Spartanburg County adjusted its millage rate lower in response to this year’s property reassessment, but most taxing entities, including school districts, did not. The result is surprisingly high tax bills for many county residents.
Michael Coggins said he was "shocked" when he opened his tax notice.
"It went up over two hundred dollars," the retired electrical engineer who lives in Spartanburg County's east side said. "I go to several council meetings and heard over and over again we need to pass 1% for roads to keep our taxes down.
"My tax bill was up over 14%. I called my son, and his was up 14%. Everybody I've talked to lately said the same."
It wasn't a mistake. Like many other county taxpayers, his tax bill went up after the county completed its five-year reassessment, which resulted in a 37% increase in the market value of some 180,000 properties countywide.
This year's reassessment determined 181,086 properties to have a total market value of $36.3 billion. In 2022, the total value was $26.4 billion.
Coggins thought the County Council, which vowed not to raise property taxes, betrayed him.
But it wasn't the county that raised his taxes. The county's total millage rate was reduced from 57 mills to a revenue-neutral 53 mills. And none of the county's other taxing entities, including the Charles Lea Center and county fire districts, raised their taxes. All their levies were reduced to revenue-neutral rates.
Deputy County Administrator Earl Alexander said it's the other taxing entities — school districts, special purpose districts and municipalities — that have raised their taxes by not reducing their millage rates to revenue-neutral.
County Councilman David Britt said he and other county council members and officials have received hundreds of calls from confused and angry residents.
"I am furious what happened," said Britt, whose own tax bill went up "several hundred dollars."
"It's wrong to take advantage of a reassessment (to raise taxes). I will not take the fire and blame for this. We did exactly what we said we'd do. My credibility is on the line."
Spartanburg County's school districts raised their taxes, part of which can be attributed to teacher equalization millage that the districts added on top of the operating millage, Alexander said.
Also, 11 of 13 municipalities raised taxes, including the city of Spartanburg. And 18 of the 33 fire districts, which are not controlled by the county, raised their taxes as well as three of four water and sewer districts.
For example, School District 7, where Coggins lives, would have had to reduce its operations millage rate from 188.8 mills to 173.5 mills to remain revenue-neutral.
Instead, the district lowered its rate to 183.6 mills — a 5-mill reduction but a 5.8% tax increase.
School District 3 would have needed to reduce its operations millage rate from 238.7 mills to 181.5 mills to stay revenue-neutral. Instead, its rate was set at 216.7 mills, resulting in a 22-mill decrease but a 19.39% tax increase.
The city of Spartanburg would have had to reduce its levy from 104.4 mills to 97.1 mills, but instead set the rate at 103.2 mills — a decrease of 1.2 mills but a 6.28% tax increase.
Coggins said his tax bill also included a tax increase from the Glendale Fire Department. It reduced its millage rate slightly, but it still resulted in a 10.81% tax increase.
"I heard they need a new fire truck, so I understand that one," Coggins said. "I'd like to know the reasons (entities raised taxes) to see if it was warranted. But I get no explanation. They need to be more open to the public and let folks know."
Britt said he doesn't berate those taxing entities that raised taxes for a good reason, but they should be upfront and let taxpayers know they did it, and why.
"I want the public to know what's going on," Britt said. "They all have elected boards and commissions. They need to answer."
In the reappraisal year, taxing entities must roll back millage for all taxing entities (except bond millage). The entities include school districts, fire districts, water and sewer districts, municipalities, the county and any other entity for which a property tax is collected.
Then it's up to each taxing district to either certify the new, revenue-neutral rolled-back millage rate, which results in no tax increase, or they can raise their rate above the revenue-neutral number, based on a consumer price index (CPI) and population growth increase. When that happens, it results in a tax increase.
"Reappraisal is not implemented to raise taxes; it is intended to distribute the tax burden fairly among all property owners," county spokeswoman Scottie Kay Blackwell said. "The sole purpose of reappraisal is to ensure fairness in the property tax system.
"In a property tax system, a taxpayer’s fair share is determined by the value of the property he or she owns as compared to the value of the property owned by the other taxpayers in the jurisdiction," Blackwell added.
She said property owners who disagree with their new appraised value have until Dec. 20 to file an appeal.
The 2023 tax notices are due by Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. Tax notices unpaid after this date will incur penalties for late payments.
Bob Montgomery covers Spartanburg County politics and growth & development. Reach him via email at bob.montgomery@shj.com.
This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Spartanburg County residents not happy with higher tax bills
