COLUMBIA - A bill that would change the way golf courses are taxed is worrying counties such as Horry County that have many courses.

The bill changes assessments of golf courses from being based on fair market value of the land to instead imposing a levy equal to 1.2 percent of gross income.

"It will cost us $1.5 million a year, more than any other county," said County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland.

But the director of the S.C. Golf Course Owners Association said that figure is not correct because the bill is still in the works, and the aim is not to give a tax break to courses but to make tax collection better for owners and counties.

"Some of my members will actually pay a bit more," said Terry Sedalik, director of the association.

George Hilliard, director of the Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Association, a chapter of the state group, agreed.

"We're not looking to gouge the public. We're just looking to get it back to a fair value of what it ought to be," Hilliard said.

Called the Uniform and Fair Golf Course Valuation Act of 2004, the measure has been introduced in both the House and Senate. The House has taken no action, but Thursday the Senate Finance Committee approved the bill with a higher tax rate than the original proposal.

No consideration of the bills is scheduled for next week.

"We are probably in midstream in the process of working together with the Association of Counties, and we expect the formula will change again," Sedalik said.

The staff member from the S.C. Association of Counties who is working on the bill was off Friday and could not be reached.

"If your business does well, you're going to be paying more tax," Sedalik said.

"I think it's a healthy, fair way to look at it," said Matthew Brittain, whose family is part owner of Myrtle Beach National, which owns nine golf courses spread over Horry and Georgetown counties.

"It's not fair," Gilland said. "One size does not fit all."

The assessment should take into account, as Horry County's does, the value of the land as well as the quality of the course, she said.

She said County Council will consider a resolution Tuesday asking local legislators not to support the bill.

Georgetown County officials said Friday they have not looked at how the measure would affect the county.

Sens. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach; Yancey McGill, D-Kingstree; and Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, are co-sponsors of the Senate bill sponsored by Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston. The House bill is sponsored by Rep. Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston. Co-sponsors include Reps. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach; Liston Barfield, R-Aynor; Tracy Edge, R-North Myrtle Beach; Tom Keegan, R-Surfside Beach; Vida Miller, D-Pawleys Island; and Billy Witherspoon, R-Conway.

Sedalik said part of the problem is that most counties tax golf courses at their highest value, which would be if they were covered with residences or other buildings similar to their surroundings. And some of the valuation criteria, such as quality of courses, is subjective.

The driving force for the change is property value reassessments, which have caused some courses to shoot up 500 percent in value from one year to the next, Sedalik said.

A uniform method of taxing the courses would be fairer and would help the counties because it would stop the constant appeals that result from the revaluations, he said.

"Reassessment along the coast has driven a lot of owners through the appeals process," Sedalik said.

One golf course owner spent more than $300,000 on appeals, he said. But most golf courses are small businesses, and the owners can't afford to appeal. The existing situation, coupled with a falloff in business after the 2001 terrorist attacks, is driving many courses out of business, Sedalik said.

In Horry County, about 15 courses appealed reassessments, and in each case the values were lowered, he said.

Hilliard said the county has gotten more over the years than it should because it was incorrectly taxing cart fees, beverage services and other things in addition to real property. And year after year, golf course owners had to go back to the county assessor to get their taxes adjusted, he said.

The time and cost for the counties for appeals is worth trading for some cuts for some owners, Sedalik says.

The original proposal carried a $7 million cost statewide to counties. After the change Thursday, that was cut to $5 million, and it will be reduced again to make the loss to counties as small as possible, Sedalik said.

He also argues that golf is an important state business that provides 30,000 jobs and is as worthy of tax breaks as other businesses the state tries to attract.

In addition, "We pay 42 percent of the state total of admissions taxes," Sedalik said.

Staff writer Erin Reed contributed to this report.