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Landrum area residents will no longer pay the extra $25

LANDRUM—Beginning on Friday, Oct. 1, Spartanburg County residents will no longer pay the $25 road fee charge on their vehicle tax bills. 

The road fee has been in place since 2006 and generated about $5 million annually to maintain and repair the county’s more than 1,700 miles of paved roads. Recently, the fee generated about $7 million annually for the county. 

Spartanburg County Council met Sept. 29 and agreed to end the road fee. 

The move to end the road fee was driven by the state’s Supreme Court ruling over the summer in Greenville County that a road fee on registered vehicles was an illegal tax. 

Spartanburg County Council Chair Manning Lynch said the fee had been unpopular for years and council did not like the idea of a road fee. 

Spartanburg County Councilman Bob Walker, of Landrum, said he agreed the fee had to end. 

“This was a tax that the people didn’t want and didn’t have a say so in it,” Walker said. “My goal in the last few years was to get rid of the road fee because the people didn’t think it was done properly.” 

Without the road fee, Lynch said the county will not neglect road infrastructure improvements. 

The new plan is for the county to spend at least $113 million over the next 5 years to help improve roads and bridges. Over the past 6 years, the county has spent between $8 and $10 million a year on maintenance and repairs over the last 6 years. 

To improve the roads, the county plans to double its spending by borrowing money through general obligation bonds in 2022 and 2024, which will provide an additional $60 million to improve the county’s infrastructure.