The Penn Center wants to save land auctioned in Beaufort County tax sales. Here’s how
While leaders at the Penn Center watched COVID-19 take its toll physically and financially on Beaufort County residents, they worked to resurrect a program to relieve some of the burden.
The center, a nonprofit organization on St. Helena Island in the Gullah Geechee Cultural Corridor committed to education, community development and social justice, announced late last month that it would provide financial assistance to property owners who are at risk of losing their land because of delinquent property taxes.
“As funding is available, assistance will be provided to (land) owners whose property was auctioned in 2020,” a news release said.
Mitch Mitchell, a former Penn Center board member who was elected to Beaufort City Council in November, is involved with the center’s Land Preservation Assistance program.
He said a similar program several years ago paid property owners’ taxes, but that stopped when the center experienced financial difficulties. When the land preservation fund recently received an influx of donations, the board decided to revive those efforts.
Rather than pay taxes in full, Mitchell says the center wants to “bridge the gap” and use the money more as a supplement, allowing more individuals to receive aid.
“We want to find out what the shortfall is and help with that,” he said. “We need folks to have skin in the game and help them right the ship, so next year they’ll be able to pay without assistance, and we can help someone else.”
Mitchell, a Sheldon native, has seen not just the frustration and high emotions at the delinquent tax sales the last couple of years, but has witnessed family members going through the same struggle. In one case the family member lost property that had been in the family for generations.
Heirs’ properties — land shared by heirs of the original owner(s) — typically refers to Gullah landowners. The property is usually passed down without clear titles or wills, which can lead to confusion among heirs when determining who is responsible for taking care of the land and paying its taxes. The properties often end up on tax delinquency lists because no one pays.
Mitchell said it can be frustrating for the heirs because of challenges they face to keep the land.
“It’s the same instructions I got from my daddy, which was, ‘It was hard to get this land, and it’s important for it to stay in the family. Please try to keep it in the family,’” he said. “That obligation has been passed down, and I get that if you have land, then you have a place no one can ever force you away from because it’s your little piece of the world. But if you don’t have land, then you’re at the mercy of someone else.”
When heirs lose their property, he said, they lose their family’s history with it.
Delinquent tax sales are among the most common ways in which Gullah Geechee families in the sea islands lose land each year.
Native island leaders on St. Helena Island and Hilton Head Island have dedicated themselves to tracking down members of families who have been unable to keep up with rising property taxes. Then they help them find resources to pay the taxes and stay off the auction list.
But if those efforts are unsuccessful and the back taxes aren’t paid, the property goes up for auction. The public can bid to pay the balance due. The winning bidder receives the deed to the property a year after the auction — unless the original owner pays the taxes and accumulated interest during the year-long redemption period. In the latter case, the bidder gets their money back with added interest.
Even though legislation was passed last year giving property owners whose land was auctioned off in 2019 an additional year (until October 2021) to pay taxes and 12% interest to the county to redeem the title, the same relief was not given to those whose land was auctioned off in October 2020.
Any Beaufort County resident who needs help paying delinquent property taxes can apply for the Penn Center’s assistance. The application is on the center’s website, penncenter.com. Completed applications can be emailed to info@penncenter.com or sent by mail to P.O. Box 126, St. Helena, Island, SC 29920.
The deadline to apply is March 1, and applicants will go through an interview process.
The Penn Center is accepting donations toward the Land Preservation Assistance Program.
