COLUMBIA - The House voted by a hefty margin Wednesday to make it harder for cities and counties to get rid of billboards.

On a 90-24 vote, the House passed a bill that ends the practice of amortization, or letting billboard companies use the structures for a number of years until they are depreciated, at little or no cost to the local governments.

Under the terms of the bill, local governments would have to pay the fair market value of the signs if they want to remove them.

"What you're doing right now is making it financially impossible for a small town to get rid of a billboard," said Rep. Thayer Rivers, D-Ridgeland.

Myrtle Beach used that method to get rid of nonconforming billboards and was sued by the sign companies. The parties settled the case out of court.

House members voted down several attempts to make the value of the signs at buyout by a city or county the same as the companies said the signs were worth for tax purposes.

Proponents were unable to answer repeated questions about why billboard companies should be treated differently in state law than other businesses that sometimes get zoned out, including adult-oriented businesses.

"It's a giving of countless opportunities for the billboard industry for new billboards on I-73," said Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia.

Interstate 73 is planned to run from Michigan to Myrtle Beach.

Smith said the towns and counties along the road will not be able to prevent the billboards.

Rep. Joan Brady, R-
Columbia, tried twice for amendments requiring billboard companies to use the same values for buyout that they report for taxes.

"Private industry should not have it both ways," she said.

Rep. Ben Hagood, R-
Sullivans Island, proposed an amendment that would require the values to be determined by the same method the state Department of Transportation uses when it must order a sign removed.

"What is the economic justification for having two different ways to value a board?" Rivers asked.

Hagood's proposal also was voted down.

There was little argument in favor of the bill.

During committee discussion, proponents said billboard companies are not being paid enough for the loss of their property, and landowners who rent sites for signs get nothing.

The bill will require site owners to be compensated for the rest of their lease time.

Rep. Tracy Edge, R-North Myrtle Beach, is a former City Council member and said he understands the cities' argument but thinks some local governments were too demanding and billboard companies need more stability.

"The volatility of local governments' policy-making, I think, is what drove the bill," he said.

Edge's employer, Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., also owns some billboards but that is a minor part of the business, he said.