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ScribeBy: Arlie Porter of The Post and
Courier Staff
Originally Published on: 5/1/03
Charleston County Council members are poised to postpone a controversial reassessment cap this year, reversing a decision on how tens of thousands of property owners should be taxed.
If the delay passes, about 82,000 property owners would pay less taxes this year than if the cap remained in place. About 53,000 would pay more, according to county figures.
Council voted last year to institute a new cap this year, essentially shifting property taxes from owners of commercial properties and homes that increased the most in value during the 1990s to all other property owners.
Council affirmed the cap in a unanimous vote just last month, although some council members have worried openly about whether it would survive a legal challenge before the S.C. Supreme Court.
After weeks of behind-the-scenes political wrangling, those who favor postponing the cap until a legal ruling appear to have recruited enough votes to do so.
"The chances are very good that council will support a delay," Chairman Tim Scott said.
The first push to do that is expected today. Council members interviewed Wednesday predicted a 4-4 vote to delay during this afternoon's meeting of the Finance Committee, which includes all council members. That leaves Councilwoman Carolyn Conlon, who is not expected to attend the meeting, as the swing vote for the official vote next Tuesday.
Conlon could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but council members who support the delay are counting on her vote.In her successful election campaign last year, Conlon supported the cap. But she is also from North Charleston, where anti-cap sentiment runs high.Citing county statistics that nearly all North Charleston taxpayers would pay higher taxes with the cap, the city has sued to block the cap. Kiawah Island, where property owners would get tax breaks worth millions, has joined the county in defending the cap.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Kiawah Island Mayor Bill Wert said he would be extremely disappointed if council members reversed themselves by postponing the cap.
"That would be deeply troubling," he said.
Because the cap could mean savings or higher taxes amounting to thousands of dollars for individual property owners, depending on the value of property and where they live, it has divided the county and pitted neighbor against neighbor.
It also has torn council.
Scott and council members Ed Fava and Barrett Lawrimore favor postponing the cap until the Supreme Court rules on the North Charleston lawsuit. In particular, they fear the court could force the county to refund millions of dollars in taxes if the cap is ruled illegal.
"If we have to find a way to give back $40 to $50 million, we're in trouble," Scott said.
He and others seeking to delay the cap also cite a circuit judge's order 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. They don't want to face another refund fiasco.
Council members Charles Wallace, Leon Stavrinakis, Curtis Bostic, Fran Roberts and A.D. Jordan have pushed for the cap, arguing that it's desperately needed to offset higher taxes on rapidly appreciating homes.
Wallace, however, has changed his position in recent weeks and now supports delay.
"I just believe that it would be irresponsible to go forward without a decision," he said. "I certainly want to avoid, for lack of a better word, the mess" from the earlier cap attempt.
Stavrinakis said he respects Wallace's decision but predicted that his and other council members' change of heart could hurt them in the next election.
"I'm not going to reverse myself. I'm going to keep my word," Stavrinakis said. As for council members who promised a cap but since have reversed themselves, voters "should remember them on election day."
Stavrinakis said a court resolution is needed on the cap and questioned whether North Charleston would follow through on its suit if council votes to delay. He and other council members had invited the litigation to clear up any question over the cap's legality and had expected North Charleston to file its suit last fall.
North Charleston did not file its suit until six months later, which means the Supreme Court is not expected to rule before property tax bills are programmed for the fall.
The sides now are bickering over who is to blame for the delay, with each side accusing the other of running up legal costs on taxpayers.
Meanwhile, at least one council member wished to put an end to the reassessment cap saga, which has consumed council for three years.
"There is a great frustration on every member of council to do the right thing," Jordan said. "It's a never-ending sinkhole."
If the cap does not pass, properties would be taxed this year at their value in 1998, as they were last year, when a cap was not in place.
With a cap, those property value increases of more than 15 percent would be exempt from taxes. For this reason, owners of homes that increased the most in value in the 1990s, especially in beach and resort communities and in downtown Charleston, stand the most to gain from a cap.
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