Darlington City Council proposes Annexation Ordinance
By Stephan Drew, Editor
The Darlington City Council will hold a public hearing and final vote next week on an ordinance that would require property owners outside city limits to annex into the city if they receive city water and sewer service — a measure city officials say is intended to close a long-standing budget gap and boost revenue for essential services like police staffing.
Ordinance No. 2026-05 would amend Chapter 86, Article II, Section 21 and Chapter 86, Article III, Section 295 of the City of Darlington Code of Ordinances. Under the proposed change, any property contiguous with Darlington’s city limits that is currently receiving city water and/or sewer service would be required to annex into the city within six months of the ordinance’s passage.
The rule would apply only to properties that are both contiguous to existing city limits and already connected to city water or sewer infrastructure. Affected property owners would have two options once the six-month window begins:
Annex into the City of Darlington and pay in-city utility rates, or Disconnect from city utilities and establish independent service, such as a private well or septic system.
There would be no option to pay a premium to remain outside city limits while keeping city utility service — a distinction Mayor Curtis Boyd said sets this ordinance apart from simply raising rates on outside customers.
“We won’t just cut them off,” Boyd said. “They’ll have six months to decide if they want to dig their own well or annex into the city.”
In an interview with the News & Press, Boyd said the ordinance responds to financial strain facing the city, driven by inflation, rising costs and revenue shortfalls — pressures he said are not unique to Darlington.
“There are things that have fallen through the cracks,” Boyd said. “No one has done anything wrong, it’s just something that’s been missed. We just have to work on bringing in more revenue through things that have been overlooked.”
Boyd said the city has consulted with its attorneys, who advised that no binding contracts exist with customers outside city limits, giving the council legal standing to pursue annexation as a revenue tool.
Boyd pointed to public safety as a central motivation behind the measure. “We’re short on police officers and we need to hire more,” he said, adding that competitive pay for police, city managers and other officials has been difficult without additional revenue. “Other cities pay more for police, city managers, and other officials. We can’t do that without bringing in more money.”
He said the city has for years sought ways to “close the gap” created by extending water and sewer infrastructure beyond city limits without the accompanying tax base that comes with annexation.
The ordinance’s financial impact stems in part from the substantial difference between in-city and outside-city utility rates — a gap Darlington has widened through rate adjustments over the past four years.
Inside city limits, customers pay a base administrative charge of $13.37 for water and $15.28 for sewer per unit. Usage is billed on a tiered scale:
Water: $3.42 per thousand gallons (0–5,000 gallons), $3.76 (5,001–10,000 gallons), $4.10 (10,000+ gallons)
Sewer: $4.90, $5.39 and $5.88 per thousand gallons across the same tiers
Additional monthly fees include a capital improvement fee ranging from $2.00 to $11.25 depending on meter tap size, and a $4.00 stormwater fee for residential customers.
Outside the city limits, customers face substantially higher costs, reflecting a recent 30 percent rate increase approved by the council. Base administrative charges run roughly $38.02 to $41.14 per unit for water and about $41.14 for sewer, with usage rates of approximately $5.71 and $8.74 per thousand gallons, respectively. The same tiered capital improvement fee structure applies regardless of location.
Boyd characterized the approach as common practice rather than a novel policy. “It’s nothing new,” he said. “Many cities do this.”
Indeed, numerous South Carolina municipalities tie continued utility service to annexation for contiguous properties, often requiring owners to sign annexation agreements as a condition of new or continued hookups, or adjusting terms when local ordinances or rate structures change.
Boyd described the ordinance as progressive in its geographic reach: once a property annexes into the city, any adjacent property becomes newly contiguous with city limits and would then fall under the same requirement — but only as far as existing water and sewer lines extend. Boyd emphasized that the city would not be permitted to extend water or sewer infrastructure further specifically to expand the ordinance’s reach or annex additional territory.
State law carves out at least one significant exception to municipal annexation authority. Under S.C. Code Ann. § 5-3-20, municipalities are barred from annexing property owned by a qualifying professional sports team — as defined under S.C. Code Ann. § 12-6-3360(M)(17) — without the team’s written consent. That protection is tied to job creation and payroll thresholds established under the state’s Job Tax Credit statute and remains in effect only so long as the organization continues to meet those criteria.
Mayor Boyd asks that anyone with questions please call him at 843-206-4389.
The public hearing and final council vote on Ordinance No. 2026-05 will take place on Tuesday, August 18, at Darlington City Hall, 400 Pearl Street. Residents and property owners who could be affected by the ordinance are expected to have the opportunity to weigh in before the council’s decision.