Simple Civics: Greenville County

If you attend Greenville County Council meetings, you’ll typically see several items on the agenda related to Fee in Lieu of Tax agreement. Your eyes might glaze over at this point in the meeting or your ears might perk up wondering why someone...

Show Notes

If you attend Greenville County Council meetings, you’ll typically see several items on the agenda related to Fee in Lieu of Tax agreement. Your eyes might glaze over at this point in the meeting or your ears might perk up wondering why someone might pay a fee instead of a tax.

These agreements have been in the news twice just this year as Council rejected a Greer development project looking for a Fee in Lieu of Tax agreement and reversed course allowing a FILOT for another large development project.

What are FILOTs, or Fee in Lieu of Tax agreements, why do they exist, and how do governments use them?

To help us understand, we're joined by Mark Farris, President and CEO of Greenville Area Development Corporation, or GADC for short. GADC is a county chartered organization tasked with promoting and enhancing the economic growth of Greenville County and Mark joined GADC in 2014. Over his decades-long career, Mark and his teams have brought billions of economic investment to the communities he served along with tens of thousands of jobs.

We hope you’ll find Mark's discussion of FILOTs in South Carolina's tax system helpful.

Find Mark Farris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-farris-1778b6a4/

Scott Case Episode on Taxes: https://simplecivicsgreenvillecounty.org/property-taxes-in-greenville-county-an-overview-with-county-auditor-scott-case/ 

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Produced by The Greenville Podcast Company.

What is Simple Civics: Greenville County?

Trash pick up. EMS and 911 service. Roads and sidewalks. Business licenses. School bus routes. These are the things that impact your day-to-day life, and they are all part of local government. But hardly anyone pays attention to local government - until they have a problem. We want to change that. Simple Civics: Greenville County is here to help you learn about and get involved in your local government in Greenville County, South Carolina. Whether you live in downtown Greenville or Possum Kingdom, Marietta or Mauldin, Greer or the Golden Strip, if you care about your community, this podcast is for you. Join us every Tuesday for simple civics lessons on local government in Greenville County, South Carolina.