McCullough ▪ Khan ▪ Appel along with Richardson, Patrick, Westbrook & Brickman filed a lawsuit in May of 2015 alleging Berkeley County collected approximately $12 million in impact fees from developers since 2006, but only spent roughly $1.9 million within the time period specified by state law. The controversial program was terminated in 2014 and replaced by a half-cent transportation sales tax.
The case was class action certified in December 2015, and the parties reached a settlement in the Spring of 2016. As part of the settlement, the County agreed to pay $6,424,811.30 towards refunding eligible property owners. After notice of the preliminary settlement approval was sent to approximately 4,200 class members, Ninth Circuit Judge R. Markley Dennis, Jr. finalized the class action settlement agreement on June 29, 2016.
State law requires local governments spend impact fees within three years of the project’s scheduled completion date or refund current owners of property upon which the impact fees were paid. The lawsuit alleged the county did not update its capital improvement plan, which schedules impact fee expenditures, and failed to perform annual program reviews. Both actions are required by state law.
The impact fee program had been criticized by County officials in recent years as bad for small businesses and a “job killer” because it raised the cost of development. Berkeley County Supervisor Bill Peagler called the fees “outrageous” during the 2014 election and Dan Davis, the outgoing county supervisor, said the fees were “one of the worst things that Berkeley County has ever done.”
Our firm is incredibly pleased with this result achieved on behalf of Berkeley County residents and businesses. It is certainly the largest impact fee refund case in South Carolina history, and amongst the largest nation-wide.
To learn more about this case, check out these article(s):
