Delaying property tax reassessment until next year could protect expensive commercial properties, leaving 107,000 residents and owners of lower-value commercial properties to make up $5.75 million on their tax bills, according to new county figures requested by The Greenville News.

As a result, two-thirds of residential property owners could see higher bills on the county's portion of their tax bills, said County Administrator Joe Kernell.

However, if reassessment is implemented this year, county finance officials say it would be the first time in at least 25 years that commercial property owners pay a larger share of county tax revenues than residents.

Greenville County Council will cast its first vote on the matter on Tuesday, a decision between redistributing the county's tax burden before state property tax reform goes into effect or delaying it another year until voters can decide on a proposed cap on property values.

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County Council Chairman Butch Kirven said it's important to shift the tax burden toward commercial properties because of their skyrocketing values, noting that the county has been criticized in recent years for making residents pay too big a share.

Reassessment this year would correct that, he said.

It doesn't mean residential tax bills wouldn't go up. It means that, for two-thirds of residential owners, the county portion of the tax bill would remain the same or drop if reassessment happens this year, Kernell said.

Any increase in the total bill would be less if reassessment happens this year, Kernell said.

He said a delay until next year would mean all bets are off.

Property tax opponents have called reassessment a back-door tax increase, and want it delayed until a cap is in effect.

The new estimates apply only to Greenville County's portion of the property tax, although about 60 other agencies including the school board and fire districts can levy property taxes in various parts of the county.

John Hansley, deputy county administrator for finance, said he can't yet estimate the effects on the total tax bill because the other agencies haven't provided figures.

Read more about the impact of reassessment in Sunday's editions of The Greenville News.