With the June 12 statewide primaries looming, candidates for county offices are making the rounds and pitching their platforms in hopes of rallying support.
At Thursday's Beaufort County Republican Party candidate forum at Rose Hill in Bluffton, two incumbents and two challengers delivered stump speeches and threw a couple barbs at opponents.
Beaufort County Auditor
Incumbent Jim Beckert spoke first and called himself an "advocate" and a "fulcrum," balancing the interests of government and taxpayers.
Elected in 2014, Beckert touted his revamped computer system that he says ensures "motor vehicles are now being taxed according to state law, and the guidance of the (S.C.) Dept. of Revenue."
He said he'd removed "over $150 million of excess vehicle values from the tax rolls" and "added $90 million of untaxed property" to the rolls.
The 27-year county resident said he's "been a faithful steward of the assets and resources of Beaufort County."
Challenger George Wright, currently the county's deputy treasurer, said he'd like Beckert to supply proof of the figures he touted.
"I'm going to fix this valuation problem with motor vehicles," Wright, who's worked for the county for almost two decades, said.
He said he'd found "over 80,000 errors" in his opponent's system.
Wright pledged to remove closed businesses that he said were still on the tax roll and improve working relationships with county departments.
"I will restore the confidence in the professionalism and the leadership of the Beaufort County auditor's office," he said.
Beaufort County Sheriff
Incumbent P.J. Tanner was the first to speak and said that "growth" — and how to deal with it — was "the golden question."
"What does that bring to us, to you?" Tanner said. "Of course it's going to bring more crime. General crime. More traffic. ... The next 10 years is going to be a huge challenge."
He played on his experience working with county leaders, especially through hurricanes and other weather events.
He praised the county 911 emergency dispatch center and plugged his citizen police academy, a free 30-hour course through which community members learn how the sheriff's office functions.
Challenger JoJo Woodward, once a captain with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office Southern Division, agreed with his former boss that growth was the big challenge.
"But what I want to talk about is what we're going to do about the growth, if I become sheriff," Woodward said. "I'm looking at putting more boots on the ground, putting more officers to work, to combat the growth."
He also talked about putting more officers in schools and advocated for community policing.
He said he wanted to install a full-time traffic team in the county that partnered with other agencies, and a regional task force to combat drug and gang crime.
This story was originally published May 18, 2018 5:20 PM.