief for owner-occupied homes, according to the Greenville Journal. The City of Greenville estimates its own 20% allocation will generate about $102.3 million in residential tax credits over eight years, per city figures.
Oversight Built Into the County Plan
To address skepticism after past defeats, the county plan also includes a public Transportation Transparency Committee to review expenditures and conduct annual independent audits, according to the Greenville Journal. That committee must meet at least quarterly to monitor spending compliance, the outlet reports.
Meanwhile, a coalition of business, conservation and transit leaders organized under the nonprofit Investing for Greenville's Future formally launched the Vote Yes GVL campaign on September 14, chaired by Carlton Owen, to push for passage of both the county and municipal penny tax measures, according to the Greenville Journal. The coalition is framing the taxes as necessary investments to support regional population growth, per the same outlet. Whether that messaging can overcome voter resistance in a county that rejected similar measures in both 2014 and 2024 remains to be seen as the November 3 election approaches.
