The five Richland County Council members who voted Tuesday to kill a penny-on-the-dollar tax proposal to pay for roads would have received the most money for their districts had the measure passed. District 9, which includes the congested Clemson Road and Hard Scrabble Road areas, would have received more than $76 million to widen and add bicycle paths to the heavily traveled roads. It would have been the most money to any district. But District 9 Councilwoman Val Hutchinson voted against the proposal, saying she couldn’t justify raising the cost of living for her constituents during a time of economic uncertainty. “I lost a lot of sleep over it,” she said. “But I thought that it was my ultimate responsibility to look out for the citizens of the county and their welfare.” Overall, the council members who voted no — Hutchinson, Joe McEachern, Bill Malinowski, Joyce Dickerson and Norman Jackson — would have received more than $212 million for their districts. That’s 1½ times the amount that would have gone to the districts of council members who voted for the proposal. ...
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