South Carolina General Assembly
115th Session, 2003-2004

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Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

S. 1125

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Senators Moore and Ritchie
Document Path: l:\council\bills\swb\5977cm04.doc

Introduced in the Senate on April 1, 2004
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary

Summary: Municipalities, annexation

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
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    4/1/2004  Senate  Introduced and read first time SJ-7
    4/1/2004  Senate  Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-7

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

4/1/2004

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTION 5-3-150, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE ANNEXATION BY A MUNICIPALITY OF PROPERTY THAT IS CONTIGUOUS TO IT SO AS TO LOWER THE PERCENTAGE OF FREEHOLDERS WHO MUST FILE A PETITION WITH THE MUNICIPALITY TO HAVE THE PROPERTY ANNEXED, AND TO LOWER THE PERCENTAGE OF THE ASSESSED VALUATION OF REAL PROPERTY THAT MUST BE OWNED BY THOSE FREEHOLDERS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Section 5-3-150(1) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"(1)    Any area or property which is contiguous to a municipality may be annexed to the municipality by filing with the municipal governing body a petition signed by seventy-five sixty percent or more of the freeholders, as defined in Section 5-3-240, owning at least seventy-five sixty percent of the assessed valuation of the real property in the area requesting annexation. Upon the agreement of the governing body to accept the petition and annex the area, and the enactment of an ordinance declaring the area annexed to the municipality, the annexation is complete. No member of the governing body who owns property or stock in a corporation owning property in the area proposed to be annexed is eligible to vote on the ordinance. This method of annexation is in addition to any other methods authorized by law; however, this property may not be annexed unless the following has been complied with: (1) the petition must be dated before the first signature is affixed to it and all necessary signatures must be obtained within six months from the date of the petition; (2) the petition and all signatures to it are open for public inspection at any time on demand of any resident of the municipality or area affected by the proposed annexation or by anyone owning property in the area to be annexed; (3) the petition must state the act or code section pursuant to which the proposed annexation is to be accomplished; (4) the petition must contain a description of the area to be annexed and there must be attached to the petition a plat of the area to be annexed; (5) the municipality or any resident of it and any person residing in the area to be annexed or owning real property of it may institute and maintain a suit in the court of common pleas, and in that suit the person may challenge and have adjudicated any issue raised in connection with the proposed or completed annexation; (6) not less than thirty days before acting on an annexation petition, the annexing municipality must give notice of a public hearing by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the community, by posting the notice of the public hearing on the municipal bulletin board, and by written notification to the taxpayer of record of all properties within the area proposed to be annexed, to the chief administrative officer of the county, to all public service or special purpose districts, and all fire departments, whether volunteer or full time. This public hearing must include a map of the proposed annexation area, a complete legal description of the proposed annexation area, a statement as to what public services are to be assumed or provided by the municipality, and the taxes and fees required for these services. The notice must include a projected timetable for the provision or assumption of these services."

SECTION    2.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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