Golf course owners are trying to persuade state lawmakers to give them a break on property taxes, but the Beaufort County Assessor's Office estimates that such a move could shave off $1 million from county tax revenue.

Legislation to be considered Tuesday by the Senate Finance Committee would keep income from golf-course-related amenities, such as revenue from cart rental and pro shop sales, out of a course's total valuation.

The bill essentially would take a three-year-old ruling from an administrative law judge that reduced the taxable value of three golf courses at Sea Pines and put those provisions into law, effectively cutting the taxable value of many golf courses throughout the state.

After Beaufort County conducted a countywide reassessment in 1998, it valued three Sea Pines courses at $35 million. But the company sued and in 2002 an administrative law judge ruled that the property assessment could not include income from extra features, such as golf cart rental or pro shop sales. The judge lowered the assessed value to about $21 million.

An administrative law judge made a similar ruling last month relating to four Kiawah Island golf courses in Charleston County.

But Beaufort County interim assessor Robert Reames said he still thinks the administrative law judge was wrong. In the countywide reassessment finished last year, Sea Pines' courses have been valued as if the administrative law ruling never happened.

The bill essentially would put the Sea Pines ruling into law, effectively forcing county assessors to follow it.

State law requires golf courses to be assessed according to one of three commonly accepted methods: comparing with actual sale prices of similar courses, adding up the values of the various parts of the course, or calculating the course's income minus expenses.

Golf courses owned by homeowners associations are valued under a separate provision of state law. Their assessments are determined by a formula that uses a golf course's gross revenue, minus membership dues, fees or assessments. No property can be valued at less than $500 an acre.

Reames used the example of a hotel to explain why he thinks golf courses' appraisals should include income from cart rental and pro shop sales. A hotel, he said, contains similar personal property such as beds and chairs, but the hotel's taxable value can't be determined as if it didn't have beds. The same principle applies in considering a golf course that didn't have carts or a pro shop.

"How can you separate what income is generated to that furniture? If there was no bed in the room, you couldn't rent the room. So it's inextricably intertwined," he said.

Golf courses "wouldn't have the income they do, were it not for the carts," he said.

Reames said if the bill passes, it will require his office to appraise golf courses artificially low.

"I don't think it would be fair to me or any other taxpayer who doesn't own a golf course," he said. "We're going to have to make up the lost revenue, and it's giving golf courses a special tax reduction or special treatment, and no other properties are treated that way. Everyone else has to pay on the market value of the property."

Reames estimated that if the bill passed, it could cut close to $1 million from taxes levied by Beaufort County.

Terry Sedalik, executive director of the South Carolina Golf Course Owners' Association, said the major problem comes when an assessor uses some parts of each of the three allowed methods to value a course.

"There's certain appraisal methods that are recognized, and certain things are included within each of the three methods," Sedalik said. "I guess the situation is that they haven't been consistent once they pick a method."

The bill will clarify state law to give county assessors more direction on how to appraise golf courses, Sedalik said. Having a well-defined system in state law for how to appraise golf courses will save both time and money for county governments that have to defend themselves against lawsuits that golf courses will file to get their property assessment reduced.

"Each assessor has the authority to decide their own methods -- that's why it's so troubling across the state," he said. "They've got to go hire accountants and attorneys each time. It costs the courses and taxpayers a fortune each time."

Indeed, Beaufort County may be setting itself up for another court battle based on how it appraised Sea Pines' three courses in last year's reassessment. Reames said he thought an administrative law judge was wrong to overturn the previous assessment, and his office again is trying to include cart rental and related income in the assessment.

The bill has 13 sponsors, including the Senate's top-ranking member, Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, whose district includes Kiawah Island. He said golf courses were just asking for fair treatment in light of the administrative law judges' rulings.

"If (assessors) won't voluntarily do the right thing, it is up to the legislature to require them to follow the law," McConnell said in a statement. "The golf course industry is not asking for special treatment; they just want to be taxed fairly."

Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island, said he would support a uniform system of golf course assessments but wasn't sure whether he would support this year's bill because he hasn't yet read it.