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ScribeBy: Arlie Porter of The Post and
Courier Staff
Originally Published on: 5/2/03
Charleston County Council members voted 5-2 Thursday to postpone a controversial reassessment cap this year, dismaying downtown Charleston and Kiawah Island residents who will pay higher property taxes as a result.
Across the county, however, most property owners will pay less taxes this year without the cap.
Though they had approved the cap last year and affirmed the decision just last month, council members cited ongoing lawsuits and the threat of having to issue tax refunds if the cap is ruled illegal in reversing their decision.
The vote must be ratified in three more votes over the next several weeks, however, giving cap supporters time to persuade council members to change their minds again.
Councilman A.D. Jordan, who only Thursday decided to delay the cap, said he doesn't expect another change of heart. "The winds have changed," he said.
Gene Geer, owner of a bed and breakfast inn south of Broad Street in Charleston, said immediately after the vote that he's not giving up his fight for the cap.
With a cap, property taxes on commercial properties and homes that increased the most in value during the 1990s, especially in beach and resort communities and in downtown Charleston, would be less than last year.
Because these property owners would pay less, all other property owners would pay more.
In all, about 82,000 property owners would pay more with a cap and about 53,000 would pay less, according to county figures. Taxes on more than 300,000 cars registered in the county would be higher with the cap than without it.
Geer and other cap supporters argue that owners of properties that have soared in value are paying disproportionately higher taxes for the government services they receive.
"They're going to be most upset" with council's vote to postpone, he said. "They're already paying high taxes with the cap, and without it, they'll pay more."
Most council members say they support the cap but that they can't be sure it's legal until the S.C. Supreme Court rules on a lawsuit filed by North Charleston, where nearly all homeowners would pay higher taxes with a cap.
Jordan said a key factor in his decision to now support postponing a cap was a circuit judge's order earlier this year that the county notify nearly 100,000 property owners that they may be due a refund from an earlier version of the cap the Supreme Court ruled illegal.
Before the council finance committee vote Thursday, some council members predicted a 4-4 tie on whether to postpone.
But with Jordan's reversal and the absence of Councilman Curtis Bostic for the cap vote, the tally was 5-2 in favor of postponing the cap until a Supreme Court ruling. Bostic supports the cap this year.
Voting to delay were Jordan, Council Chairman Tim Scott, and council members Ed Fava, Barrett Lawrimore, and Charles Wallace. Council members Leon Stavrinakis and Fran Roberts voted to proceed with the cap.
Council will cast the first of three official votes at its meeting next Tuesday.
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