County adopts Bailey Bill to preserve historic properties
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
Darlington County Council met Nov. 4 and voted unanimously to help owners of historic properties invest in their revitalization.
Council approved final reading of Ordinance 19-19, adopting the Bailey Bill and clearing the way for property owners to receive tax breaks when they refurbish historical homes and buildings. Once a property is deemed of historical value by the county, owners can apply to have their property assessed at its original fair market value rather than its valuation post-remodeling.
This means that if you buy a historic home for $80,000 and invest $100,000 in renovations, the property tax bill would be assessed at $80,000 rather than $180,000.
On another matter related to preserving local history, council approved contracting with architect Robert H. Goodson Jr. of Hartsville to design a new museum addition for the Darlington County Historical Commission.
The contract requires no funding from the county as the entire museum project will be funded by a $4 million bequest gifted to the Commission by the late Carolyn “Bet” Norment Phillips.
The museum will be located beside the current Historical commission building at 204 Hewett St. in Darlington, and construction should begin next year.
Also on the agenda, council approved second reading of Ordinance 19-22, which would authorize a fee-in-lieu-of-taxes (FILOT) agreement between an as-yet unidentified private industry known as “Project Star” and the multicounty business park owned jointly by Darlington County and Florence County.
The Project Star investment is expected to total $5 million over 10 years.
If the FILOT is approved, the company would pay an agreed upon fee instead of property taxes for a period of 30 years.
More information on the company behind Project Star is expected when council holds third and final reading for the ordinance.
South Hartsville resident George Cannon alerted Council to a potentially hazardous situation along Martin Luther King Drive and Russell Road. Cannon said SCDOT has not cut the grass in this area in a long while, so it has grown very high and deep and encourages motorists and pedestrians to litter. His main concern, though, was that children walking to school are forced to wade through this deep grass or walk in the street, exposing them to danger in both cases. Cannon asked Council and county staff to help find a remedy to this problem.