Counties in SC Bob Botsch, Copyright 2012 Comparisons to nation 46 counties SC (average state has 64) > 3,000 in US About 20 city/county consolidations (none in SC) 200 to 8 mil in population (McCormick: 10k; Greenville: 400k 26 to 160,000 sq miles (Aiken Co: 1,080; R.I.: 1,214)

Origin of term and Major difference between cities and counties From G.B.: called “shires” – later changed to county, land controlled by a “count” Created by state as administrative unit, not by request of citizens Covers entire state, not just parts of state All citizens live in counties (except in sates w/o counties—Alaska and La), but not everyone lives in cities

Other Differences with Cities Counties more partisan Counties have more elected officials, which leads to fragmentation Counties more diverse in nature with greater inner cultural divides

Services and Roles of Counties 1.Administrative arm of state—carry out state programs—e.g. DSS 2.Separately elected officials mandated by state constitution carry out functions—e.g. sheriff and clerk of court 3.General purpose local government—do many things that cities do, but for unincorporated areas 4.Regional Govt—deal with larger problems with other counties, e.g. waste mgt

Why counties can’t govern—the impact of structure Fragmented control with no one at top of any structure to hold accountable Council provides budgets for many independently elected officials who answer to voters, not to council, e.g. sheriff and clerk of court

How counties evolved Began with 3 in 1682 created by Lord Proprietors (Berkeley, Craven, Colleton) Purposes: justice, grant land, elect representatives to assembly Anglican Church provided many services Counties given more power after Civil War Limited by “county purpose doctrine”—only things allowed by legislature Run by County Legislative Delegation—budget was annual “supply bill” Reynolds v. Simms (1964) undermined leg delegation

Alternative forms of County Government Council form—executive & legislative functions in council—may give a member some executive duties, or some hired employee Council Supervisor—supervisor elected at- large as executive (like strong mayor) Council-manager—council hires mgr Council-administrator—same as c-m except that auditor and treasurer may be appointed

Fiscal Home Rule in Counties? Legislature limits on how much counties can tax and what kinds of taxes are allowed Result: counties cannot raise $ for services citizens want So legislators add local projects to budget to have some of these things—”pork” paid for by people in other parts of the state

Special tax districts and special purpose districts Special Tax District—tax at different rates where different services are provided Can do same things as Special Purpose Districts that are created by special legislation

County Services (Note: much falls under general “police powers:” safety, health, morals and nuisance) Law enforcement Detention Road maintenance Waste disposal (solid and liquid) water Libraries EMS Recreation Medical Building codes

How Counties Pay for Services User fees—growing b/c of limit on taxes Property taxes (#1 source) (Note: collect property taxes for cities) State aid (about 20% of revenue in SC, & falling) Sales taxes (like accommodations tax and special sales tax for capital projects)

Challenges Fragmentation Growth management—quality of life Coordinating services with city govts Attracting and retaining well-trained people as employees and officials Wealthy suburban/poor rural dichotomy Dual taxation from perspective of city residents Strange and uneven relationship to schools in SC Maintain about 1/3 of all SC roads Declining state $ support