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Charleston County News Release

MEDIA CONTACT

Name: Jennie Davis, Charleston County Public Information Officer

Phone: 843.958.4012

Email: jdavis@charlestoncounty.org

Release Number: 2618

Date: September 28, 2005

Charleston County Council Aims to Help Public Understand Tax Bills

Beginning last Friday, Charleston County Government mailed consolidated tax bills to residents. Because the tax system and the bill itself can be confusing to the general public, your Charleston County Council members are striving to answer everyone’s questions and concerns.

“It is important for the public to know that their County Council members did not raise taxes this year, and we are proud of this because this is the tenth year in a row we have done so,” said Leon Stavrinakis, Chairman of Charleston County Council.

This is confusing to the public, many of whom saw their taxes increase this year. A review of your most recent tax bill shows a detailed breakdown of how and where your tax dollars are used.

“The vast majority of increases on your tax bill is due to the state mandated reassessment and the Charleston County School Board tax increase,” Stavrinakis said. “State law mandates that the revenue we collect in the year of reassessment cannot exceed the previous year’s revenue, except for inflation and new construction. Charleston County Council did not choose to add the inflationary index this year because we know it is still a tax increase.”

Stavrinakis said he is very concerned about the drastic increases many property owners received on this year’s tax bill. “As elected officials, we have tried to help. The County passed property tax reform twice only to see it struck down due to state level issues. Only the South Carolina General Assembly can deal with the school funding issues and reassessment reform,” Stavrinakis said.

The tax system is complicated, and County Council aims to help the public understand their tax bill and know where their money is going. There are a few facts the public should know that can help them understand their bill and how the system works:

1.     Charleston County Government is the entity that mails out the bills. This is done so that residents do not get separate bills from their town or municipality, school district, etc., and allows for one consolidated bill to be mailed out at one time. The tax bill citizens receive is a consolidated bill from:

a.      Charleston County School Board

b.     The Municipality or Service and/or Special Purpose District

c.      Charleston County Government

d.     Charleston County Solid Waste User Fee

e.      Charleston County Parks and Recreation

f.      Trident Technical College

2.     Charleston County Council passed the 2005-2006 budget without raising taxes, for the tenth year in a row.

3.     The Charleston County Solid Waste User Fee of $89 per year for trash disposal and recycling pick-up on residential properties has not increased since 1998.

4.     State law requires that the total tax revenue collected by local governments in the year of reassessment cannot exceed the previous year’s revenue adjusted for inflation plus any increase that would come naturally from new construction. This, however, does not prevent the school district, county, city or public service district from raising additional revenues to pay for new or expanded services.

5.     To figure taxes on a property, the market value is multiplied by the assessment ratio to arrive at the assessed value. The assessed value is then multiplied by the millage in your tax district to arrive at the amount of taxes due. Finally, tax credits such as local options sales tax, homestead exemption and state property tax relief are deducted.

South Carolina law mandates that counties must conduct a reassessment every five years. Reassessment notices were mailed in June. State law allows property owners 90 days after they receive their notice to file an appeal with the County Assessor’s Office if they disagree with the assessed value. In addition, the Assessor’s Office has a hotline to answer questions from property owners: 843-958-4144.

“Because your assessment forms the basis of your tax bill, a fair and equitable tax can result only from a fair and equitable reassessment,” said Mike Huggins, Charleston County Assessor. “Reassessment is not created to raise taxes, but is intended to distribute the taxes already being collected more fairly among all property owners. Because it has been several years since the last reassessment, many property values increased.”

About six percent of all county residents will actually pay less in property taxes this year because of the reassessment, and about five percent will see little change from last year.

Please visit the Charleston County Web site www.charlestoncounty.org for a detailed explanation on understanding reassessment. The explanation is the first link listed under the “What’s New” tab on the County’s homepage.

- Written by Jennie Davis -