GREER -- In a move that at least one state lawmaker feared following passage earlier this year of the property tax swap, a western Spartanburg County school district has approved a 36-mill tax increase for the coming school year.

Spartanburg District 5, which includes sections of Greer, voted for the hike that will add $146 to the $632 the owner of a home valued at $100,000 currently pays in property taxes.

District spokesman Barry Reese said the increase is aimed at addressing growth in the district and not a result of the tax swap.

"The district has experienced phenomenal growth in the number of students we serve," Reese wrote in an e-mail. "In the past 10 years we have seen an increase in enrollment of 1,925 students (41.7 percent)."

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He said the board's action adopting its $50 million budget is "entirely unrelated" to the property tax swap passed by the state Legislature this year, which would go into effect in 2007. It removes school operating taxes (but not debt payments) from homeowners' bills and increases sales tax by one penny statewide to help fund education.

State Rep. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, said he saw a potential problem with the new law.

"That was a problem on the horizon, and it was clear in my mind that this kind of thing could happen," Clyburn said.

District 5 trustees didn't have to go to the voters for approval of the millage increase because they have fiscal autonomy.

"Those people are going to have a tough time getting re-elected," Clyburn said.

The Greenville County School District, which has limited taxing authority, raised its millage 4 mills this year, so that a homeowner would pay $778 on a $200,000 home.

School boards in South Carolina are set up with a variety of fiscal authority, some with none and some with all and points in between, according to Townsend.

Reese said 20 of the 36 mills goes toward debt payments, the first year requiring $3.6 million. The district is building three new schools and a field house and performing arts center at Byrnes High School.

Duncan resident Patsy Seay said, "This area keeps growing and growing."

She and her husband are trying to retire and increasing taxes makes that difficult, she said.

She'd like to see industry "foot the bill a little bit more."