islandpacket.com - The Island Packet Online

Search Everything in the Lowcountry and the Coastal Empire.

Herbkersman to file bill to allow real-estate fee

Add Comment

A Beaufort County lawmaker is taking another stab at persuading fellow legislators to allow a real estate sales fee so local governments can buy land to preserve for open space or parks.

State Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, says he plans to file a bill next week that lets municipalities in Beaufort County and the county itself charge a fee on all real-estate transactions.

Stiff opposition from the home-building and real-estate industries has kept his proposal from moving forward in the past. But Herbkersman thinks there might be a window of opportunity to sway those industries if a comprehensive property tax relief plan is adopted this year.

Currently, Hilton Head Island is the only local government in the state allowed to collect the fee.

"It's the best chance we're going to have right now either during the end of this session or the start of next session," Herbkersman said.

Herbkersman's proposal would cap the fee at 0.25 percent of the cost of the sale, the same amount Hilton Head charges. Voters also would have to approve the fee. Any money collected could only be used to buy land for preservation or for parks.

Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head, says he supports Herbkersman's proposal and thinks the ability to charge the fee should be available to every county in the state. Under Herbkersman's bill, only Beaufort County would be able to put the matter before voters.

If a community wants to "preserve green space and build parks, I don't see why anybody else in the state has to tell them what to do," Richardson said.

The South Carolina Association of Realtors has opposed the fee because it adds another tax on home and property sales, said Nick Kremydas, senior vice president and general counsel for the association.

"We're going to scrutinize every single penny that is attempted to be put on the real-estate transaction because the homeowners and property owners in this state deserve that protection," Kremydas said.

Hilton Head began collecting the fee in 1990, allowing the town to buy more than 100 parcels for preservation or parks. Beaufort County and several other municipalities followed Hilton Head's lead and began charging the fee, but fights in the legislature and state Supreme Court forced them to stop under the state's 1997 Local Government Fiscal Authority Act.

Hilton Head was allowed to maintain the fee because it already had financing arrangements based on the revenues. Locally, the Hilton Head Area Association of Realtors supports allowing Bluffton to charge the fee, as long as it is charged and used the same way as Hilton Head's, according to association president Andy Twisdale.

Though the local association's backing helps, Richardson said, the measure will still face an uphill battle.

"As long as the state home builders and the state Realtors fight it, it's going to be tough to get it through," Richardson said.