South Carolina is growing quickly. The state grew by 1.7% in FY 2023, the fastest percentage growth in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, reaching 5.37 million residents by mid-2023.
For the regions where this growth is concentrated, cities are experiencing unprecedented pressure to regulate and guide land usage, leading to friction between existing residents and those who are arriving. With widespread growth and annexations becoming more pressing issues, local governments need to find ways to ensure adequate services and well-managed development, all while focusing on collaboration — and civility — among everyone affected.
Because annexation can affect everything from the tax base of jurisdictions to the future of community character, it’s a major source of concern for cities, counties and school districts alike, in terms of impacts to services and finances.
For example, A Handbook for County Government in South Carolina, a publication of the SC Association of Counties, which notes that “[o]ften county officials view annexation as a threat. In reality, however, annexation may have positive benefits for counties, particularly those experiencing areas of rapid urban growth where citizens expect a higher level of services. If such an area is annexed, the responsibility for providing these services is transferred to the city, while the property tax revenue for the county from the annexed area is not reduced. Thus, counties can see demand for services from fast growing areas decrease while property tax revenue does not.”
The Municipal Association of SC has resources, including some recently published Uptown articles, covering how cities and towns might better communicate and engage with critical stakeholders such as county governments, school districts and other entities in their community.
Annexation Handbook
The Municipal Association maintains an Annexation Handbook, which explains both the state laws and that municipal officials should familiarize themselves with when conducting annexations. It also takes a look at the policy considerations of annexation, including whether a specific annexation is in the financial best interest of a city or town. A recent Uptown article covered this as well, giving examples from some of the annexation processes in Charleston, Columbia and Summerville. The handbook also covers public perception of the process and zoning considerations for properties being annexed.
Annexation communication
An important aspect of annexation is making sure that everyone is updated on exactly where municipal boundaries lie, and this article details all of the state and local entities that need a report when an annexation occurs.
Communicating about annexation often involves making sure that property owners understand exactly how their property would be impacted by annexation. This Uptown article takes a look at how the City of Forest Acres and Town of Summerville communicate about the benefits, processes and concerns of annexation. Another article highlights the annexation calculators the City of Columbia and Town of Mount Pleasant use to help property owners understand annexation costs and benefits.
Annexation collaboration
Communicating with counties and other impacted external agencies, even before annexations take place, is an important part of getting different levels of government working together on land use and infrastructure issues. In fact, the SC Local Government Comprehensive Planning Enabling Act requires municipalities with planning and zoning regulations to include a priority investment element in their comprehensive plans, and they must develop recommendations on funding infrastructure and facilities with entities including counties, school districts, utilities and others.
An upcoming May 2024 article in Uptown will take a look at this collaborative element of comprehensive plans, and how some local governments have even formalized collaboration through joint city/county planning commissions and boards of zoning appeals.