By Stacey Griffin
In 1994 the Dillon County Transportation Committee was formed to pave dirt roads and resurface paved roads. The County Transportation Committee (CTC) is made up of fair representation so that each portion of Dillon County receives a fair share of the funds received from the gasoline taxes on a gallon of gasoline. Each member lives in his or her area of responsibility.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) provides a monthly report to the CTC of program balances, obligations, and expenditures at a cost of 3 percent of our total revenue each year.
The source of the funds for the “C” fund program comes from a 2.66 cent per gallon of the 16 cent user fee on a gallon of gasoline sales. The 2.66 cents user fee is collected by the Department of Revenue and deposited with the County Transportation Fund in Columbia. These funds are distributed to each county based on one third in the ratio of county land area to the land area of the state, ratio of county population to the population of the state, and one-third of the ration of rural road mileage in the county to the total mileage in the total rural road mileage in the state.
Dillon County receives on the average $60,000 to $63,000 per month published on the “C” Fund Statement – about on the average $740,000 per year. The cost of paving a mile of dirt road cost $135,000 a mile, depending on how many driveways and drainage tiling are used.
The cost of resurfacing a mile of paved roads on the average is around $120,000. Ten years ago the cost of paving a mile of dirt road was around $25,000 and the cost of resurfacing a mile of paved road was $18,000 to $22,000. Ten years ago, the county received about $895,000 to $905,000, a large difference in cost of paving and resurfacing roads from ten years ago.
The law requires at least 25 percent of our total revenue goes to resurfacing paved roads.
The SCDOT gives the guidance to the CTC for selection of paving projects using “C” funds for paving projects. The project must be accessible to the public. Using “C” funds to pave private subdivisions is against the law.
The County Transportation Committee (CTC) in each County has the authority to decide which projects will be constructed or improved, and no one has the authority to interfere with the use of “C” funds, and the CTC has the total authority in the use of County “C” funds. This question and answer can be found in the SCHD “C” Fund Program booklet on Page 16, Question and Answer paragraph, paragraph 12.
Priority in paving/resurfacing roads is based on the number of houses per mile, whether-or-not it is a school bus route, and traffic flow. Each request will be considered on a first come, first served basis.
From 1994 to this day, the CTC has been involved in using what funds they had in paving 94-100 dirt roads and resurfaced around 125-130 paved roads and has saved the county thousands of dollars with not having road plows going over these paved roads.