Lexington County’s State House delegation has asked for a one-year delay in reassessment while its members push for statewide property tax reform.

Delegation chairman Rep. Mac Toole,a Republican, asked County Council on Tuesday for the delay.

Lexington is preparing for its once-every-five-years reassessment, scheduled for 2005. During reassessment, properties are appraised and the new value is used to calculate tax rates.

County legislators voted unanimously for the delay, Toole said, because they did not want residents to suffer “sticker shock” while awaiting reform. Putting off reassessment, Toole said, would be a signal that the county is serious about change.

“We want to show this is important to the delegation,” Republican Rep. Ted Pitts said, “and force others to listen.”

Council took no action on the request. Most members said they would need time to consider the idea. Others were more enthusiastic.

“I’m in favor of it,” said Councilman Bobby Keisler. “If (the Legislature) can work it out, then it would be good for all of our people.”

The county had expected to begin sending out notices stating the new values of homes in February. However, under state law, counties may postpone reassessment for one year.

Lexington County Assessor Rick Dolansaid delaying for a year would mean his department’s efforts this year to assess homes and businesses would need to be repeated. Auditor Art Guerrysaid that if the Legislature fails to pass a reform bill, homeowners would be in for a nasty surprise at tax time next year.

“We’re going to look at a big whale coming at us,” Guerry said.

Toole said the delegation has no specific tax reform plans, but most proposals — including some that failed last year — would substitute a sales tax increase for property tax revenues.

At the low end of the spectrum is an increase of 1 percentage point to compensate for a cut in vehicle property taxes, while 2 cents on the dollar could replace the school operations portion of property taxes.

A second effort of reform was to change state laws governing reassessment, Toole said, including freezing home values until the property is sold.

Reach O’Connor at (803) 771-8435 or johnoconnor@thestate.com.