Kiawah Town Council OKs hiring attorney for tax cap advice

By: DENESHIA GRAHAM Of  The Post and Courier Staff
Originally Published on: 12/5/02
Page: C1

Kiawah Island Town Council approved hiring an attorney last week to prepare for intervention in a probable city of North Charleston lawsuit challenging the Charleston County reassessment tax cap.      Already assuming its legal position on the issue, the council will pay Charleston attorney Gedney Howe $300 per hour, up to a maximum $10,000. As part of the preparation, Howe would help determine how and when to legally intervene if North Charleston files the suit it has said it would file.      Kiawah Island favors the controversial 15 percent cap on property taxes for all county residents and business owners, which would become effective next year. Islanders already pay a significant percentage of taxes for their meager population, without having the county services to show for it, Mayor Jim Piet said.      North Charleston intends to file its lawsuit near the end of this year, city attorneys have said.      Still, Howe will start preparing right away. If there were a lawsuit, Town Council would decide whether to hire Howe to continue representation. "At this point, we have only signed him up to help prepare," said Allison Harvey, town administrator.      Currently, islanders pay nearly 13 percent of property taxes - some $31 million - but account for less than 1 percent of county residents and receive few county services, Piet said.      The gated community with mostly older and more affluent residents handles its own garbage collection and has virtually no school-age children to use public schools. Fire services come from St. John's Fire District on Johns Island.      The county provides planning and building services, as well as some public works services, Harvey said. "There's a real imbalance," Piet said, "and we don't think that's fair."      Opponents argue the cap would offer tax relief to the rich and those with substantially higher property value increases in recent years. Owners of homes with little increase, they contend, would unfairly pay higher taxes.

 

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