6/6/08 Update: The Residential Improvement District  Act has passed the S.C. General Assembly. As long as the governor goes along, this removes (in my mind) any excuse for county council not to insist that Carolina Station and subsequent large developments agree to put their development into such a special tax district agreeing that the development pay for the school facilities that it requires. (The subsequently added Getting Developments to Pay for their Public School Needs, accessible by clicking the item in the left-hand menu goes into greater detail.) The Residential Improvement Act specifically calls out public school facilities as public facilities that it can be used to cover. To view the S.C. Residential Improvement District Act as passed by the S. C. General Assembly, awaiting the governor's signature, click the S.C. Residential Improvement District Act here or the corresponding item in the menu on the left. Click the Residential Improvement District Bill item in the menu on the left for previous background information.

What Worley said is completely true. There has been an effort by the General Assembly to delete the point-of-sale reassessment provision that would cost the county $7M and the school district $21M this year alone. Those costs would have to be borne by Horry County taxpayers. Retaining the point-of-sale reassessment would mean more money in the county coffers until the next five year reassessment.

If the reason for holding back on action on impact fees has been to keep that from clouding the issue with the General Assembly during this legislative session, fine. However, this legislative session of the General Assembly ends at noon next Thursday, June 6, so that reason does not appear adequate for continuing to hold back on impact fees or other county council actions to adopt other measures for new developments to pay for the public facilities they require.

Overall Picture and Most Recent (April 1, 2008) General Assembly Developments on Measures for New Developments to Pay for the Public Facilities They Require

 

Impact fees or special tax districts so that developments pay for the public facilities they require remains desirable. There is no reason that we can not have such.

Remember Carolina Station’s required public facilities will cost a bare bones minimum of $9,000 for every home built -- $7,600 for school facilities alone. Most developments cost more.

S.C. law does not allow impact fees to cover schools, among other things, but there is no minimum property acreage required for impact fees while special tax districts require the current property owner's agreement to be put into a special tax district. And S.C. state law allows development agreements only for properties that are larger than 24 acres.

So those who simply want to build a home for themselves or relatives would not be affected by special tax districts that could include a provision for special taxes on the public schools they require as a condition for development approval. The negative is that developers could, perhaps, choose to only build construction phases less than 25 acres. Unfortunately, this last is a S.C. law provision over which the county council has no control.

 

Taxpayers should insist that County Council require that International Paper agree to measures so that the Carolina Station development (which is scheduled for its critical second reading on development approval and development agreement approval June 13) pay for the public facilities it requires to the degree that state law allows -- and require all future developments larger than 24 acres to do likewise.

 

I have heard that International Paper has agreed that Carolina Station will be subject to any impact fees that the county council may oppose on future developments. Unfortunately, the state impact fee statute has been interpreted to preclude impact fees including the public school facilities that a new development requires.

 

There are those who claim that state law will not allow the county to use a special tax district (agreed with by a developer in exchange for development approval) to require special taxes for public school facilities that a development requires, either. However, there is currently a Residential Improvement District bill that may well be passed by the General Assembly next week that specifically allows inclusion of the costs of public school facilities in the special taxes for a Residential Improvement District.

 

If state law allows that, and the General Assembly makes the laws as long as they are constitutional, then there already is a Public Works Improvement statute with language that arguably includes school facilities in its "public facilities" for which taxes could be paid in a Public Works Improvement special tax district. That statute allows inclusion of special taxes for public facilities required by a development as long as they are within the district or on property immediately adjacent to the district. The required schools for Carolina Station are to be within or on property immediately adjacent to Carolina Station.

 

In any event, taxpayers should insist that County Council defer Carolina Station approval until International Paper agrees to put Carolina Station into a special tax district -- a Residential Improvement District if necessary, and if that bill is approved before the General Assembly session ends next Thursday. Second reading of the Carolina Station development approval ordinance is scheduled for the following Tuesday, June 17. There can be no significant change at third reading if an ordinance passes second reading. So third reading, for which there is no public input, is often no more than a formality if there is no other public outcry.

Click here for more detailed comparisons of Public Works Improvement special tax districts and Residential Improvement Districts or click the Public Works Districts and Putting it all Together item in the Growth Impact Action Committee menu on the left.

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