District Certified 5.8 Mill Increase in Violation of State Law
Documents obtained by the Greenville County Taxpayers Association under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act indicate that the Greenville County Auditor notified Tommie Reece, Chairman of the Greenville County School Board, that the District would be held to a 4 mill increase in taxes for the 2007 tax year. Reece was also notified that the School District of Greenville County had certified an 8.5 mill increase the previous year (2006) exceeding the 4 mill limit allowed by state law.
The Greenville County Auditor in correspondence dated November 12, 2007, notified Reece that the District request for a 5.8 mill increase in property taxes to be levied on 2007 tax bills was rejected pursuant to direction provided by the South Carolina Department of Revenue and an opinion provided by the Attorney General.
A letter to Reece signed by Scott Case, CPA, Greenville County Auditor, stated: “The Greenville County Auditor is legally restricted from levying operating millage for the Greenville County School District at a level that exceeds 108.2 mills (rollback millage of 104.2 plus a 4 mill increase). The Greenville County School District is hereby notified that its operating millage for the 2007 tax bills must be legally set at a level of 108.2 mills.”
The auditor further notified Reece that the District had received an 8.5 mill increase in tax year 2006, a 4.5 mill increase over the 4 mills allowed by current state law.
The letter from the auditor to Reece stated in part: “I am also notifying the Greenville County School District of the error in its 2006 operating millage calculation and recommending that the School Board ascertain its legal obligation under applicable statutes.”
The overstatement of the millage in 2006 was apparently due to the misapplication of the interaction between the Education Improvement Act (EIA) Maintenance of Effort provisions and Act 602 restrictions by the District during the illness of the previous auditor.
The legal repercussions of the excessive taxation by the District, if any, remain unresolved. A district spokesman said Jeff Knotts, the District’s chief financial officer, is on leave with the flu, and a replacement for Wade Cleveland, the full-time lawyer for the school board who resigned last year, has not yet been hired.
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