While holding onto a slim hope that the South Carolina Supreme Court could reverse its unanimous decision forcing the dissolution of the town of James Island, town leaders are laying the groundwork for a third attempt to incorporate.
"It shouldn't be this hard for people in America to have self-government," said Mayor Mary Clark.
Bumper stickers reading "YES to a 3rd Incorporation" are on their way to the printer.
"We'll have about 1,000 of those on the streets within a week," Clark said.
She also said supporters of incorporation plan to privately rent the strip mall storefront that serves as James Island Town Hall so that they will continue to have a place to meet if the town is dissolved.
The bumper stickers will join older pro-incorporation bumper stickers that remain on sale in Town Hall, such as one proclaiming "James Islanders just say no to Joe!" — a reference to Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, whom incorporation supporters see as their arch foe.
It was the city of Charleston that blocked the town's first incorporation when it won a court ruling eight years ago and another ruling in July invalidating the town's second incorporation in 2002.
The state Supreme Court said a law that cleared the way for the town's second incorporation was unconstitutional. The law allowed the town to use marshes and waterways already claimed by the city to connect areas of the island wishing to incorporate.
The town has asked the court to reconsider, but few expect the unanimous ruling to be reversed.
Riley believes it will be difficult, if not impossible, for state lawmakers to craft another law allowing James Island to incorporate.
"They would have to get another state law passed that would allow several separate parts of the island to become a city," he said. "That would affect lots of cities and would be a profound change in public policy. It would be a hard legislative challenge and one we would resist."
While the outcome in the courts will determine who makes the rules governing development on parts of James Island, and which roads get paved when, the issue also is about money.
The town is sitting on about $3 million, mostly the town's share of the local option sales tax. Most of the money is earmarked for property tax relief, but the town has been blocked from spending it while the incorporation was being challenged.
Supporters of incorporation want access to that sales tax money.
While the law requires that 71 percent of it be spent providing property tax relief, the town could spend 29 percent of the money on local projects. Clark said the town would like to use the money to improve local roads and sidewalks.
"That's why we had to have a municipality, to get our share of the money," she said.
Clark believes Charleston wants to annex James Island to increase its borrowing capacity and tax revenue. Riley insists there's no financial motive. Instead there's a desire for efficient government and a community of common interests, he said.
Clark, who will be 72 next week, vows to fight for incorporation until the day she dies. A look at county planning maps shows it's a battle that town supporters have been slowly losing.
The City of Charleston has been steadily annexing James Island, creating a network of city-controlled land that effectively divides the remaining areas into unconnected pieces, a significant roadblock to incorporating those areas as a single town.
"It's that way because it made sense to people who felt they were Charlestonians," said Riley, noting that the city can annex areas only where most landowners want to be annexed. "You might have made an argument 40 years ago that the island was separate."
Clark, who displays decades-old photographs of rural James Island on the walls of Town Hall, believes it's not too late for James Island to form its own government. She said that, with the Public Service District already providing most public services, including fire protection and sanitation, Charleston has little to offer residents except city police and taxes, and she vows to fight on.
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David Slade covers the city of Charleston. Contact him at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com.