South Carolina's Most Affordable Beach!
 

 The Edisto News focuses on news and events of interest to the South Carolina Lowcountry, Edisto Island, Edisto Beach, Colleton and Charleston counties.

Welcome to the Lowcountry of South Carolina!

 

Edisto Island is located 40 minutes South of Charleston South Carolina just off US Highway 17. The country road that leads to Edisto Beach is lined with century old Live Oak trees draped with beautiful Spanish Moss. Along the way are produce stands and farms. The vistas of tidal creeks and marshes makes the drive relaxing and thoughtful. Watch for the Bald Eagles and Ospreys that frequent the rivers and streams, they glide gracefully over the pristine landscape.

The Edisto News

Peek-a-boo

(Thanks to A-Tax money)

I See You

(Read the entire article in the lateset edition.)

 

Edisto Beach Town Council has approved $59,645 of Accommodation Tax money to install surveillance cameras at the corner of Jungle Road and Highway 174 and at Bay Creek Park. The vote was 4 to one with Jane Darby voting against the funding. The cameras were requested by the Edisto Beach Police Chief to tape the cars leaving the beach and to read the license plate of every car as it leaves.

Property crimes on Edisto include thefts from vehicles parked at homes, businesses and beach access parking areas. Vending machines and items from rental properties - especially flat screen televisions ­ are also targets of thieves. Most burglaries to homes occur in the winter months when many properties are unoccupied. Vandalism and malicious injury to property incidents are costly to property owners including the Town of Edisto Beach. Patrol officers are limited to what they can see and hear at any given time based on location, lighting, weather conditions, etc. Limited resources require more innovative and cost effective ways to closely monitor our streets, parks, homes and businesses .. Video camera surveillance networks have been effective in deterring crime and assisting police in developing crime suspect information and such a network would be a force multiplier for the Town of Edisto Beach Police Department resulting in better protection of, and service to, tourist and the tourism industry on Edisto.

The breakdown of the cost is:

Wireless cameras - $33,000

License plate readers - $20,500

One year annual contract - $2,400

Tax - $3745

Total - $59,645

This does not include the cost of maintenance, which in the salt air environment will be expensive.

 

A-Tax money is collected and is mandated by law to be used to promote tourism. Locally referred to as money that should be used for advertising to put “heads in beds”.

Annually in 2009 there were 13 burglaries; 2010 – 6; 2011 – 18; 2012 – 29. (Town’s website-this includes all burglaries.)

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Edisto Beach Moves

Ahead with $8.5 million

RO Water System

(Read the entire article in the lateset edition.)

 
Edisto Beach Town Council continues to move ahead with the proposed system that will bring drinkable and usable water to Edisto Beach and some outside areas close by. The Water Committee discussed hiring one firm to design and build the system that would take water from 2,300 feet below the surface and filter it for every utility customer. The water would be passed through a reverse osmosis (RO) system to extract the impurities and make 700 gallons per minute of quality water. Presently Edisto Beach uses ground water, which is treated with chlorine to reduce bacteria, and is then pumped to a water system of 2,300 customers. The Town of Edisto Beach has done numerous
studies and has over the years, been looking at ways to improve the water quality. Besides the taste and the high mineral content, it impacts residents by destroying appliances and the Town’s pumping stations and water lines.
 
“My water bill could be reduced by as much as half to a third. And that would be for most people with an RO system in their home,” Councilman Tom Mann said in a Water Committee meeting. For others the price will rise substantially but there could be cost savings when appliances last longer and faucets and sinks don’t corrode. The cost for Edisto Beach water consumers will rise to levels of surrounding communities. Charleston area households pay between $85 and $110 per month. Mount Pleasant is more at about $140. On Edisto Beach, minimum users pay about $40.00 per month for water that has limited use. The large users with whole house RO systems would pay
less because their use would drop significantly. By law, The Edisto Beach water system has to be run without tax dollars. It must be a stand-alone financial system that is required to be paid by the consumers. Public Service Districts (PSD) can use tax dollars to fund infrastructure improvements. Edisto Beach is not in a PSD.

HERO OF THE MONTH

Cheryl Van Metre is the hero of the month for March 2013.

Van Metre has served the Edisto community as the most prominent patron of the arts for years. She has been the President of the Edisto Beach Art Guild and

Served as the Chairperson for the original Bell Buoy Committee. She has tirelessly directed the Edisto

Players in numerous plays and has raised funds for the Art Guild to use to support the arts. She and

her husband Mickey, have given so much to our community; we should in turn give her our thanks for all she has done and continues to do. Thank you!
Trust in Government Falls...

Ten to twelve years ago, roughly two-thirds of Americans offered favorable assessments of all three levels of government: federal, state and local. But in the latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, conducted April 4-15, 2012 among 1,514 adults nationwide, the favorable rating for the federal government has fallen to just 33%; nearly twice as many (62%) have an unfavorable view.

While the balance of opinion toward state and local governments is somewhat more positive, the majorities poled say their local governments are not careful with their constituent’s money (56%), is too divided along party lines (53%) and is generally inefficient (51%). Moreover, while more say their local governments are mostly honest rather than mostly corrupt (by 49% to 37%), a majority (54%) says the federal government is mostly corrupt.

The end result, in this national survey, is that most regard government on the whole as inefficient and wasteful. Locally the view of Edisto Beach government is that we have different groups with different agendas and our elected officials are not responsive to the needs or desires of the full time residents and do not consider the impacts of their regulations on non-residents. Non-residents are more frequently referring to themselves as the “Cash Cow” of the Town of Edisto Beach. The Edisto Beach Town Council has always referred to themselves as Colleton County’s “Cash Cow”.

Why is the no trust in our local government? Case in point: Bell Buoy and the Bay Creek Park. The town spent $4 million dollars in 2006 to buy the property along Big Bay Creek next to the Marina. The public meetings that were held had diagrams and drawings of a delightful park with lots of amenities; restrooms, a covered picnic area, play ground, stage for concerts and free public events throughout the year. Read the entire article in the March 2013 edition.