City of Orangeburg pursues incentives for renovating historic buildings

“This is just another item that gives a tax break or tax credit to an individual or entity or an organization that is looking to renovate a building in downtown,” Assistant City Administrator John Singh said.

If council approves the change, the city could tax newly renovated historic buildings at their old assessed value instead of including the value of the renovations. The tax break could last up to 20 years.

The properties would have to be considered historic by either the state, county or city.

“We do want the county to provide the same incentive on the county level,” Singh said. He said the city will work with the county on the matter.

Council gave the ordinance the first of three required readings on Tuesday. Councilman Bernard Haire abstained.

Haire questioned if the ordinance would put pressure on property owners that may have a lack of resources to fix their buildings according to certain stipulations.

The incentive could save property owners thousands of dollars.

In one example, if the owner of a $117,000 building invested $40,000, he could save $7,860 over the 20-year life of the incentive.

In another case, if the owner of a $152,800 building invested $248,000, the owner could save $66,510 over 10 years.

City officials said more details of the ordinance will be provided upon second reading.