Taxpayers who saw substantial increases in their homes’ assessed values this year could be paying less in property tax than they had been bracing for this fall.

Richland County and six other counties in the midst of reassessment are scrambling to refigure tax bills for hundreds of thousands of property owners after the Legislature on Thursday unexpectedly approved a cap on local property tax reassessments.

The cap, if signed into law by Gov. Mark Sanford, would prevent any property’s assessed value from going up by more than 20 percent. Counties use property values to set taxes.

The change could be a boon to homeowners who live along the coast, in suburban areas and in other hot spots in South Carolina. Some taxpayers in popular Richland County neighborhoods, for instance, saw their assessed values go up by 40 percent.

But many local officials are calling the 20 percent cap a shell game. They say it means South Carolinians who live in less desirable neighborhoods would have to make up some of the difference.

The change would apply to each of the state’s counties as they undergo reassessment, which must happen every five years.

Some homeowners saw the bill as good news.

George Patterson of Columbia has lived in his home off Covenant Road for 40 years. He said he was surprised when his home’s assessed value increased by 23 percent.

“It was entirely too high,” he said.

Patterson would see modest relief, but said a cap would give the process more predictability. “It’s a good idea to have some kind of control. People on a fixed income have to have a warning,” the retiree said.

Bob Keener, president of the Lake Murray South Shore Homeowner’s Association, said the change could mean that families who have inherited their land and are worried about having to sell or lose it, now could afford to keep it. “It’s definitely a step that’s needed.”

Many local officials disagree.

“It’s terrible,” said John Cloyd, Richland County assessor. “It’s not fair that the less affluent have to subsidize the more affluent.”

Cloyd uses the example of a home valued at $600,000 that is reassessed at $1 million. With a 20 percent cap on increases, he county could only tax the home as if it were worth $720,000.

“Somebody has to make up the difference,” Cloyd said.

Counties in the middle of the reassessment process are scrambling to recalculate tax rates before bills go out this fall.

“It’s a major undertaking,” said Bernice Wright, Beaufort County assessor. “We’re not sure that we can do it by the deadline.”

The taxes on businesses, manufacturers, vehicles, boats and other classes of property might increase to offset the difference, some local officials said.

“This is just a tax shift,” said Robert Croom, assistant director of the S.C. Association of Counties.

This isn’t the first time a property tax cap has been attempted.

In 2000, a bill allowed counties to choose whether to cap reassessments at 15 percent.

Charleston County then passed a cap on owner-occupied homes, but the cap has since been suspended and is mired in lawsuits. The state Supreme Court has said Charleston’s cap is illegal because it did not apply to everyone. The court is reviewing whether the county’s cap is unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, debate is raging on whether the tax relief is lasting.

In a 2003 study, Charleston County determined that of the county’s 505,000 tax bills on real property, boats, businesses and motor vehicles, about 88 percent — 447,000 — would have been higher with the cap than without because the tax rate was raised.

Ultimately, some question whether the bill is meaningful reform.

“This is just a Band-Aid for what the real problem is,” said Harry Huntley, Richland County auditor. “The real problem still remains how we fund public schools in this state.”

Huntley and others say a sales tax increase or eliminating some sales tax exemptions would be more equitable.

Others say those with fixed or low incomes bear too much of a burden when sales taxes go up.

State Rep. Vida Miller, D-Georgetown, who sponsored the bill, said she hopes to fine-tune the cap next year to protect very low-income people.

“Some say this is a tax shift,” Miller said. “But I think the shift has already happened, and it’s been to the property owner,” away from state government, which is financed mostly through income taxes and fees.

“Whenever we underfund something, school districts or DSS or Medicaid, who picks up the tab? The homeowner.”

Staff writers Shelley Hill and John O’Connor contributed to this report. Reach Smith at (803) 771-8378 or gnsmith@thestate.com