By Dan McCue
Staff Writer

Charleston County Council on Tuesday approved a fee-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with a mystery company that will soon be investing $38 million, including $9.7 million for a new manufacturing plant to be located in the Palmetto Commerce Park in North Charleston.

The project, code named "Project SG Ventures," is described in council documents as a leading U.S.-based manufacturer that has been actively engaged in discussions with county Economic Development Director Steve Dykes since February, and chose the commerce park site after considering a number of locations throughout the Southeast.

The company plans to employ as many as 80 people here at an average salary of $24 an hour. The council documents describe the company as having an annual payroll of about $3.84 million.

"This is a big opportunity," said Dykes, who declined to disclose any further information about the company, citing confidentiality agreements. "It's a manufacturer, requiring a healthy head count of employees, paying good salaries and committing to making a significant capital investment in our community."

In order to facilitate the relocation of the firm, Dykes committed to the use of fee-in-lieu-of-taxes, a "multi-county park" designation for the project, and a special source revenue credit to the owner/landowner, an industrial contractor currently identified only as "Project Gwinn."

The fee-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement for Project SG Ventures features an assessment ratio of 6%, with millage fixed at the current rate of 253.6 over the next 20 years. Council was told the tax revenues from the project are estimated to be $5.22 million during that time period.

A related fee-in-lieu-of taxes agreement with Project Gwinn will also feature an assessment ratio of 6% over the next 20 years.

Also provided is a special source revenue credit equal to 6.8% of fee-in-lieu-of-taxes revenues for Project Gwinn to address several public infrastructure, site and building construction costs. This special source revenue credit applies to the first four years that fee-in-lieu-of-taxes payments are received and has been capped at $357,000.

Although Tuesday’s action effectively commits the county to the agreements, the council will have to revisit the matter in the form of a formal ordinance shortly before construction on the project begins.

Dykes predicted the company’s identity would likely be revealed sometime in the fall, although he hastened to add that at this point, that was only a guess.

In related action, the county council also endorsed fee-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements for the Tenet Healthcare Corp. and TWL Precision Inc., the British automotive parts supplier, which recently announced it is locating its North American headquarters here.

Because the TWL Precision project is further along in development, its fee-in-lieu-of-taxes ordinance was put on a fast track, with county council performing a first reading of the ordinance last night.

The fee-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement tied to TWL’s construction of a new $25,000-square-foot facility in the Palmetto Commerce Park features an assessment ratio of 6%, with millage fixed at 253.6 over the next 20 years. The company has said its total investment in the new facility is about $8 million and will create about 76 jobs averaging $20 an hour.

The proposed Tenet Healthcare Corp. project involves replacing East Cooper Hospital’s current Mount Pleasant facility with a new state-of-the-art, 140-bed hospital. The project, which still needs to be approved by Tenet’s board of directors, represents a $120 million investment.

If the project proceeds as proposed, the hospital would add about 200 additional employees to its current staff of 630, with average salaries ranging from $25 to $40 an hour.

The question is whether the Tenet board will allow the project to move forward or opt to support other projects in other communities. County documents said East Cooper officials approached the council about a fee-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement in order to “level the playing field” among Tenet’s competing projects.

Under the deal endorsed last night, the county is offering Tenet a fee-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement featuring an assessment ratio of 6%, with millage fixed at 199.4 over the next 20 years. Tenet will also receive a special source revenue credit equal to 5% of fee-in-lieu-of-taxes revenue to address infrastructure and construction issues. This amount has been capped at $1.11 million.

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