COLUMBIA - A committee of senators and representatives agreed to a $500 million property tax relief plan late Thursday.

Some lawmakers said the proposal benefits wealthy homeowners by taking school operations off property tax bills in exchange for a 1-cent increase in the sales tax statewide.

"There's no question, whenever you come back to a total element of school operating taxes it's going to benefit places with expensive homes," said Sen. Scott Richardson, R-Hilton Head Island.

The plan also would reduce the sales tax on food by 2 cents and decrease county property taxes to help lower-income taxpayers, said committee member Rep. Bill Cotty, R- Columbia.

Supporters say it takes a step toward improving school funding equity.

It took all week for the six-member conference committee of senators and representatives to come to an agreement.

The House and the Senate already passed separate property tax plans, and it was the committee's job to find a compromise between the two.

The full Senate and House still have to pass the proposal for it to become law.

Among the key provisions:

- 1-cent increase in the sales tax to take school operations off property tax bills, pushing the statewide sales tax up to 6 cents on the dollar, with an exemption for food and accommodations.

- Decrease of 2 cents on food; the food sales tax would be 3 cents, instead of 5 cents, starting in October.

- Ability for school districts to add an extra 1-cent local option sales tax for all property types.

- Pledge to give $28 million to many of the state's poorest school counties.

- Sales tax holiday for the two days after Thanksgiving.

Homeowners don't pay school operations property taxes on the first $90,000 of their homes' values. So taxpayers with homes now valued at $90,000 or less won't benefit from any plan that takes off school operations property taxes, which equal about 50 to 60 percent of a homeowner's property tax bill.

The 1-cent sales tax increase is expected to raise $582 million, and the state will pay about $498.6 million for school operations. The remaining $83 million will help decrease county operations property taxes and give some of the state's poorest counties additional school funding.

Mr. Richardson said the plan puts much of the responsibility for school funding on the state's shoulders. Such is a starting point toward equalizing education funding for all of the state's school districts, he said.

In a statement, Gov. Mark Sanford thanked lawmakers but said he'd like more.

"We've had a number of conversations with House and Senate leaders on this front as these negotiations entered the final stages, and we're obviously very pleased to see that homeowners will be a step closer to property tax relief with this plan," Mr. Sanford said.

Rep. Skipper Perry, R-Aiken, said he is concerned about the plan's effects on businesses, renters and others.

"There's a lot of questions that got to be asked and answered before we vote on this thing," he said.

Separate conference committees charged with reaching agreements on a constitutional amendment capping property reassessments and the budget still have to meet.

Reach Kirsten Singleton at (803) 414-6611 or kirsten.singleton@morris.com.