Tax-weary push to cap revaluations

Owners of fast-appreciating homes back divisive amendment

HENRY EICHEL

heichel@charlotteobserver.com

In the nine years that she has lived in Fort Mill, Nicolle Vigorita has seen the property taxes on her home double from $680 to $1,310. Earlier this year, she got a notice from the York County assessor's office that the tax value of the house had been raised to $194,000 from $154,000, a 26 percent increase. Her taxes will likely go up again.

"It makes me mad, because it's mostly for schools, and I don't have children," said Vigorita, a divorced, 31-year-old graphic designer.

So when Election Day rolls around Nov. 7, she plans to vote to amend the S.C. Constitution to put a 15 percent cap on revaluation of real estate during any five-year period, as long as it remains in the same owner's hands.

Lawmakers put the measure on the ballot in reaction to pressure from homeowners in areas where prices for houses and lots are rising fast. Mostly, that's along the coast and on the shores of inland lakes, but it also includes the new suburban developments springing up in northern York and Lancaster counties as Charlotte's metropolitan fringe rolls southward.

Bryan Vaughn, who represents the Indian Land community on the Lancaster County Council, is rallying his constituents to protest a move by the council majority to do property reassessment this year before the constitutional amendment can pass.

"I think the council is usurping the power of the voters," he said.

The council has approved reassessment on first and second reading, both times by a 5-2 vote. Third and final reading is scheduled for July 31.

Vaughn said reassessment would mean huge tax hikes for many Indian Land residents. "I think in most you're looking at about a 30 to 35 percent increase in appraised value," he said.

The council in January postponed this year's scheduled reassessment to see what kind of changes lawmakers in Columbia were going to make in the property tax laws. Vaughn said that to go ahead with reassessment now would be unfair to homeowners who would have to scramble to come up with the additional money by January, when taxes are due.

But other council members are hostile to the whole idea of a cap on revaluation. Vice Chairman Wayne Kersey called it "just a move to protect the wealthy in South Carolina from having to pay their fair share of taxes."

County Administrator Chap Hurst spoke out against the cap shortly after lawmakers voted in May to put it on the ballot. He said, "You're transferring the tax burden to those who can least afford it."

Also, Hurst said, the cap would restrict the county's ability to pay for the infrastructure demanded by new growth.

Other local government officials across the state are equally skeptical.

"Most people are going to get a tax increase out of this thing, not a tax decrease," said Howard Duvall, executive director of the Municipal Association of South Carolina.

The state requires counties to revalue property every five years. Once that's done, local governments recalculate their tax rates so as to collect the same total amount of revenue as they would have gotten under the old tax rate, plus extra for growth. What changes is the share each taxpayer pays.

Putting a 15 percent cap on the amount a property's value can be increased means that the tax rate won't be reduced as much following reassessment as it would normally. People whose property values went up less than 15 percent end up paying more taxes than they would otherwise.

The tax rate affects more than homes. "Your car, which is one of the highest taxed things we have in South Carolina, is going to have that higher rate applied to it," Duvall said.

Political science professor Jim Douglas, a local government finance expert who is moving from the University of South Carolina to UNC Charlotte, said the proposed 15 percent revaluation cap "is great if you're not really that interested in improving services."

He said, "This will benefit groups like the elderly who don't have children and they're on fixed income. I imagine they'll be big supporters of this and they'll turn out heavily at the polls."

Contact Henry Eichel: 803-255-1388