H*3552 Session 110 (1993-1994)
H*3552(Rat #0219, Act #0099) General Bill, By Davenport
A Bill to amend the Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, by adding Chapter 35
to Title 4 so as to authorize counties to establish Special Public Works
Improvement Districts, to prescribe the procedure for their creation and
abolition and the purposes for which they may be created, and to authorize the
imposition of assessments, the issuance of bonds, and expenditures of revenue
for the cost of proposed improvements.-amended title
02/23/93 House Introduced and read first time HJ-10
02/23/93 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-10
04/14/93 House Committee report: Favorable with amendment
Judiciary HJ-11
04/22/93 House Debate adjourned until Tuesday April 27, 1993 HJ-30
04/28/93 House Amended HJ-39
04/28/93 House Read second time HJ-39
04/29/93 House Read third time and sent to Senate HJ-12
05/04/93 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-9
05/04/93 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-9
05/17/93 Senate Recalled from Committee on Judiciary SJ-5
05/27/93 Senate Read second time SJ-14
05/27/93 Senate Ordered to third reading with notice of
amendments SJ-15
06/01/93 Senate Read third time and enrolled SJ-59
06/10/93 Ratified R 219
06/15/93 Signed By Governor
06/15/93 Effective date 06/15/93
06/24/93 Copies available
(A99, R219, H3552)
AN ACT TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH
CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING CHAPTER 35 TO TITLE 4 SO AS TO
AUTHORIZE COUNTIES TO ESTABLISH SPECIAL PUBLIC WORKS
IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS, TO PRESCRIBE THE PROCEDURE
FOR THEIR CREATION AND ABOLITION AND THE PURPOSES
FOR WHICH THEY MAY BE CREATED, AND TO AUTHORIZE THE
IMPOSITION OF ASSESSMENTS, THE ISSUANCE OF BONDS, AND
EXPENDITURES OF REVENUE FOR THE COST OF PROPOSED
IMPROVEMENTS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
County Public Works Improvement Act
SECTION 1. Title 4 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"CHAPTER 35
County Public Works Improvement Act
Section 4-35-10. This chapter may be cited as the `County Public Works
Improvement Act'. A county may exercise the powers and provisions of
this chapter.
Section 4-35-20. Nothing contained in this chapter may be construed to
limit or restrict the powers of a county. The authorization provided in this
chapter is cumulative to those powers and is provided as an alternate means
for the provision of public works projects.
Section 4-35-30. As used in this chapter:
(1) `Assessment' means an assessment voluntarily agreed upon by a
majority of the owners of real property within an improvement district and
representing at least sixty-six percent of the assessed value of all real
property within the improvement district. The assessment, if agreed upon
by a majority of the owners representing at least sixty-six percent of the
assessed value, must be made upon all real property located within the
district and based either on assessed value, front footage, area, the value of
improvements to be constructed within the district, or a combination of
them, as the basis is determined by the governing body of the county.
(2) `Improvements' means pedestrian facilities, sidewalks, storm drain,
or water course facilities or improvements, the relocation, construction,
widening, and paving of roads and streets, and may include the acquisition
of necessary easements and land and all things incidental to the provision
of the above.
(3) `Improvement district' means an area within the county designated
by the governing body pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and within
which an improvement plan is to be accomplished.
(4) `Improvement plan' means the overall plan by which the governing
body proposes to effect improvements within an improvement district to
preserve property values, prevent deterioration, and preserve the tax
base.
(5) `Owner' means a person twenty-one years of age or older, or the
proper legal representative for a person younger than twenty-one years of
age, and a firm or corporation, who or which owns legal title to a present
possessory interest in real estate equal to a life estate or greater (expressly
excluding leaseholds, easements, equitable interests, inchoate rights, and
future interest) and who owns, at the date of the petition or written consent,
at least an undivided one-tenth interest in a single tract and whose name
appears on the county tax records as an owner of real estate, and a duly
organized group whose tax interest is at least equal to a one-tenth interest in
a single tract. If a firm or person has a leasehold interest requiring it or him
to pay all county taxes, the agreement is not applicable to charges of the
assessment of the district as only the owner has the right to petition on the
assessment charge for the improvement district.
Section 4-35-40. The governing body may acquire, own, construct,
establish, install, enlarge, improve, expand, operate, maintain, and repair,
and sell, lease, and otherwise dispose of an improvement and to finance the
acquisition, construction, establishment, installation, enlargement,
improvement, expansion, operation, maintenance, and repair, in whole or in
part, by the imposition of assessments in accordance with this chapter by
special district bonds, by general obligation bonds of the county, or from
general revenues from any source not restricted from that use by law, or by
a combination of the funding sources.
Section 4-35-50. If the governing body finds (1) that improvements may
be beneficial within a designated improvement district, (2) that the
improvements may preserve property values within the district, (3) that in
the absence of the improvements property values within the area would
likely depreciate, (4) that it would be fair and equitable to finance all or
part of the cost of the improvements by an assessment upon the real
property located within the district, and (5) that written consent for the
creation of the improvement district from a majority of the owners of real
property within the district and having an aggregate assessed value in
excess of sixty-six percent of the assessed value of all real property within
the improvement district has been obtained, the governing body may
establish the area as an improvement district and implement and finance, in
whole or in part, an improvement plan in the district in accordance with the
provisions of this chapter.
Section 4-35-60. The governing body, by resolution, shall describe the
improvement district and the improvement plan to be affected in it,
including property within the improvement district to be acquired and
improved, the projected time schedule for the accomplishment of the
improvement plan, the estimated cost and the amount of the cost to be
derived from assessments, bonds, or other general funds, together with the
proposed basis and rates of assessments to be imposed within the
improvement district. The resolution also must establish the time and place
of a public hearing to be held but the public hearing may not take place
sooner than thirty days nor more than forty-five days following the
adoption of the resolution.
Section 4-35-70. A resolution providing for an improvement district,
when adopted, must be published once a week for three successive weeks
in a newspaper of general circulation within the county and the final
publication must be at least ten days before the date of the scheduled public
hearing. At the public hearing and at any adjournment of it, all interested
persons may be heard either in person or by their designees.
Section 4-35-80. The governing body may provide by the resolution for
the payment of the cost of the improvements and facilities to be constructed
within the improvement district by assessments on the property as defined
in Section 4-35-30, by the issuance of special district bonds, by general
obligation bonds of the county, from general revenues from a source not
restricted from that use by law, or from a combination of the financing
sources as may be provided in the improvement plan.
Section 4-35-90. The financing of improvements by assessment, bonds,
or other revenues, and the proportions of them, must be in the discretion of
the governing body, and the rates of assessments upon property owners
within the improvement district need not be uniform but may vary in
proportion to improvements made immediately adjacent to or abutting upon
the property of each owner in the district as well as other bases as provided
in Section 4-35-30.
Section 4-35-100. If all or a part of improvements and facilities within
the district are to be financed by assessments on property in it, the
governing body shall prepare an assessment roll in which there must be
entered the names of the persons whose properties are to be assessed and
the amount assessed against their respective properties with a brief
description of the lots or parcels of land assessed.
Section 4-35-110. As soon as practicable after the completion of the
assessment roll provided in Section 4-35-100, the governing body shall
mail by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, to the owner or
owners of each lot or parcel of land against which an assessment is to be
levied, at the address appearing on the records of the county treasurer, a
notice stating the nature of the improvement, the total proposed cost of it,
the amount to be assessed against the particular property, and the basis
upon which the assessment is made, together with the terms and conditions
upon which the assessment may be paid. The notice must contain a brief
description of the particular property involved, together with a statement
that the amount assessed constitutes a lien against the property superior to
all other liens except property taxes. The notice also must state the time
and place fixed for the hearing of objections in respect to the assessment.
A property owner who fails to file with the county council a written
objection to the assessment against his property within the time provided
for hearing the objections is considered to have consented to the
assessment, and the published and written notices prescribed in this chapter
shall so state.
Section 4-35-120. The governing body shall hear the objection as
provided in this chapter of all persons who file written notice of objection
within the time prescribed and who may appear and make proof in relation
to the objection, either in person or by their attorney. The governing body,
at the sessions held to make final decisions on objections, may make
corrections in the assessment roll as it considers proper and confirm them,
or set it aside and provide for a new assessment. Whenever the governing
body confirms an assessment, either as originally prepared or as corrected
later, a copy of it must be filed in the office of the clerk of court, and from
the time of filing the assessment impressed in the assessment roll
constitutes and is a lien on the real property against which it is assessed
superior to all other liens and encumbrances, except the lien for property
taxes, and must be annually assessed and collected with the property taxes
on it.
Section 4-35-130. Upon the confirmation of an assessment, if any, the
governing body shall mail a written notice to all persons who have filed
written objections as provided in this chapter of the amount of the
assessment finally confirmed. The property owner may appeal the
assessment only if he, within twenty days after the mailing of the notice to
him confirming the assessment, gives written notice to the governing body
of his intent to appeal his assessment to the court of common pleas of the
county in which the property is situate, but no such appeal delays or stays
the construction of improvements or affect the validity of the assessments
confirmed and not appealed. Appeals must be heard and determined on the
record in the manner of appeals from administrative bodies in this
State.
Section 4-35-140. Not sooner than ten days nor more than one hundred
twenty days following the conclusion of the public hearing provided in
Section 4-35-60, the governing body, by ordinance, may provide for the
creation of the improvement district as originally proposed or with changes
and modifications the governing body may determine, and provide for the
financing by assessment, bonds, or other revenues as provided in this
chapter. The ordinance may incorporate by reference plats and engineering
reports and other data on file in the office of the county. The place of filing
and reasonable hours for inspection must be made available to all interested
persons.
Section 4-35-150. The improvements as defined in Section 4-35-30 are
the sole and unrestricted property of the county, and may at any time be
removed, altered, changed, or added to, as the governing body may
determine if during the continuance or maintenance of the improvements,
the special assessments on property may be utilized for the preservation,
operation, and maintenance of the improvements and facilities provided in
the improvement plan, and for payment of indebtedness incurred.
Section 4-35-160. The governing body may by ordinance abolish the
improvement district if there is no outstanding public debt for which
assessments have been imposed on property within the improvement
district for the payment of the debt. The governing body must first conduct
a public hearing. Notice of the hearing must appear in a newspaper of
general circulation in the improvement district two weeks before the
hearing is held."
Time effective
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
Approved the 15th day of June, 1993. |