2007-2008 Bill 4460: School Construction Impact Fees - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 117th Session, 2007-2008 3 4 H. 4460 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Reps. Hutson, Hagood, McLeod, Dantzler, Hodges, R. Brown, Miller, Hosey, Clyburn, 10 J.H. Neal, F.N. Smith, Anthony, Whipper and Herbkersman 11 Document Path: l:\council\bills\bbm\10280htc08.doc 12 13 Introduced in the House on January 10, 2008 14 Currently residing in the House Committee on Ways and Means 15 16 Summary: School construction impact fees 17 18 19 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 20 21 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 22 1/10/2008 House Introduced and read first time HJ-354 23 1/10/2008 House Referred to Committee on Ways and Means HJ-354 24 1/16/2008 House Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Witherspoon, J.R.Smith 25 3/25/2008 House Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Knight 26 3/26/2008 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Bowen, Davenport, Dantzler, Hodges, 27 R.Brown, Miller, Hosey, Clyburn, J.H.Neal, Gullick, M.A.Pitts, Neilson, 28 F.N.Smith, Hamilton, Haskins, Anthony 29 4/1/2008 House Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Limehouse 30 4/9/2008 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Whipper 31 4/17/2008 House Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Hamilton, M.A.Pitts, Gullick, Bowen 32 4/23/2008 House Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Neilson, Haskins 33 4/24/2008 House Member(s) request name removed as sponsor: Davenport 34 35 36 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 37 38 1/10/2008 39 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 12 1976, BY ADDING ARTICLE 9 TO CHAPTER 10, TITLE 4 SO 13 AS TO PROVIDE A PROCEDURE FOR ALLOWING 14 COUNTIES TO IMPOSE A SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION 15 IMPACT FEE TO BE USED TO PROVIDE A CREDIT 16 AGAINST PROPERTY TAXES IMPOSED TO PAY BONDED 17 INDEBTEDNESS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION, 18 AND TO ESTABLISH THE “PUBLIC SCHOOL 19 CONSTRUCTION TRUST FUND” INTO WHICH FEE 20 REVENUES MUST BE DEPOSITED BY THE GOVERNING 21 BODY OF THE COUNTY AND FROM WHICH MUST BE 22 PAID MONIES TO PROVIDE THE TAX CREDIT 23 AUTHORIZED BY ARTICLE 9, CHAPTER 10, TITLE 4. 24 25 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 26 Carolina: 27 28 SECTION 1. Chapter 10, Title 4 of the 1976 Code is amended by 29 adding: 30 31 “Article 9 32 33 School Construction Fees 34 Bonded Indebtedness Credit 35 36 Section 4-10-910. The governing body of a county may 37 provide for school construction fees by means of an ordinance that 38 to be valid must incorporate all the elements provided in this 39 article. 40 41 Section 4-10-920. The enacting ordinance must establish in the 42 county treasury a separate trust fund styled the ‘Public School

1 [4460] 1 1 Construction Trust Fund’ to which must be credited those fee 2 revenues authorized pursuant to this article. The trust fund must 3 be divided into subaccounts for each of the school districts in the 4 county and fees credited to these subaccounts based on school 5 district location of the real property giving rise to the fee. Interest 6 earned on this fund must be credited proportionately to the 7 subaccounts within it and used as other revenues of the fund are 8 used. All of the revenues of a subaccount for a fiscal year must be 9 used to provide a tax credit against the property tax imposed by or 10 on behalf of the appropriate school districts in the county for the 11 payment of bonded indebtedness for school construction. The 12 credit applies proportionately and the credit is allowed only for 13 property taxes due and payable after the end of the fiscal year in 14 which the fund revenues accumulated. 15 16 Section 4-10-930. (A) For purposes of this section: 17 (1) ‘Closing agent’ means the attorney or any third party, 18 however qualified, representing the transferee at a real estate 19 closing. When there is no separate closing agent, the transferee is 20 deemed the closing agent. 21 (2) ‘Residential real property’ means real property improved 22 by residential structures including, but not limited to, single family 23 and multifamily houses, condominium units, apartments, and units 24 of manufactured housing taxed as real property, whether or not 25 occupied, and regardless of ownership. Incidental residential 26 accommodations on otherwise nonresidential real property do not 27 constitute residential real property. 28 (B) The enacting ordinance shall impose on the transferee a 29 school construction fee when ownership of residential real 30 property is transferred by deed the recording of which is subject to 31 the deed recording fee imposed pursuant to Chapter 24 of Title 12. 32 This school construction fee must be set by the ordinance as a 33 percentage of the consideration for the transaction referred to as 34 the transaction amount. The transaction amount is the amount 35 required to be used in calculating the deed recording fee as 36 determined pursuant to Section 12-24-30. The fee must be 37 collected by the closing agent at the time of the closing and 38 remitted to the county treasurer on a schedule determined by the 39 county treasurer. The county treasurer may delegate the collection 40 of the fee to the officer authorized by law to record deeds in the 41 county. 42 (C) If the residential real property when acquired and occupied 43 by the transferee will qualify for the property tax classification

1 [4460] 2 1 allowed pursuant to Section 12-43-220(c), there is allowed as a 2 credit against the fee otherwise due ad valorem taxes paid by the 3 transferee in the preceding ten years on real property in this State 4 classified for property tax purposes pursuant to Section 5 12-43-220(c) at the rate of one dollar of credit for each four dollars 6 of property tax paid and the total amount of the fee paid pursuant 7 to Section 4-10-940 if the residential real property is previously 8 untaxed new construction. A credit is not allowed unless: 9 (1) the transferee makes an affidavit, under penalty of 10 perjury, that the property tax paid and used as a credit against the 11 fee has not been used to claim a credit against the fee imposed 12 pursuant to this subsection in another transfer or a fee imposed 13 pursuant to Section 4-10-940; or 14 (2) in the case of new construction, the building permit 15 holder makes an affidavit under penalty of perjury that the 16 construction fee paid pursuant to Section 4-10-940 on the 17 residential real property has not been used to claim a credit against 18 any other school construction fee imposed pursuant to this article. 19 The fee, less any applicable credit, must be calculated by and 20 collected by the closing agent at the closing. The treasurer shall 21 furnish the closing agent the documentation necessary pursuant to 22 subsection (E) of this section for recording the deed. In a county 23 where collection of the fee has been delegated to the deed 24 recording officer, the fee must be paid at the time the deed is filed 25 for recording. If within twelve months of the date the deed is 26 recorded, real property on which the fee has been paid is no longer 27 residential real property, the transferee may apply for and the 28 county treasurer shall refund the fee, together with interest at the 29 rate provided pursuant to Section 12-54-25. 30 (D) The county treasurer shall credit the fees received pursuant 31 to the appropriate subaccounts of the Public School Construction 32 Trust Fund. 33 (E)(1) Before a deed subject to the recording fee imposed 34 pursuant to Chapter 24 of Title 12 may be recorded, there must be 35 submitted to the recording officer: 36 (a) the certificate of the county treasurer that the school 37 construction fee imposed pursuant to this section has been paid or 38 that a fee is not due by virtue of the credits allowed against the fee; 39 or 40 (b) an affidavit made under penalty of perjury by the 41 transferee on the deed to be recorded that the school construction 42 fee imposed pursuant to this section does not apply to the transfer 43 made by the deed.

1 [4460] 3 1 (2) In a county in which the county treasurer has delegated 2 to the recording officer the authority to collect the fees imposed 3 pursuant to subsection (B) of this section, the recording officer 4 may proceed to record the deed as provided by law upon payment 5 of any fee due or receipt of the affidavit required pursuant to 6 subsubitem (b) of this item. 7 8 Section 4-10-940. (A) The enacting ordinance must provide 9 that there must be paid a school construction fee before a building 10 permit may be issued for construction of a new residential 11 structure as described in Section 4-10-930(A)(2). This public 12 school construction fee must be set in the ordinance as a 13 percentage of the value of the improvement as measured by the 14 value stated in the application for the building permit. This fee 15 applies to all building permits issued in a county, including such 16 permits issued by a municipality. The permitting officer shall 17 collect the fee at the time the permit is issued and remit the fee to 18 the county treasurer on a schedule determined by the treasurer. In 19 the case of a permit for the construction of residential real property 20 that when occupied by the permit holder will qualify for the 21 property tax classification allowed pursuant to Section 22 12-43-220(c), there is allowed as a credit against the fee otherwise 23 due ad valorem taxes on real property paid by the applicant for the 24 permit in the preceding ten years on real property located in this 25 State classified for property tax purposes pursuant to Section 26 12-43-220(c) at the rate of one dollar of credit for each four dollars 27 of property tax paid. A credit is not allowed unless the property 28 owner makes an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that the 29 property tax paid and used as a credit against a fee imposed 30 pursuant to this subsection has not been used to claim a credit 31 against another fee imposed pursuant to this section or Section 32 4-10-930. 33 (B) The county treasurer shall credit the fees received pursuant 34 to the appropriate subaccounts of the Public School Construction 35 Trust Fund.” 36 37 SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the 38 Governor. 39 ----XX---- 40

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