Proposed federal ‘opportunity zones’ to offer tax incentives to spur private investment

The incentives will help areas that have been overlooked for investment, Orangeburg County Development Commission Executive Director Gregg Robinson said.

“It helps those census tracts get attention,” he said.

South Carolina sent a list of 135 sites in each of the state’s 46 counties to the federal government last week to encourage investments in housing and business in low-income communities. The proposed areas could be approved within the next 30 days.

Gov. Henry McMaster says he picked the sites to get private investment and economic growth to areas that need it the most.

The opportunity zones are a development program established as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. A federal tax incentive will be available for reinvesting unrealized capital gains in the opportunity zones.

Orangeburg County

Holly Hill Mayor William Johnson said the federal incentives are appropriately named, since they open potential opportunities for the town.

“We are certainly looking forward to it being something that will bring businesses back to life that have gone away,” he said. “It will be what we need to revitalize and go to the next step for our town. Without it, we have been struggling.”

It’s an especially good opportunity for eastern Orangeburg County as Volvo prepares to open a manufacturing plant in Berkeley County just miles away from Holly Hill.

“I am excited about it and what it can do for our town and our citizens,” he said.

There are four census tracts within Orangeburg County that could become opportunity zones, including the areas:

• From Stonewall Jackson Boulevard to its northern boundary of Russell Street. The area’s eastern boundary is roughly along Clarendon Street and its western boundary is the North Fork of the Edisto River.

• The northwestern part of the city with its southern boundary being Russell Street and its northern boundary being roughly the Prince of Orange Mall.

• Portions south of the city of Orangeburg with the Edisto River serving as the zone’s western boundary. The zone includes the town of Rowesville in addition to areas south of U.S. 301, and goes east to about Four Holes Swamp.

• The town of Holly Hill to the Dorchester and Berkeley county lines, as far east as the Sandy Run River, as far north as Branchdale Highway and as far west as Target Swamp.

Calhoun County

In Calhoun County, the lone census tract that could be included runs through the center of the county from Orangeburg County to the Richland County line.

Calhoun County Development Commission Executive Director Pat Black said the tax incentives will take time to make a big impact, but “over a period time hopefully we will tell a difference between unemployment rates and the workforce participation rate.”

“There are still two South Carolinas: rural and urban,” Black said. “Hopefully this designation will afford us the opportunity for that remaining 44 percent (not in the labor force) to upgrade their skills when the opportunities do present themselves that they will take advantage of them.”

Bamberg County

One of Bamberg County’s two census tracts submitted to the federal government includes the city of Denmark, with the northern boundary going up to the Orangeburg County line and the western boundary to the Barnwell County line.

Denmark Mayor Gerald Wright said tax incentives would go a long way to helping the city come back.

“It can only be helpful,” he said.

There are a number of vacant buildings in the city’s downtown district, Wright said. “Anything that would provide incentives for additional investment would be welcome and appreciated.”

Wright says he welcomes both McMaster’s proposal and Congressman James Clyburn’s proposal to use federal funds as part of a 10-20-30 formula.

Clyburn’s initiative would allow 10 percent of federal money to go to communities where 20 percent or more of the population has been stuck beneath the poverty level for the last 30 years.

McMaster

The other tract includes the town of Bamberg along the Orangeburg County line to the Colleton County line. The southern boundary reaches as far as Ehrhardt Road with the eastern boundary roughly hugging the Little Salkehatchie River.