Pssst … Hey, Buddy, You Wanna Buy a PSD?

Lucre. Pot sweetener. Payola. Greasing the palm. Moolah. Lettuce. Inducement. Bait.
Whatever you may call it, City Councilman Bill Moody has a plan to use money to encourage more homeowners and businesses in the St. Andrews Public Service District (PSD) to annex into the city.
And that plan could, if done the wrong way, spike the local tax bills of those who choose to remain in the PSD.
Moody has been checking with the city’s legal department to see if there was anyway the city could forgive the taxes on homeowners and businesses who annex into the city from the PSD, if only for a few years.
What did legal say?
“They said it was probably illegal,” said Moody, with a laugh.
So, Moody is now having the legal department check to see if there was a way the city could legally cover the cost of business permits for a couple of years of businesses who annex into the city, as a further inducement.
Driving around West Ashley, Moody said he sees so much work and needed improvements that would be so much easier to accomplish if only everyone in this part of town lived in the city.
Sidewalks, gateways into the city, intersections that need improvement, fire stations that need building, streets that need speed-humps. But that have both city and PSD homes on either side, complicating the matter.
“There’s close to 70,000 city residents living west of the Ashley, and, what, another 20,000 living in the county and PSD?” he said.
And while Moody claims a lot of respect for many “great” people doing “great” jobs working for the PSD, he said it was a shame that there were two sets of administrations delivering similar services to residents, as it was by nature less efficient.
Moody’s salvos are not a new fight. The city, with its increasing demands for services from residents and constituent groups, had been biting away at neighborhoods via annexations for decades, leaving virtual donut holes of PSD residents surrounded by city residents.
When asked for comment this week on Moody’s efforts, District Manager Christie Holderness decline comment, saying she was too busy working on a “big project.”
Similarly, Frances Cantwell, the lawyer Moody has been in contact with at City Hall, declined comment this week, passing on that she was too busy preparing a “big case.”
Moody said the city has not been as focused on annexing properties and businesses in West Ashley of late for a variety of reasons.
Like annexation fatigue created by the city’s efforts to keep big chunks of James Island within the fold, as the town there was formed and has been able to stay independent.
Lots of money, time, effort, and trips to Columbia have gone into the city’s so far unsuccessful attempts to annex more and more of James Island.
Also Riley Fatigue has been a major factor, he said. And with the mayor Joseph P. Riley, Jr. retiring from office at the end of this year, Moody said, “it was time” to refocus the city’s annexation efforts in the PSD.
Moody said he understands that some PSD’ers don’t want to “put up with” all the city hoops, but he said lower insurance rates, faster law enforcement response times, and neighbors who don’t “let the grass grow up to their roof” more than outweigh the hassle.
If the business license gambit is successful, then it could drive up the local tax bills of residents who remain in the PSD several hundred dollars. If the ‘freedom-loving; residents of the PSD still want to stay, then they can stay out,” he said.
Moody’s efforts, if legal and successful, could drastically alter the balance of power on City Council. If all of the guesstimated 20,000 West Ashleyians living in the county and PSD were annexed into the city, that could necessitate two more councilmembers for West Ashley.
That could give West Ashley a virtual voting lock on just about any issue coming up on Council, further diluting the city’s traditional peninsular powerbase, as well as further reducing the political power of black voters and their representatives, Moody said.
Moody’s final word: “I don’t quite know how to do this, and it seems pretty heavy-handed, but there may not be another way to entice them in.”