Committee asks council to seed affordable-housing fund to subsidize impact fees

Beaufort County's Natural Resources/Public Facilities Committee voted Feb. 3 to ask full council to create or reactivate an Affordable Housing special revenue fund and to amend the current budget to seed that fund with $30,000. The move is intended to allow the county to subsidize development impact fees for qualifying affordable housing projects under a program adopted in 2015.

Deputy County Attorney Dylan Kidd told the committee the South Carolina statute allows local governments to exempt all or part of impact fees if a project is determined to create affordable housing and the development’s share of system improvements is funded from a revenue source other than impact fees. County code (chapter 82, section 33) contains a matching provision, sometimes described locally as the “discount program.” Kidd said the county ordinance mirrors the state law and that the county must pay on behalf of the qualifying payor rather than simply waiving the fee.

Assistant County Administrator (referred to in the meeting as Mr. Atkinson) told the committee the county created an Affordable Housing Fund in 2015–2016 but the account dropped out of subsequent budgets and currently has no balance. Staff recommended seeding the fund with $30,000 so the program can function this fiscal year. Atkinson provided estimated per-home subsidy amounts of roughly $4,000–$5,000 depending on the house size and location.

Under the existing ordinance’s subsidy table, households under 60% of area median income (AMI) would qualify for a 100% subsidy of their impact fee; households at 60–80% AMI would qualify for a 60% subsidy; households above 80% AMI receive no subsidy under the current code. Atkinson said staff can bring recommendations for any expansion of the program (for example, different treatment above 80% AMI) during a future budget process but tracking individual household incomes for additional subsidies would be administratively complex.

Committee members discussed funding options. One member objected to using council contingency funds; others noted the option of reestablishing the special revenue fund and budgeting in future years. On a roll-call, the committee recorded five yes votes and two no votes (Passamont: Yes; McAllen: Yes; Dawson: Yes; Glover: Yes; Chair Howard: Yes; Reitz: No; Tabernick: No) and the motion passed to forward the $30,000 funding request to full council for action.

Next steps: the measure goes to full council, which must enact any budget amendment and formally restore or create the special revenue fund before staff can process subsidy applications.