Dillon County Council Chairman Archie Scott is responding to the article from Dillon County School Board Chairman Richard Schafer which appeared in Tuesday’s issue of The Dillon Herald.
Chairman Scott said that he wants to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the citizens.
Scott said the public needs to make sure that the facts are truly facts. He feels that after the court gives its ruling that the facts will become clear.
Scott said they could not go on old facts that anyone comes up with from old documents or newspaper articles. He said there are enough of those types of documents to support both sides.
Scott said he feels that when the court rules on the case that the court will rule that the one percent Local Option Sales Tax is in the right place.
He said the court will rule according to the law.
Scott said in the case of old documents and newspaper articles, one can see that in 1990 and 2010 that the citizens of Dillon County thought that they were voting on whether or not to have an elected school board, when in actuality, it was an advisory—not a binding—referendum. He said this passed with 2,792 in favor in 1990 vs. 2,076 opposed to an elected school board, and in 2010, the question appeared again and the vote was 6,071 in favor of an elected school board and 737 opposed. He said he believes that the people at those times thought they were voting to have an elected school board and did not understand that it was simply an “advisory” referendum question instead of a binding one. He said until legislation is enacted in Columbia to have an elected school board, it will not happen. He said he cannot use an article showing a vote in 1990 and in 2010 to require an elected school board.
Further, he addressed the issue of the public hearing on June 28th at the Dillon County Council meeting regarding the budget. Scott said that the meeting has a formal agenda. As chairman, it is his duty to keep the agenda on track and the meeting moving. He said those who were not allowed to speak were not speaking on issues related to the budget, therefore, they were not allowed to finish their comments.
Scott said the people who appeared to speak should have been speaking on the topic at hand.
