South-Carolina
Identical homes, different tax bills: South Carolina homeowners blame ‘unfair’ state law
INDIAN LAND, S.C. (WBTV) – Two homes in a Lancaster County subdivision sit side by side.
Built in 2008, the 3,987 sq. feet floor plans with two-door garages are virtually identical. Click back and forth between the property listings on Lancaster County’s online property records, and almost no text changes.
No text, that is, except the tax bills: Ed Dockweiler on Cressingham Drive owes the county $3,560 in property taxes for 2023.
His neighbor next door in the identical home? $2,319.
“I don’t think it’s fair,” Dockweiler said, standing outside the home this fall that he bought in late 2021. “I don’t want to see my neighbor’s taxes increase. What I do want to see is a more level playing field.”
Just up the road in the same subdivision, realtor Brian McCarron has a slightly larger home than Dockweiler and a tax bill a thousand dollars cheaper.
When another new neighbor in the subdivision approached McCarron to ask why he’d been hit with a property tax bill far higher than he’d been told to expect when buying his new home, McCarron went digging.
A South Carolina law implemented in 2006, as McCarron found out, caps how much the taxable value of a home can increase over a five-year period to just 15% — unless the home is sold.
In other words, a home’s taxable worth of $300,000 in 2018 can at maximum only have a taxable value of $345,000 when reassessed in 2023 – until someone like Dockweiler comes along in 2021 and purchases the home for $550,000 at the current market rate.
That’s exactly what happened to Dockweiler and dozens of other new homeowners, who responded in frustration when McCarron put out a call on social media asking who was noticing unexpected tax increases after purchasing a home in 2021 or since.
South Carolina’s law protects longtime homeowners in South Carolina from massive swings in the housing market, such as the country has seen since mid-2021. Anyone who bought before the pandemic in the subdivision is paying taxes on an amount that’s close to the one they paid when closing on the home.
Newcomers, however, pay a price. Dockweiler’s home was worth $300,000 when it was built in 2008, but anyone who’s been paying attention to housing costs in the Charlotte metro area – or anywhere else in the country – in the last couple of years won’t be surprised by the 83% increase in value when he bought it in 2021.
“When you look at a house that’s all the sudden contributing a thousand dollars more to the county’s budget? That seems excessive and not really fair to somebody who’s two doors down and still contributing essentially the same amount of money,” McCarron explained. “I understand cost goes up every year, but there’s got to be a way we can balance that.”
When asked about the situation, Lancaster County administrator Dennis Marshall pointed to the state-mandated five-year reassessment schedule that the county adheres to, saying it “evens out” the differences (It’s the reassessment, however, that state law caps at 15% and hasn’t kept up with rapidly rising market values.).
“Those differences get evened out through the state-mandated reassessment process the County must undertake every five years,” Marshall wrote in an email. “Every County in South Carolina experiences these differences in residential tax values, but Lancaster, like the other 45 counties, undertakes the mandated reassessment process to address the temporary disparity in assessed home values.”
A guide from Charleston County in South Carolina makes it explicit, however: “At reassessment, the taxable value can increase no more than 15% over the previous taxable value.”
Laws capping home value increases until sale aren’t uncommon. More than a dozen states have some kind of cap on assessment increases, according to the finance and business media outlet Kiplinger.
North Carolina is not one of those states, something that Charlotte-area realtor April Villines says contributes to a whole different set of issues where longtime homeowners are more subject to the whims of the market.
“Each county can actually come in and assess at any time, so if they feel the need to do an assessment, they’re going to go ahead and do that,” Villines explained. “It has caused some disruption during the market recently because of the heavy increase in property values.”
Mecklenburg County, which re-assesses every four years, partially offset that impact in the last assessment by lowering their tax rates instead, Villines noted. Still, the market impact on homeowners in North Carolina can be severe.
“I think that’s really the question we need to be asking; does the 26% in market value increase, does that really need to reflect tax increases? So I think we need to almost reconsider our adjustment.”
Copyright 2023 WBTV. All rights reserved.
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Six Republican candidates vying to become South Carolina’s next governor met in downtown Charleston for a wide-ranging debate that put abortion, infrastructure and the future of data centers at the center of the race.
The forum was held at the Sottile Theatre, where Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, state Sen. Josh Kimbrell, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, Lowcountry businessman Rom Reddy and Attorney General Alan Wilson took the stage.
Questions included whether they would support a state hate crime law, how they would address concerns about growth and infrastructure, how to navigate collaboration, abortion and the future of data centers in the state.
One issue that drew near-unanimous opposition was state Senate Bill 1095, a proposed total abortion ban that passed out of committee earlier in the day. All of the candidates opposed the bill, but they differed on what they would do if it reached the governor’s desk.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
Norman said he would sign it.
“You know, this is an emotional issue, but I will tell you if this bill came to my desk as governor. If it passed the House and the Senate, I would sign it,” Norman said.
All of the other candidates on stage said they would veto the bill if it came across their desk as governor, with Reddy arguing the question should be decided by voters.
“The Supreme Court did not say the loudest voice in the ruling class prevails. It said it’s up to the people in the state, so let’s put it to a referendum,” Reddy said.
On infrastructure, candidates discussed reforming the South Carolina Department of Transportation and allowing private-sector involvement to help pay for improvements.
Wilson outlined ideas that included leasing interstate easements and expanding private express lanes.
“We privatized that grass between the interstates. We turn it into private express lanes that can be told we leased the easements on the sides of interstates to telecommunication companies and energy companies, and charge them for natural gas line and fiber optic fiber optic cables,” Wilson said.
Evette also pointed to public-private partnerships and the possibility of fast-pass lanes.
READ MORE | South Carolina governor candidates tout infrastructure, growth at business forum
“We want to make sure that we’re innovative public private partnerships coming in and creating fast pass lanes to allow people that are in a hurry to be able to utilize that,” Evette said.
The final question focused on data centers, with candidates agreeing corporations should “pay their way.”
“They should pay for their water. They should pay for their infrastructure, any roads around it, and we should look at what Governor Ron DeSantis has done in Florida with the large data centers that are coming to Florida. That should be the model in South Carolina and everywhere,” Mace said.
Kimbrell said the state should set limits to protect natural resources and guard against higher power costs for residents.
“Put parameters around data centers to ensure that the water consumption does not impact places like the ACE Basin,” Kimbrell said. “Ensuring that the Public Service Commission makes absolutely sure nobody’s power rate goes up and we try to get behind the meter energy grids in place so they can be self-sufficient.”
Two more debates are planned ahead of the primaries on June 9.
A bill that could make it a felony for doctors to perform an abortion is moving to the full South Carolina Senate with just a few weeks left in the legislative session.
The South Carolina Senate medical affairs committee continued a debate of Senate Bill 1095 on April 21 in Columbia. The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, builds on a restrictive abortion bill that failed to progress in the fall.
The committee passed the measure in an 8-4 vote, moving it to the full Senate for consideration. Lawmakers have until May 14, the last day of the 2026 legislative session, to pass the bill for it to become law.
Senate Bill 1095, also called the “Unborn Child Protection Act,” bans performing an abortion or supplying abortion drugs. It makes it illegal for a woman to get an abortion, with the only exception being to save a pregnant woman’s life.
It also makes mifepristone and misoprostol Schedule IV controlled substances. Alprazolam (Xanax) and zolpidem (Ambien) are two other examples of Schedule IV substances.
Pro-Life Greenville, an anti-abortion organization based in Greenville, responded to the bill’s progress with “full endorsement” of the legislation.
“Unborn children, like all human beings, deserve to have their lives protected under law here in the Palmetto State,” Pro-Life Greenville stated. “Today’s vote by the SC Senate Medical Affairs Committee brings that urgent need one step closer to reality.”
Under the bill, a woman who has an abortion could face misdemeanor charges. The maximum sentence would be two years in jail with a $1,000 fine.
Those found guilty of performing an abortion or providing a pregnant woman with abortion-inducing drugs could face felony charges, a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail, and a possible $100,000 fine.
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT), a firm opponent of the bill, decried the Senate committee passage. PPSAT Director of Public Affairs Vicki Ringer said in a statement that the bill will cost people their lives, and it will make it more difficult for women to get reproductive and pregnancy healthcare.
“Abortion bans have and will continue to cost people their lives,” Ringer stated. “As this ban inches closer to the governor’s desk, it is becoming increasingly clear just how many of our lives anti-abortion lawmakers are willing to endanger in service to their agenda.”
Bella Carpentier covers the South Carolina legislature, state, and Greenville County politics. Contact her at bcarpentier@gannett.com
BARNWELL, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – An officer was injured, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has issued a Blue Alert for an “armed and dangerous” woman.
According to the Blue Alert, Cushman is wanted in connection with an officer being injured.
The location of the assault was Gardenia Road in Blackville, S.C.
On Monday night around 10:35 p.m., officials said they were looking for Lacey Cushman, 37, a white woman who is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs about 210 pounds.
According to SLED, she has brown eyes and an unknown hair color. Her hairstyle and clothing are unknown.
She was last seen driving a 2011 white Chevrolet Traverse with an S.C. tag, 706IRU, in Barnwell County.
Her last known direction of travel was toward Bamberg County.
If you see her or have information, call 911 immediately.
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Copyright 2026 WHNS. All rights reserved.
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