NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Around South Carolina, military bases that are no longer in use are being transformed into new projects for the whole community.
Those developments are getting a new tool to help that happen while creating more affordable places to live in some of South Carolina’s fastest-growing areas.
“This tax increment funding that our legislature has made available is opening a lot of doors,” Gov. Henry McMaster said Thursday.
McMaster joined state lawmakers and local leaders to mark the implementation of a new state law, gathering inside what used to be a storehouse aboard the former Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston. The military base was once South Carolina’s largest civilian employer, but since its closure in 1996, there has been work to give the area new life.
The former base site is part of a tax increment financing, or TIF, district, which local governments use to invest in infrastructure improvements in run-down or abandoned areas. Then they pay it off from increased property tax revenues that result from that redevelopment.
“The revenue that’s generated from taxes can be reinvested right in the same community, accelerate the expansion, accelerate the development, and help them achieve some of the long-term goals a little faster,” Sen. Sean Bennett, R – Dorchester, said.
This new law now allows the tax revenues in TIFs at old military base sites to be used to build affordable housing.
“This law sets the redevelopment of a former Navy base on a new path, one that strengthens our connection to the military, supports new infrastructure, and creates opportunities that will benefit families, businesses, and communities across South Carolina,” North Charleston Mayor Reggie Burgess said.
The change, which has been in effect since July 1, applies to the three former military base TIFs in South Carolina, two of which are in some of the state’s fastest-growing areas, at the Charleston Naval Base Complex and the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, along with the Savannah River Site Redevelopment Authority.
But state leaders said this change will also help South Carolina more broadly.
“Anytime the Charleston area grows, it generates more revenue, ultimately more tax revenue, growth, that’s always going to help the other communities. Hopefully spread out some concentration of tourism and housing and those sorts of things,” Bennett said.
The new law also allows defense operations that are still located at the former naval base site to be moved to a different, secure location in the Lowcountry.
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