The Beaufort County Legislative Delegation got a lesson Monday in how special tax districts siphon away millions of dollars in tax revenue that normally would be directed to government operations.

County Controller Tom Henrikson told a meeting of Republican Reps. Catherine Ceips of Beaufort, Richard Chalk of Hilton Head Island and Bill Herbkersman of Bluffton that tax increment financing has created millions of dollars in lost revenue on Hilton Head alone this year.

Henrikson said tax district revenue on Hilton Head last year was about $800,000. But since all properties in the county were reassessed last year, he estimated those same properties now pay $3 million toward the tax district.

He gave lawmakers the briefing in response to concerns from residents over what many see as high tax bills in the wake of last year's reassessment.

Tax increment financing districts are established as a way to encourage development or redevelopment of a certain area. In the districts, properties' taxable values are frozen in the year they are established, and the tax revenue gained as the property increases in value in subsequent years is paid to make improvements within the tax district, Henrikson said.

He said a sample $170,000 house located within the Hilton Head tax district would pay $821 in taxes, of which $356 would go to the tax district, leaving just $465 to governments.

"It shouldn't be skewing your taxes like this," Chalk said. "You're getting some real skewing of the numbers."

In addition to the Hilton Head tax district, there are two separate districts in the greater Bluffton area, three in Beaufort, one on Lady's Island and one in Port Royal, Henrikson said.

In other action, the delegation:

Heard a report from Frank Gibson, president of the Beaufort-Jasper Academy for Career Excellence's School Improvement Council, requesting that lawmakers change the composition of the academy's oversight board.

The academy's board includes three members each from the Beaufort and Jasper school boards, a plan left untouched since the school was created by the state in 1975. Gibson's proposal wouldn't change the number of academy board members but would call for the group to comprise: one member from both the Jasper and Beaufort school boards; a business or industry leader from each end of Beaufort County; a business or industry leader from both Hardeeville and Ridgeland; and the superintendents from each district as nonvoting members.

The delegation took no action on Gibson's proposal; and

Was told by several black community leaders that any proposal to overhaul the Beaufort County school board's makeup would be opposed in the strongest way. State Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, has suggested a plan to change the board from 11 single-member district seats to six single-member district seats and three at-large seats. He has said the plan was an attempt to reduce conflict among board members by electing some members to represent "the whole pie."