South-Carolina

Identical homes, different tax bills: South Carolina homeowners blame ‘unfair’ state law

Published

1 year ago

January 2, 2024

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.”

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South-Carolina

Mizzou Women’s Basketball Set to Face No. 2 South Carolina; The Buzz, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025

Published

3 hours ago

January 2, 2025

Press Room

Mizzou Women’s Basketball Set to Face No. 2 South Carolina; The Buzz, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025

Just a few short years ago, the Missouri Tigers women’s basketball team knocked off No. 1 South Carolina at home.

It was quite the miracle, due to the fact that they only had eight players available heading into the game against a top opponent. They had also never beaten a No. 1 team before.

It took the Tigers past regulation time to get the 70-69 win in 2021, but they did it in the end. The final shot happened with just .1 second left on the clock.

That year, South Carolina served as their first SEC game of the season. This is also the case for the 2024-25 season. Missouri will take on the Gamecocks on Jan. 2 at 6 pm.

The Tigers had a five game win streak to their name earlier in the season, but that was lost when they fell to Oral Roberts on Dec. 18. Missouri is looking to build that streak back up following a 90-51 win against Jackson State.

This game will serve as a true test for Missouri as they kick off SEC play with one of the most talented teams in the country. They currently hold a three-game losing streak against the Gamecocks.

Today’s Schedule

Did you notice?

Three Missouri Football players officially declared for the NFL draft. Running back Marcus Carroll and defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. took to X to share their respective decisions. Running back Nate Noel shared his news with a post on instagram.

Thank You Mizzou 💛🖤 pic.twitter.com/uSWMhsjCKQ
— Johnny Walker (@JohnnyW15_) January 1, 2025

Defensive end Johnny Walker Jr. ended his Mizzou career with the longest streak in the nation of consecutive games with a sack. He racked up seven in a row to close out his final season as a Tiger.

More from Mizzou On SI:

Wide Receiver, Safety Announce Returns to Mizzou for 2025 Season
Starting Trent Pierce Was an ‘Easy’ Decision for Mizzou’s Dennis Gates
‘You Have to be a Finisher”: Another Comeback Win a Perfect Ending to Mizzou’s Season

Check out our social media…

X (formerly known as Twitter): @MizzouSI
Instagram: MizzouOnSI
Facebook: Missouri Tigers On SI
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South-Carolina

3 Big Takeaways From Illinois Football’s Citrus Bowl Win Over South Carolina

Published

11 hours ago

January 1, 2025

Press Room

3 Big Takeaways From Illinois Football’s Citrus Bowl Win Over South Carolina

Games like Tuesday’s Citrus Bowl don’t come around very often for Illinois, and seasons like 2024 have been even less frequent around Champaign.

Consider that as recently as 2016-2018, the Illini were able to pull together just nine wins over a three-year stretch. With their 21-17 upset over South Carolina on New Year’s Eve, the Illini topped that total in 2024 alone – only their fifth 10-win season in program history and first since 2001.

There was plenty to process after Illinois’ fifth fourth-quarter comeback this season – this one without late-game heroics of receiver Pat Bryant – but we’ve landed on three big-picture takeaways worth breaking out:

The month between Illinois’ win over Northwestern in its regular-season finale and Tuesday’s Citrus Bowl triumph wasn’t a bye, per se, but it underscored how well Bielema teams have performed – especially in recent years – when they have extra time to prepare.

Now 6-1 coming off bye weeks, the Bielema-coached Illini were on point in just about every way against the Gamecocks. They shut down South Carolina’s biggest threat (quarterback LaNorris Sellers’ scrambling), matched Shane Beamer’s mass-substitution machinations, managed the clock effectively and committed no penalties.

Too late to recast ballots for 2024 Big Ten Coach of the Year?

Reports of the Big Ten’s death, as it turns out, were exaggerated. Indiana’s 10-point loss to Notre Dame has somehow been held up as the avatar for all that is wrong with the College Football Playoff and the supposed overblown reputation of the Big Ten. But let’s take stock of just the past 10 days, shall we?

Penn State smashed SMU. Ohio State took Tennessee to the woodshed. You can still smell the lamination on USC’s Big Ten credentials, but the Trojans still topped Texas A&M. Nebraska topped Boston College, Penn State slapped around Boise State and, in what had been considered to be an embarrassment of a season for the reigning national champions, Michigan beat No. 11 Alabama.

So much whining about Bama having been denied its rightful place in the CFP. So little proof.

Meanwhile, Illinois did its part to rep the Big Ten, and quarterback Luke Altmyer wasn’t shy about sharing his feelings of vindication after the Illini’s win over the Gamecocks – particularly when faced with that special brand of SEC snobbery.

#illini QB Luke Altmyer said some South Carolina players thought they were Syracuse at a combined team event this week.
“Been hearing all this talk about SEC, SEC in the playoff and things like that, and I’m just tired of the disrespect. Illinois has been a disrespected program… pic.twitter.com/i5o3ECvAdb
— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) January 1, 2025

It’s silly for anyone outside an organization to pretend to know exactly what’s going on behind the curtain, but as a natural cynic who has covered Illinois football for more than 30 years across seven coaching regimes, I’ll say this: These Illini seem different.

Bielema has a plan and values culture (practicing, not merely preaching it), which means he’s simpatico with athletic director Josh Whitman. And it’s amazing what can be accomplished when you throw smart, experienced people into the same boat and they all row in the same direction together. That has been the mark of Illinois athletics in recent years, but it has also been the m.o. of Bielema’s program, seemingly from top to bottom.

The last few steps to the top of the mountain are the hardest, and you know what they say about staying there. Solving NIL will be the key to Illinois’ long-term success, but a 10-win season culminating in a Citrus Bowl win over an SEC team that many believed belonged in the CFP should help properly equip the Illini for the climb.

Social Media Reacts to Illinois Football’s Citrus Bowl Upset Over South Carolina

Gesture-Gate: The Ridiculousness of the Shane Beamer-Bret Bielema Clash

Illinois Football Stuns South Carolina in Program-Shifting Citrus Bowl Upset

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South-Carolina

The transfer portal plan on the o-line

Published

19 hours ago

January 1, 2025

Press Room

South Carolina has already added two offensive linemen from the transfer portal this cycle and the Gamecocks are not done adding at the position, according to head coach Shane Beamer.

With two projected guards already signed out of the portal, GamecockCentral has consistently told its subscribers that the Gamecocks would like to add another lineman, ideally a true center, from the transfer portal.

While Beamer did not specifically mention the center position, he did confirm the team’s plan to continue adding on the offensive line while in Orlando this week.

“We needed to increase the competition,” Beamer said Friday. “I think we’re still looking for interior offensive linemen in the portal for sure. The fact of the matter is, we lose our center and both guards. We’ve got young guys, it’s time for them to step up, like I said, but we also need to continue to bolster the competition in that room. We’ve done that already but I wouldn’t say we’re done there yet either.”

South Carolina Transfer Portal Resources:

The Gamecocks kicked off their portal recruiting on the o-line with the addition of former Wake Forest starter Nick Sharpe, who announced his commitment two and a half weeks ago.

The 6-foot-2, 330-pounder is considered the No. 53 interior offensive lineman in the portal.

South Carolina followed that up last week with a commitment from Western Kentucky transfer guard Rodney Newsom Jr.

The 6-foot-3, 303-pounder is ranked the No. 14 interior offensive lineman in the transfer portal.

With starting guards Torricelli Simpkins III and Kamaar Bell, both portal acquisitions last season, and starting center Vershon Lee all out of eligibility the Gamecocks will look for younger players to step up or veteran transfer players to take over those roles.

GamecockCentral’s Chris Clark reported a new name to watch at center earlier this week who has already set a South Carolina visit.

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