Knowledge Park committee goes over tax district details

The York County Council has what it needs to make a decision on the Knowledge Park tax district.

The council’s committee set up to study extending the special tax district in downtown Rock Hill met Tuesday to review all the documents submitted by the city. Members agreed to move forward with what they had, although some still have questions about how the money raised so far has been spent.

York County had requested copies of all of Rock Hill’s prior tax-district agreements with both the county and the Rock Hill school district. The city has issued $18.9 million in bonds to improve both the Knowledge Park area and a separate downtown tax district, and council members wanted to review how that money has been spent before they agree to extend the tax district out to 2039.

Council member Christi Cox, who chairs the committee, was concerned that between 2006 and 2012, an average of $160,500 of tax-district funds a year was spent on up to seven city employees’ salaries.

“We still don’t know what those salaries were for or who they were paid to,” Cox said.

County Manager Bill Shanahan pointed out that Rock Hill City Manager David Vehaun has told him the city does not plan to use tax-district funds for salaries in the future.

“I think they were just uncomfortable releasing people’s names,” Shanahan said.

Rock Hill uses a special tax district to raise funds for infrastructure improvements in the Knowledge Park area, using any increase in the assessed property tax value to pay for it. The city wants to extend the district for an additional 10 years to 2039, but needs the county’s approval.

The County Council set up a special committee to study the extension last month before making a recommendation to the full council. Alongside Cox were Councilmen William “Bump” Roddey and Robert Winkler.

Winkler said he worried the county was “beating a dead horse” over previous tax agreements it already agreed to, and instead should focus on ensuring the county increases its tax take in the extended period. The city has offered to raise the cap as part of an extension, allowing the county to collect tax at a 2015 assessed rate for the extra 10-year period.

“We could reset it almost as a new (tax district),” Winkler said. “I would rather we get that and hold them to reporting.”

Committee members agreed the city should submit an annual report on the district’s development progress as part of any new agreement between the two entities.

“State law spells out how it needs to be used, so we can just put that language into the agreement,” Shanahan said.

Roddey said the district’s success shouldn’t be measured in how much is spent, but in the difference between “what the value was, and what it is now,” he said. “If it can show growth, that’s a benefit to the county.”

Roddey previously had said he would block any extension of the tax district unless Rock Hill addressed his concerns about stormwater flooding in portions of his district. But last week, Roddey pronounced himself satisfied with the city’s long-range stormwater control plan and said he would support an extension of the Knowledge Park district.

The committee had a self-imposed deadline of March 2, when the full council was to take up the issue. But Cox indicated she wanted to hold another meeting that day with city officials, and possibly a third meeting with the county attorney to discuss some of York County’s legal options, which would push back that deadline.

This story was originally published February 17, 2015 at 8:41 PM with the headline "Knowledge Park committee goes over tax district details."