Now that voters have chosen to form a new municipality in Charleston County called the town of James Island, supporters are preparing to take the next steps to make that town a reality.

The vote from Tuesday's special election is expected to be certified this morning, and those results will be sent to Columbia.

"Once the (election) commissioners have certified the results of the election, that will come under oath to our office, and then Secretary Hammond would issue the certificate of incorporation," said Melissa Dunlap, chief of staff for Secretary of State Mark Hammond.

The certificate would not take effect until another special election is held on James Island, in order to choose a mayor and four council members for the town.

The final but unofficial vote on incorporation, which was recounted by hand Tuesday night, was 3,057 to 1,125 in favor of forming a town.

Voters also picked the name "Town of James Island" over "City of James Island," and chose a mayor/council form of government, with council members elected at large in nonpartisan elections, with two-year terms, according to election manager Karen Bennett.

The incorporation will be challenged in court by the city of Charleston, Mayor Joe Riley said, but he didn't know exactly when the city would take action. A town has been formed twice before on James Island, only to be undone by legal challenges by the city.

"I think it's amazing that people can vote three times and still be challenged," said Mary Clark, who was mayor of the last town and hopes to be mayor of the new one. "The people of James Island will not give this up."

An election to pick the town's officials has not yet been scheduled, but a date could be chosen today. Clark said the election might take place near the end of July, and said information for would-be candidates should be available soon.

"There will be packets for people to pick up telling them how to get on the ballot," she said Wednesday. "We'll probably do that after we certify the vote tomorrow."

As the town moves closer to re-forming, Charleston County and municipalities within the county are preparing to take a revenue hit. The town will get a municipal share of local-option sales tax money and state shared revenue, which will benefit the town's residents but will mean less for the county and other municipalities.

"We know that we'll have to go back and revise our budget," said Charleston County Controller Harold Bisbee. "We'll lose money, and we'll have to decide where to make up the shortfall."

The county and other municipalities won't get less local-option sales tax money than they do today, but they will collect less than they would have in the future, Bisbee said.

Along with state shared revenue, cable franchise fees, and other revenue, Bisbee said the county figures the existence of the last town of James Island cost it $870,000 in fiscal 2004.

The state Supreme Court ordered the last town dissolved at the end of 2004.

The new town will have close to 20,000 residents, representing most of the people who live in the area served by the James Island Public Service District.

Aside from a few small patches of unincorporated Charleston County that weren't included in the incorporation vote, the rest of James Island will remain part of the city of Charleston. About 17,000 James Islanders are city residents.

 Contact David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com.

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