FAIRFIELD – Last month, the Fairfield County School Board unanimously approved a $20 million bond to finance the construction of a new career and technology center. With that bond comes a tax increase, from 24 mils to 34 mils, for two years, and numerous readers have expressed their outrage about the hike in letters to The Voice and postings on the newspaper’s Web site, www.fairfieldcountyvoice.com.
One reader, “Treasha,” posted on our Web site: “How much more can we take? The Board is making it impossible to live at Lake Wateree. Watch your vote next time. Enough is enough!” Another reader, “gmd123,” posted: “Unbelievable! Have these people lost sight of the fact that we are not in the best of economic times? I promise that my District rep. will not get my vote next time. . . . If the new nuclear facility will bring the funds they so desperately want to spend, then wait until those funds arrive.” And in his letter to the editor in last week’s edition of The Voice, David L. Waters of Ridgeway wrote: “. . . they threw taxpayers under the bus. No referendum or opportunity for public input. Millage increased by 50 percent for two years without even telling those responsible for footing the bill is underhanded and sneaky.”
Beth Reid, Chairwoman of the Fairfield County School Board, said the vast majority of the feedback she has received on the bond has been positive. And, she said, there was nothing “sneaky” about the process.
“We’ve not been hiding our discussions at all,” Reid said. “We’ve had a number of meetings over the last eight to 10 months on the subject, our agendas have been posted, and it has been clear that we have been on this path.”
The District was not legally required to hold a referendum, Reid said, and doing so as a simple courtesy would have only added additional cost and time to the process.
“We didn’t want to spend even more money to go through that, win or lose,” Reid said. “Construction of a new career center is long overdue. We’ve had the facility studies. The research has been done and the time to act is now.”
Exactly how much will homeowners be expected to pony up for the new facility?
According to the Fairfield County Tax Assessor’s Office, taxes on a $50,000 home will increase by $68, from $372.80 to $440.80, for two years under the 34 mils rate. On a $75,000 home, a homeowner can expect their taxes to go up $102, from $559.20 to $661.20. A homeowner living in a $100,000 home will see their taxes go up $136 for two years, from $745.60 to $881.60. On a $150,000 home, the bill will increase by $204, from $1,118.40 to $1,322.40. For a $200,000 home, a homeowner’s contribution will rise from $1,491.20 to $1,763.20, an increase of $272. And on a $500,000 home, taxes will go up $680, from $3,728 to $4,408.
Prior to the vote at the Feb. 19 School Board meeting, Brent Jeffcoat, the District’s bond attorney, told the Board that the $20 million was within the District’s debt limit and the millage increase beneath the threshold required for a referendum. J.R. Green, Superintendent of Fairfield County Schools, said at the meeting that tax revenues from the two new reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station could also help alleviate the District’s debt ahead of schedule, once those reactors come on line.
The estimated cost for the new career center is $15.6 million. The remaining $4.4 million will be used to finance other facility and equipment needs within the District.
“I think there are people who don’t understand how millage works,” Reid said. “Since the passage of Act 388 (in 2006), school operation funds no longer come from homeowner taxes. Only our bond service debt is being dealt with through taxes. Most people don’t mind taxes going up if it improves our county.”
And, Reid said, her taxes will go up as well.
“The hardest part is being a property owner and voting to raise your own taxes,” Reid said. “I’m going to feel it, too.”