Beaufort Co. schools seek $17M bump to raise teacher salaries, second home owners would pay
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Vacation and rental homeowners can expect a bump in their property taxes if a proposed school board budget is approved.
The Beaufort County School District is seeking a $17.8 million budget increase with their eyes set on raising teacher salaries. The school district’s goal is twofold: they want to increase existing teacher’s salaries and raise the starting wages for new teachers to just over $60,000.
The district proposes a 5% budget increase, raising the overall budget to nearly $377 million from $359 million. This a smaller percentage increase request compared to a 7.5% jump between 2023-2024 and a 12.1% increase to budget for the current fiscal year.
The proposal would change the current rate, which is operating until June 30, 2025.
A second-home hot spot
School board officials claim the large bump would have an impact, but a small one, on the average tax payer in Beaufort County.
But since state law exempts primary home owners from school operations tax, vacation home and rental owners would be hit the hardest with a 3.5% property tax increase.
The Hilton Head metro area, which includes Bluffton and Beaufort, is a hot spot for second home owners, according to a 2023 report by SmartAsset, a financial technology company.
The area came in at number 10 for locations where people are buying second homes compared to 400 metro areas the company analyzed. In 2023, about 41% of approved mortgages were for secondary homes compared to 28% the year prior.
There are currently over 6,500 short term rental properties on Hilton Head Island, according to the town’s rental dashboard.
Competitive teacher salaries
On April 25, Tonya Crosby, the school district’s Chief Financial Officer, presented the superintendent, Frank Rodriguez’s, preliminary budget to the board.
Employee compensation bumps would account for nearly 80% of that increase, Crosby said.
The reason for this is that over the past few years, Beaufort County has been outpaced by Charleston, Berkeley and York counties when it comes to starting teacher salary. Right now, Beaufort County ranks fourth of 74 South Carolina counties in this category. Two years ago, Beaufort County was first.
The plan is to raise starting and early-career teachers to a base pay of just over $60,000. Combined with a $4,000 cost-of-living adjustment for all teachers, the district proposes collapsing the first five “steps” to bring first-year level teacher to the same salary starting point of a fifth-year level teacher.
The proposed budget would also add in a 29 and 30th steps in teacher pay, which gives later career teachers the chance to get paid more in the final years of their career.
If the proposed budget is approved, the starting salary for public school teachers in Beaufort County would have increased by 63% since the 2019-20 school year, Crosby said.
How will this affect homeowners?
About two-thirds of the school district’s budget is accounted for by local taxes.
To get to the district’s proposed budget, there would need to be an increase to the local millage rate on secondary and rental properties, along with cars, from 121.8 to 126.1, or a 3.5% increase.
This would only apply to secondary home owners at about $140 annually and less than $20 annually for car owners, Crosby said. Primary homes are exempt from school operations taxes per state law, Crosby said.
Local property taxes are based on a millage rate, which is the amount you pay per $1,000 of assessed value multiplied by the assessment ratio of the property, Crosby explained to The Island Packet. Increases in millage rate are then applied to the calculation to determine any increase in taxes.
The overall goal for the district is to attract and retain teachers at a time of nationwide shortage. Academic programs, like expansions to dual enrollment and Artificial Intelligence program, along with expanding safety measures, like mental health services and crisis prevention, are also on the district’s wish list for their proposed budget bump.
The county’s budget calendar says that the finance committee will review BCSD’s budget on May 19.
