If a new proposal becomes law, Bluffton town residents and developers could face increases in town fees, including a doubling of the current stormwater utility fee.

The fee would be raised to $98 a year per home. The increase, which would be used to help the town deal with stormwater and drainage problems, is one of several proposed hikes. If council grants the fee plan final approval, the charges would take effect July 1.

Town Manager Bill Workman said at Tuesday night's council meeting that town fees haven't increased since 2002, when Bluffton was a much smaller town. Increasing the charges now, Workman wrote in a memo to town council, will help eliminate the need for tax increases in the future.

Bluffton's application and permitting fees, charged for things such as development permits and inspections, are higher than similar fees charged by Hilton Head Island and Beaufort County, Workman said.

The proposed fee hike is "appropriate given what Bluffton's dealing with now," he said, referring to the town's growth in both population and area.


As that growth continues, council member Charlie Wetmore had ideas for growing its economy as well.

In particular, Wetmore said, officials should get serious about installing signs to direct people to old town Bluffton, which could benefit its merchants and artists.

During the meeting, he told a story about a couple he met at an old town shop who have vacationed on Hilton Head for years. They stumbled on old town by accident, Wetmore said.

Signs designating historic Bluffton and pointing people to the Heyward House welcome center, among other attractions, should be a priority, Wetmore said.

"We need the signage and we need it yesterday," he said.

The council approved the first reading of a proposal to shift town funds away from this fiscal year's Capital Improvement Program budget to pay for the signs. The funds would be moved from projects unlikely to be completed by June 30.