State legislators are undermining local governments' authority to make their own laws, a Beaufort County Council committee said Monday.

After reviewing several bills filed in the Statehouse, the council's Intergovernmental Relations and Economic Development Committee voted to write letters to the county's Legislative Delegation opposing seven of them. Most of those, members said, are violations of home rule -- the lawmaking autonomy the state legislature gave counties in 1975.

One bill now in the House Judiciary Committee would prevent counties and municipalities from passing stricter ordinances than state law provides. A more specific bill of that nature, up for debate today in the House of Representatives, would prevent local governments from putting regulations on hog farms that are more stringent than state law. The committee voted to write letters of opposition for both.

Beaufort County and municipal leaders at the meeting said they were not concerned about a hog farm onslaught here, and the county currently has none, but they opposed the bill on principle.

"Everybody in here feels like it's letting the camel stick his nose under the tent," said Skeet Von Harten, the council's vice chairman. "And if you let him stick his nose under the tent, by daylight the whole camel will be under the tent."

Councilman Bill McBride pointed out that Beaufort County has stricter regulations on docks and environmental impacts than the state provides.

Rep. Catherine Ceips, R-Beaufort, who also was at the meeting, said she supported the bill the last time the House debated it because local governments still can change zoning laws so that hog farms are outlawed altogether. Ceips said she bristles at the argument that the bill threatens home rule.

"Y'all decide if there are going to be hog farms in Beaufort County by the zoning," Ceips said. "... The state of South Carolina owes it to all citizens to have uniform regulations."

The committee also opposed bills in the House and Senate that would:

Require a two-thirds majority vote among local governing bodies to raise taxes.

Allow school districts to impose a 1 percent sales tax for bond repayment. The measure would have to receive voters' approval in a referendum.

Require local governments to pay cash to landowners whose property does not conform with permitted uses and is not grandfathered permanently.

Limit annual budget allocations to the previous year's funding plus 6 percent or the previous year's funding adjusted for inflation, whichever is less.

Give probate judges oversight of personnel matters and control over their budgets, once approved by County Council.

Ceips, who is sponsoring that bill along with Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, and Rep. JoAnne Gilham, R-Hilton Head Island, said the delegation drafted it at the request of county Probate Judge Frank Simon, who has said he cannot offer unspent money in his budget as an incentive to good staff members who are picked off by law firms.

McBride said that extra money goes back to the county's undesignated reserve fund, helping the council lower taxes the next year. The change also would upset the county's grading system for all employees, he said.

Councilman Mark Generales said the bill would be a slippery slope for all other elected officials, who would want the same authority.

Councilman Frank Brafman supported the bill, however.

"I don't know why you think that we're in a better situation to spend that money than the probate judge is himself," Brafman said.

The committee also approved a letter to the Legislative Delegation asking them to amend a bill that would allow municipalities in Beaufort County to charge real estate transfer fees. The letter requests that unincorporated areas of the county have the option.

Committee members and representatives from the town of Port Royal and the city of Beaufort discussed a list of road projects the municipalities want to pay for by reinstating traffic impact fees.

The council's Public Services Committee will evaluate the costs and legality of the projects in the next few months.