Residents express ire over tax bills

Charleston adopted lower rate than county suggested Was that the wind howling, or just the neighbors reacting to their property tax bill? With more than 80 percent of Charleston County property owners facing higher bills this year because of a large school district tax increase and the effects of reassessment, irate residents flooded local government offices with phone calls Monday. Charleston was the only municipality to adopt a lower tax rate than the county recommended after reassessment, but that didn't stop some residents who received sharply higher tax bills from blaming the city, Chief Financial Officer Steve Bedard said. "We're getting painted with the same brush," he said. "We gave back every penny, plus some, in this reassessment." Many Charleston County residents received property tax bills in the mail Saturday. The bills cover county, school district and municipal property taxes, plus the county's recycling fee, so determining why the total is higher or lower than the year before can be difficult. Zarah Goodwin, an 80-year-old widow who has lived in Charles-ton's East Side neighborhood for 55 years, wasn't sure why her property taxes nearly tripled and was equally unsure Monday how she will pay them. "I live on a fixed income, Social Security, because my husband died 18 years ago," she said. Goodwin's bill for her modest Hanover Street home and a vacant adjoining lot used for parking rose from $607 to $1,598. That's largely because the East Side has become popular with real estate investors, and gentrification has boosted the estimated value of Goodwin's properties to more than a quarter-million dollars. Goodwin is looking for a way to lower her tax bill, but she already receives a lower assessment rate available for owner-occupied properties and a homestead exemption on a portion of her property value available to the elderly or disabled. She could appeal her new property value next year, but the deadline has passed for 2005. Like all Charleston residents, who together own a fourth of the properties in the county, the largest share of Goodwin's property taxes will go to the Charleston County School District, and the next largest share will go to the city. Some municipalities collect no property tax. Among those that do levy a tax, Hollywood has the highest tax rate, followed by the North Charleston Public Service District, St. Andrews Public Service District, North Charleston and Charleston. Tax rates typically are lowered after reassessment because the value of the taxable property has been raised. In Charleston County, most municipalities accepted a rollback tax rate determined by the county auditor that was intended to raise a similar amount of revenue as before. The school district, North Charleston and the St. Andrews Public Service District all opted for higher tax rates than the county recommended. Charleston, in contrast, selected a new tax rate 6 percent lower than the rollback rate suggested by the county. Deputy Auditor Ron Hall said the rollback rates were designed to factor in the percentage of property owners who won't pay their bills, a 2.7 percent cost-of-living increase, growth in the tax base and a percentage of residents who might successfully appeal their new assessments and get them lowered. In many cases, it won't be clear until next year whether the new rates will raise too much, too little or just the right amount of revenue, he said. Bedard said Charleston tried to be conservative in its assumptions, and he expects that the new tax rate will bring in roughly the amount of revenue budgeted by the city when the 2005 budget was approved at the end of last year. About 6 percent of all county residents will pay less in property taxes this year because of the reassessment, and about 5 percent will see little change from last year, an analysis by The Post and Courier determined.

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