RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. — Some Richland County property taxes could be going up to help fund teacher salaries and improvements in Richland School District One.
At Tuesday's Richland County Council meeting, council members will take a look at requests from millage agencies that get money from property taxes in Richland County. Among them is Richland One, which is requesting the maximum millage cap.
The increase would supply the district with $22 million more than they got from the county last year by raising taxes.
"The millage is more or less a tax rate that we use to generate the revenue to supply the budgets that the council has passed," said Richland County Auditor Paul Brawley.
But according to Brawley, homeowners wouldn't see an increase on their primary legal residence.
"If a person lives in their home and it’s their legal residence, and they have the legal residence status at the assessors office, they don’t pay any taxes for school operating, so that $67.20 increase will be on commercial property and rental property," Brawley said. "And of course, there would be an increase in car taxes, manufacturing and other taxing entities as well."
In Richland One's budget, the increase would go toward raising employee pay, including increasing teacher starting salary to $50,100 to offer a more competitive salary. The state increased mandatory starting salary to $47,000 for this upcoming school year.
"We wanna make sure that what we offer is a competitive salary so that ... every student in Richland One deserves a great teacher in the classroom," said Richland One School Board Chair Dr. Aaron Bishop. He also said the money will help offset rising costs, like insurance.
"Insurance has went up 11.8%, and that's a part of our responsibility to our students and our teachers," Bishop added.
The school board also plans to increase salary for other employees, like bus drivers.
After Tuesday's meeting, County Council will discuss the millage agencies in a third reading on June 18. If approved, the budget will go into effect on July 1.