A town councilman in Lexington, South Carolina has resigned his seat over a residency issue – years after it was first raised.
Ted Stambolitis – who was first elected in 2004 – “no longer meets the eligibility requirements of a qualified elector,” according to a press release from the town. His resignation – effective February 28 – was accepted by town mayor Steve MacDougall.
News of Stambolitis’ resignation was first reported by The Lexington Ledger. This news site previously reported on questions regarding his residency back in August of 2016.
“We don’t believe residency issues should matter (at any level of government) … but if Stambolitis is indeed serving in violation of town ordinances, it would seem his opponents have a solid case against him,” we noted at the time.
As we pointed out in our prior coverage, property records revealed that Stambolitis – owner of the popular Flight Deck restaurant – was residing at 545 Peninsula Drive in Gilbert, S.C.
That’s eleven miles outside of the city of Lexington …
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[/timed-content-server]In the past, Stambolitis repeatedly denied that he had a residency problem – pointing to a home he owned at 108 Raymond Circle that lies within Lexington’s town limits.
However his critics argued that since 2016 he was paying a four percent property tax rate on the lake house – a rate which is only authorized for a permanent residence. Residences designated as vacation, rental or weekend properties (i.e. secondary residences or investment properties) require owners to pay a six percent tax rate.
Stambolitis’ resignation creates a vacancy in this seat, which must be filled by a special election.
As soon as we have the dates for that contest, we’ll be sure to update our readers.
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