Beaufort County property tax bills likely delayed due to lawsuit. What that means
Beaufort County residents likely will receive this year’s property tax bills at least a month later than expected.
The delay is due to a continuing tax rate dispute between the county’s governing body and Auditor Jim Beckert. That dispute is now headed to court.
On Monday, Beaufort County Council voted to fix several inconsistencies related to the county’s 2020-21 budget. However, the heart of the issue still is that this year’s property tax bills don’t match the rates council approved in June.
Monday’s decision reaffirmed the council’s plans not to raise property taxes for residents this year. But the tax bills, calculated by Beckert, don’t reflect that decision.
A pending lawsuit against Beckert related to the discrepancy means that property tax bills likely won’t be sent to residents by the Nov. 15 deadline. The county is requesting the S.C. Department of Revenue allow for an extension until Dec. 15, county Treasurer Maria Walls said Wednesday.
If the extension is approved, the county also is requesting that property owners be able to pay their bills as late as Feb. 15 without penalty, Walls said.
Beckert did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday.
Walls said her office is “here to assist any taxpayer with questions” about the bills.
“It appears the bills will be going out later than they usually do while the county resolves this matter,” she said. “Even if the bill is delayed, it is still coming. Our intent is that the penalty date will be extended as well, giving taxpayers the same amount of time to pay that they would have had otherwise.”
Last week, Beaufort County amended its September lawsuit against Beckert to require him to fix the bills to match the rates approved by council. The lawsuit was initially filed because of Beckert’s alleged refusal to add a new police service fee onto Hilton Head property owners’ bills.
The county’s writ of mandamus asks the court to force Beckert to fix the bills and deliver them to Walls by Nov. 9.
As they’re currently written, Beaufort County’s tax bills show that property owners will be taxed a higher millage (5.8 mills) for the county’s real property program than what the council approved in June (4.8 mills).
The bills show that property owners will be taxed slightly less (36.3 mills) for school debt than what the council approved (36.6).
A millage rate is the number of dollars of taxes assessed for each $1,000 of property value. A rate of 10 mills means that $10 in tax is levied on every $1,000 in assessed value.
A county analysis of the tax rates obtained by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette shows that, if property owners are taxed at a rate of 5.8 mills as the bills currently show, it will result in a surplus of over $1.9 million to the county’s rural and critical lands debt fund.
‘Tilting at windmills’
The Beaufort County School District is mentioned in the lawsuit as another point of contention in Beckert’s millage setting.
Beckert set the district’s debt service millage at 36.3 mills. That’s a third of a mill below the county-approved and district-suggested rate of 36.6 mills, and enough grounds for the district to join the county’s lawsuit against Beckert, according to bond counsel Frannie Heizer.
The lower mill rate would cost the district an estimated $600,000 in tax revenue to pay off existing debts.
Heizer, who spoke to the school board at an Oct. 21 meeting on the topic, said that she didn’t recommend joining the suit, partly because she is not a litigator and partly because the $600,000 loss from the millage rate represents less than 0.1% of the district’s $72.5 million annual debt service revenue.
“As much as I would like to tilt at the windmill that is the county auditor, I don’t think it’s worth it,” board member Richard Geier said.
This isn’t the first time the school district and Beckert have clashed over tax income.
The district relies on the county council to approve its $250 million-plus annual budget every year and to provide funding via taxes, with a rate set by Beckert, for approximately $150 million of that amount.
In June 2019, Beckert claimed that the district’s proposed tax increase for secondary homeowners would overcharge taxpayers by $12 million.
Tonya Crosby, the district’s chief financial officer, responded then that the county “didn’t even bill enough, much less collect enough” tax revenue for the district, leading to a $3.7 million shortfall in funding for the 2018-19 school year.
One year later, Beckert spoke at a school board meeting to say the district had $5 million in unaccounted-for funds in their debt service account, and that the district’s proposed tax rate of 36.6 mills would lead to an $8.7 million surplus in debt revenue.
Crosby responded that Beckert had “grossly overstated” the debt service account’s funds due to fall debt payments and that tax revenue from the county would be lower than Beckert’s estimate due to a lower tax collection rate.
After Beckert’s presentation, the board voted 9-2 to carry out an audit of “all debt service revenue and expense accounts.” Earl Campbell and Tricia Fidrych voted no.
Last week, the board voted 9-0-1 to postpone discussion of the millage until it heard the results of that audit, which will be presented at its Nov. 10 meeting. Rachel Wisnefski was absent, and William Smith abstained.
Beckert’s legal problems
In the past two months, two lawsuits were filed against Beckert alleging harassment and verbal abuse of female officials, Walls and former county Chief Financial Officer Alicia Holland.
Walls sued him for stalking, harassing and secretly recording her over multiple years. The suit also accused Beckert of making inappropriate comments about her pregnancy.
In the wake of the suits, Beaufort County moved Beckert out of his office — which was previously in the same building as Walls’ office — to “preserve the rights of all individuals involved in current lawsuits as they make their way through the courts.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 3:33 PM.
