2009-2010 Bill 4238: County Property Tax Assessors - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 118th Session, 2009-2010 3 4 H. 4238 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Rep. Clemmons 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\bbm\9468htc10.docx 11 12 Introduced in the House on January 12, 2010 13 Currently residing in the House Committee on Ways and Means 14 15 Summary: County property tax assessors 16 17 18 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 19 20 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 21 12/15/2009 House Prefiled 22 12/15/2009 House Referred to Committee on Ways and Means 23 1/12/2010 House Introduced and read first time HJ40 24 1/12/2010 House Referred to Committee on Ways and Means HJ41 25 26 27 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 28 29 12/15/2009 30 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 SECTION 123795 SO AS TO PROVIDE 13 THAT COUNTY PROPERTY TAX ASSESSORS MUST BE 14 ELECTED FOR A TERM OF FOUR YEARS, TO PROVIDE 15 THAT THE FIRST ELECTION MUST BE HELD AT THE TIME 16 OF THE 2012 GENERAL ELECTION, TO PROVIDE 17 QUALIFICATIONS AND SALARY REQUIREMENTS, AND 18 TO PROVIDE TRANSITION PROVISIONS; AND TO AMEND 19 SECTION 123790, RELATING TO THE DUTIES OF THE 20 COUNTY PROPERTY TAX ASSESSOR, SO AS TO MAKE A 21 CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 22 23 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 24 Carolina: 25 26 SECTION 1. A.Article 1, Chapter 37, Title 12 of the 1976 Code 27 is amended by adding: 28 29 “Section 123795. (A) Beginning with the general election of 2012, 30 the county property tax assessor must be elected by the qualified 31 voters of the county for a term of four years and until his successor is 32 elected and qualifies. The person elected assessor shall take office on 33 the first day of January after the election. Notwithstanding another 34 provision of law provided for filling of vacancies in an elected county 35 office, a vacancy in the office of county property tax assessor must be 36 filled by the governing body of the county for the unexpired portion 37 of the term only. 38 (B)(1) No person may be elected county property tax assessor, or 39 appointed to, or continue to serve in that office pursuant to this section 40 unless that person, at the time of election or appointment, and at all 41 times thereafter during his term, is a state-certified general real estate 42 appraiser in good standing pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 60, 43 Title 40. If a person does not have that qualification at the time of

[4238] 2 1 election or appointment, or if the person loses that qualification during 2 his term, the office is declared vacant and must be filled as provided 3 in subsection (A) of this section. No person may be certified to the 4 ballot for county property tax assessor unless he files a certified copy 5 of the certificate of qualification as a state-certified general real estate 6 appraiser with the county executive committee of the person’s 7 political party or with the county election commission in the case of a 8 petition candidate at the time of filing for the office. 9 (2) No person may continue to serve as the county property tax 10 assessor who fails to comply with the educational requirements of 11 Section 1237110. If the person fails to comply, the office is declared 12 vacant and must be filled as provided pursuant to subsection (A) of 13 this section. 14 (C) The salary and benefits paid an elected county assessor and 15 the office expenditures for the operations of the office must not be 16 less than the salary, benefits, and office expenditures of the county 17 auditor. However, the salary and benefits for a person first holding 18 the office of county property tax assessor pursuant to this section must 19 not be less than the salary and benefits of his unelected predecessor.” 20 21 B.(1) Notwithstanding the first election date provided pursuant to 22 Section 123795 of the 1976 Code, as added by subsection A of this 23 section, if a county assessor is serving on the effective date of this act 24 pursuant to a multiyear contract the terms of which specifically 25 provide a tenure ending after December 31, 2012, that person may 26 continue to serve through the contract ending date in existence on this 27 act’s effective date after which the office is declared vacant and must 28 be filled as provided pursuant to Section 123795 of the 1976 Code as 29 added by this act. 30 (2) Notwithstanding the qualifications provided in Section 31 123795 of the 1976 Code as added by subsection (A) of this section, a 32 person serving as county property tax assessor on the effective date of 33 this act who is elected county property tax assessor at the 2012 34 general election is not required to be a state certified general real 35 estate appraiser while continuing in office. 36 37 SECTION 2. The first paragraph of Section 123790 of the 1976 38 Code is amended to read: 39 40 “All counties shall have a fulltime assessor elected or appointed 41 as provided pursuant to Section 123795, whose responsibility is 42 appraising and listing all real property, whether exempted or not, 43 except real property required by law to be assessed by the 44 department and property owned by the federal government, state

[4238] 3 1 government, county government, or any of its political 2 subdivisions and which is exempt from property taxation. If the 3 assessor discovers that any real property required by law to be 4 assessed by the department has been omitted, he shall notify the 5 department that the property has been omitted and the department 6 is required to appraise and assess the omitted property.” 7 8 SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon ratification of an 9 amendment to Article VII of the Constitution of this State 10 requiring the election of county property tax assessors. 11 XX 12

[4238] 4