SUMMERVILLE - Property taxes are going up in Dorchester County, and council members blame it on all the new subdivisions they've been approving.

Residents of Dorchester District 2, which includes the Summerville area, will pay about $67.20 more in taxes on a $150,000 house next year under a budget the council approved Wednesday.

Several council members had said they would not support any tax increase beyond the portion of the school budget that's required by the state. They changed their minds after Planning Committee Chairman Chris Murphy said it's not fair for the council to keep approving new subdivisions in the Summerville area and not give the school district enough money to handle the new students.

"We can't keep approving all these neighborhoods and not listen to the school board," Murphy said.

The council voted to give District 2, which includes about 20,000 students in the Summerville area, $1.5 million more than required by the state. No council member voted against the measure, though Chairman Skip Elliott abstained.

The vote got a hearty round of applause from most of the approximately 150 people who packed the council's chambers. On the other hand, a lot of other residents have been asking the council not to raise taxes, Vice Chairman Larry Hargett said before the vote.

"I've been getting phone calls," Hargett said. "Our citizens are very concerned about more and more school taxes."

Hargett later called the vote a fair compromise. District officials had asked for $5.6 million to meet "unfunded essential needs."

The $1.5 million will help hire new teachers and buy modular units to relieve overcrowded classrooms, according to the district's budget proposal. Attendance swelled 26 percent between 2000 and 2006.

Taxes in the district already were going up about $40.80 a year to raise the $47.9 million that the state requires for the school budget.

Residents of Dorchester District 4, which includes about 2,200 students in the St. George and Harleyville areas, will pay about $45.25 more a year on a $62,500 house under the new budget. The council voted to give District 4 about $150,000 more than the $10.2 million that's required by the state. The extra money accounts for about $7.75 of the tax increase.

The council gave District 4 an additional $150,000 because that's the same percentage of the district's list of "unfunded essential needs" that council gave District 2. District 4 wanted extra money to make teacher salaries more competitive with surrounding districts.

The county's $33.7 million operating budget and $2.6 million capital budget, which were also approved Wednesday, will require no tax increase.

But residents who live outside towns and cities will pay about $16 more a year on a $100,000 house to help improve fire protection.

Reach Dave Munday at 745-5862 or dmunday@postandcourier.com.