The Post and Courier reported that the House and Senate passed legislation this week that expands local governments’ spending options to pay for such items as removal, repair and construction of drains in flood-prone tourist areas — legislation that was crafted to help Charleston.
Currently, restaurant-goers are taxed 2 percent on their bills as a “hospitality” tax that is collected by local governments. Those jurisdictions have the ability to use those hospitality taxes to pay for buildings like civic centers and aquariums, beach access or bridges to tourist destinations, advertising and of course, the ever concerning water-and-sewer infrastructure.
Tourism-related taxes on hotels, meals and drinks have been funding public projects in the Charleston metro area for years, from road improvements in Mount Pleasant to rebuilding of the Low Battery seawall on the peninsula. The city of Charleston was expected to receive about $22 million in hospitality taxes coming into 2020.
While the Covid-19 pandemic has altered 2020, the team at RooterNOW has never been busier. Discussing the removal, repair and construction of drains is something that we enjoy as we are infrastructure solution providers – at our core. If you are experiencing slow running drains or complete drain backups, contact the RooterNOW team for a video camera inspection of your drain pipes.