About the Measure
On the November 3, 2026 general election ballot, Camden County voters will decide whether to increase the annual levy for the Camden County Open Space, Recreation, and Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund from two cents to three cents per $100 of assessed real property value. The measure would improve water quality, protect drinking water sources, protect and restore natural areas, and provide clean, accessible parks.
The Ballot Question
The ballot question language, as it will appear on your November 3 ballot, is as follows:
Shall the County of Camden, for the purpose of protecting and improving the water quality of rivers, lakes, and streams, protecting drinking water sources, protecting natural areas from development, restoring natural areas, including wetlands that help prevent flooding, providing debt service for borrowing related to these purposes, and seeking matching funds, acquire, develop, and maintain land and increase the annual levy for the Camden County Open Space, Recreation, and Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund from two cents ($.02) to three cents ($.03) per One Hundred ($100) Dollars of total County equalized real property valuation, with full public disclosure of all spending and an annual public audit of the trust fund?
Explanatory Statement
A “YES” vote will permit Camden County to increase the existing Open Space Trust Fund annual levy from two cents to three cents per $100 of assessed real property value to acquire, develop, and maintain lands to:
- Protect and improve the water quality of rivers, lakes, and streams, including the Cooper River;
- Protect drinking water sources;
- Protect natural areas from development;
- Restore natural areas, including wetlands that help prevent flooding; and
- Provide clean, accessible parks
The levy would cost the average homeowner in Camden County $1.83 per month. Moneys raised for the Open Space Trust Fund would only be used for water quality protection and improvement, park projects, and to finance loans for such projects. There would be full public disclosure of all Trust Fund spending. Every year there would be a public audit of all expenditures.
How the Revenue Would Be Used
Revenue generated by this measure would help fund the Camden County Open Space, Recreation, and Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund, which was approved by voters in 1998 to preserve parks, natural areas, historic sites and farmland. This will help protect natural areas from development, restore natural areas, including wetlands, that help prevent flooding, and provide clean and accessible parks for Camden County residents.
The revenue would also help protect and improve the water quality of rivers, lakes, and streams by implementing Camden County’s “A Clean Water Future” Water Quality, Infrastructure, and Recreation Master Plan, which would help fund green infrastructure, recreational lake restoration, sanitary sewer rehabilitation, combined sewer overflow reduction, sediment remediation and dredging. These measures help prevent untreated wastewater from escaping into Camden County’s groundwater, rivers and streams.
Compared with the Region
Camden County currently has the lowest open space levy in the region. If this measure passes, it would still be the lowest.1
Camden County passed a resolution on July 16, 2026 which approved placing the above question on the November ballot.1 The facts and information contained on this page do not constitute an endorsement by the Camden County Board of Commissioners, Camden County staff, or any of its vendors. This website serves to educate voters about what is on the upcoming November 3rd ballot.