A York County judge just ruled on Fort Mill school impact fees. Here’s his verdict.
A York County judge has sided with the county and state in a case impacting Fort Mill and other school districts that charge impact fees.
On Thursday morning an order filed in civil court states that Judge William McKinnon ruled in favor of the defendants on all counts. The defendants — York County and South Carolina — had the case filed against them on Sept. 11, 2018 related to school impact fees.
County and state homebuilder associations, along with companies affiliated with builders Soni Homes and Shea Homes, filed the suit. Their attorneys argued that unreasonable impact fee increases in the Fort Mill School District put the builders at hardship, were reached arbitrarily, constituted a de facto moratorium on building, and were based on an unconstitutional state law that allows the fees.
The judge concluded the county and state are within their rights to implement impact fees, and at the current rate.
“There are many ways to fund public schools,” McKinnon wrote in the order. “The South Carolina General Assembly offered an impact fee as one option, and the York County Council accepted the offer and implemented the highest impact fee their report justified. The only question for this court is whether these actions are unconstitutional. The court finds they are not.”
By arguing against the state law allowing impact fees, a decision for the homebuilders could’ve had repercussions well beyond Fort Mill. Just in this area, Rock Hill, Fort Mill and Tega Cay charge some form of municipal impact fee, while other counties and school districts either charge them or have studied them as a way to manage growth.
Impact fees are charges on new construction. The idea is, the money pays for services needed when more people come into the area.
The Fort Mill School District started charging fees back in 1996. It was flat at $2,500 per residence until York County agreed in 2018 to increase the fees to more than $18,000 per home and $12,000 per apartment.
Meeting minutes from the Dec. 10 school board meeting in Fort Mill show, as of that date, the district had collected a $70.9 million in impact fees. Since the higher fees began in mid-2018, the district collected $18.6 million on more than 1,100 new residences — 788 homes and 361 apartments.
Since 1992, the district has grown from four to 17 schools, with still more under construction. In that time the district held 9 bond referendums to pay for capital costs (a 2006 plan involved $70.3 million to issue bonds, but no public vote), with residents passing all but one of them.
Those bond decisions total $781 million in spending.
In the months after homebuilders filed suit against the county and state, the school district opted not to spend money coming in at the higher rates since it was tied up in litigation. Court records now list the case as dismissed.
York County Council Chairman Michael Johnson, who represents much of Fort Mill on the council and is a former Fort Mill school board member, said he looks forward to the district now being able to start much-needed building projects using the impact fees.
“The county is pleased that Judge McKinnon has ruled and found the Fort Mill School District impact fee is constitutional,” Johnson said. “I look forward to a time when this issue is behind us and the district is free to use the impact fees to build new schools.”
In an email Thursday afternoon, plaintiff attorney Ariail King stated her firm received the order this morning.
“We are still evaluating our next steps,” she wrote.
Check back for more.
Andrew Dys contributed to this story.
This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 10:56 AM.
