What Beaufort County officials’ ongoing rate dispute means for your property tax bill
Although the official tax bills will be delayed until early next year, Beaufort County residents who wish to deduct their property taxes on their federal and state income tax returns may do so if they pre-pay their bills.
The delay in mailing the bills is due to the increasingly volatile tax-rate dispute between the county’s governing body and Auditor Jim Beckert. In court filings and blistering public statements, each side blames the other for the delay. But county taxpayers have largely been left in the dark about what this months-long fight between elected officials means for their wallets.
The fight is over the millage rate. The rate Beckert set for the county’s real property program was higher (5.8 mills) than the rate the Beaufort County Council approved in June (4.8 mills), and a judge ordered the bills to be fixed.
But because of a delay in reconciling the bills, county officials say they won’t be ready until 2021.
On Monday, days after The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette reported that some property owners wouldn’t be able to claim income tax deductions because of the delay, Beaufort County Council approved a resolution that gives residents the option to pre-pay their property taxes online starting on Dec. 18.
However, the tax rate residents pay in advance will likely be higher than the amended bills, and property owners will have to wait for refunds.
Beaufort County will soon have to file for another extension from the S.C. Department of Revenue — likely until Jan. 15 — to send out the corrected tax bills, County Treasurer Maria Walls said Tuesday.
The county’s resolution allows property owners to log on to MyBeaufortCounty.com and pay the current amount due in property taxes and fees. People who pre-pay will receive a receipt so they can deduct the taxes on their income tax returns.
However, the “manual process” of collecting pre-paid taxes when the bills aren’t finalized yet is going to create “challenges,” Walls said Monday. Until the bills are ready, refunds will be “limited and delayed,” installment payments will not be reflected in the balances due, and the county’s general ledger will not show the revenue generated, she said.
Still at the heart of the issue is the county’s battle with Beckert over the millage rate. 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.
‘Held hostage’
In November, after a judge ordered Beckert to fix the bills to reflect the 4.8 mills for the county’s real property program, the county auditor’s office was tasked with amending 170,000 tax accounts by Nov. 25. County Council Chair Joe Passiment said Monday that it’s taken an “unexpectedly long amount of time” for the bills to be fixed.
In a searing written speech on Monday, Passiment placed most of the blame — for both the delay in the tax bills and the fight over millage — on Beckert. He said the auditor is holding the county “operationally ... hostage.”
He said Beckert’s explanations for why he set the county’s debt millage higher for its real property program than what council approved in June were “ever changing and unconvincing” and had “weak, fluctuating explanations and inconsistent justifications.”
“Whichever explanation one chooses the believe, it indicates a failure by the Auditor to follow Council’s ordinance (which is a law) and the Auditor’s failure to correctly take into account everything he must take into account in order to perform the ministerial functions of his job properly,” Passiment said. “His failure to do so resulted in an effort to overtax the citizens and businesses of Beaufort County.”
Beckert, through attorney Jim Brown, argued that he had the authority under S.C. law to set a sufficient debt millage apart from what County Council approved. Brown cited an affidavit from County Finance Director Hayes Williams, which says that the 4.8 mills council approved would result in a shortfall of $600,000 in the county’s Rural and Critical Lands debt. In the affidavit, Williams says that shortfall will be paid with the county’s “sinking fund.”
“My client is trying to be the better steward for the taxpayers by raising a sufficient amount of money to pay the debt instead of raising a deficient amount of revenue, as the county’s trying to do,” Brown said. Beaufort County is “running the risk of a shortfall and a downgrade of their credit rating, which will cost taxpayers more money in the long run, even if that impact is not felt until the next election cycle of County Council.”
As for why it’s taken so long, Passiment blamed Beckert for taking more than a week to start amending the bills and said fixing 170,000 accounts has put a “demand” on the county’s software system.
Brown, however, argued the county made “no effort” to expedite the court hearings so Beckert could have enough time to fix the bills.
“There was no information presented at the hearing to the judge about any concerns that the amendment process might take too long,” Brown said. “My client, nor the county, has never amended 170,000 tax bills before. From the time the [judge’s] order was signed, my client started the process.”
How do I pre-pay?
After Monday’s decision, Beaufort County property owners have the option of prepaying their taxes or waiting until the amended bills are sent out early next year.
If residents wait for the delayed bills, they will have “an extended time to pay without penalty,” the county says.
You may want to wait if:
▪ You plan to take a Standard Tax Deduction on your federal income tax return
▪ You are enrolled in the county’s installment plan
▪ Your taxes are paid through your mortgage escrow account
▪ You plan to pay taxes in 2021.
Starting on Dec. 18, residents who wish to prepay their taxes to guarantee an income tax deduction should visit MyBeaufortCounty.com, the county’s online tax payment system.
Once logged in, property owners can:
▪ Search for tax bills using their Parcel Identification Number (PIN), Alternate Identification Number (AIN), or by last name and mailing zip code.
▪ Pay the amount due
▪ Receive a receipt immediately
▪ Wait for a refund or a follow-up bill with the final amount due.
Residents who pay their taxes with a credit card will have to pay a 2.5% convenience fee. There’s no additional fee when paying by check. If a property owner chooses to mail their tax bill, the county must wait to process the payment until the bills are complete. Despite the delay, the postmark date will be honored as the date of payment.
At the end of his speech on Monday, Passiment said that allowing property owners to prepay their taxes in the wake of the dispute is an attempt to “restore effective and cohesive government.”
“The people of this county should and do demand better of their county government,” he said. “It is time that Council deliver on that demand.”
This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 3:25 PM.
