Property Taxes to Remain at 2008 Values Until 2014

Tax values will remain at 2008 levels until 2014 for homeowners in Dorchester County.

The third and final reading of Dorchester County Council's postponement of property value reassessment, originally scheduled for 2013, passed without discussion Tuesday, but not without a dissenting vote by the council's chair. The postponement included about half a million dollars to pay for new software for the reassessment.

Property value reassessment is done every five years, but counties are allowed to postpone under S.C. law. 

Want to learn more about property taxes? Click here to read information by S.C. Department of Revenue. 

Council Chair Larry Hargett voted against the postponement, citing the boom-times of 2008 inflating property value and taxes, but the council passed it 6-1 in order to allow for implementation of new software.

Councilman Jay Byars said Charleston County tried to implement new software and reassessed property values in the same year, and it caused a heep of problems. The vote was to ensure smooth and proper reassessment of property values, Byars said.

"It was a debacle (in Charleston County)," Byars said after Tuesday's meeting. "We don't want to repeat that mistake." 

But Hargett was unpersuaded.

"I was consistent in my vote against it," Hargett said. "It's a tax increase — at least one year of higher taxes (at the 2008 level)."