South Carolina H 4028: Millage increases

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 4028 Text of Previous Version (Feb. 18, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 4028

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING 
SECTION 6-1-320, RELATING TO THE LIMITATION ON MILLAGE INCREASES SO AS TO ALLOW 
THE GOVERNING BODY OF A RURAL COUNTY TO SUSPEND THE LIMITATION FOR THE PURPOSE 
OF SUPPORTING A FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT.

Whereas, the millage 
cap set forth in Section 6-1-320 hinders the ability of rural county fire 
districts to adequately provide services within the county; and

Whereas, to account for 
the shortfall and provide essential fire services, counties are forced to 
establish fees to support the service that disparately affects the citizens of 
the county; and

Whereas, allowing a 
rural county to exceed the millage limitation to support fire services would 
enable the county to cease imposing such fees. Now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Section 6-1-320(B) of the S.C. Code is amended by 
adding:

 (8) for a county council to support a 
fire protection district in a rural county that was created pursuant to Chapter 
19, Title 4, or Chapter 11, Title 6. However, the two-thirds vote of the 
membership must occur no later than one year of the effective date of this 
item. A county council only may utilize the provisions of this item once and 
use of this provision may not result in a greater than a two percent increase 
in the county's overall fire budget for the previous tax year. Any increased 
revenue resulting from the suspension of the millage limitation first must be 
used on a dollar-for-dollar basis to reduce fees or other similar charges that 
support fire protection. Once all such fees are eliminated, additional revenue 
must be used to support the fire protection district. For purposes of this 
subsection, a "rural county" is any county with a population of seventy 
thousand or less as of the 2020 decennial census that does not have a full-time 
fire department that is fully supported by the local applicable fire millage.

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval 
by the Governor.

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This web page was last updated on February 18, 2025 at 12:48 PM