HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — Horry County homeowners got the dreaded property tax bill recently, and some say the increase is extreme.
The increase shouldn’t be a surprise, considering it’s a reassessment year and the value of many parcels doubled since the last assessment.
Around 270,000 assessment letters went out to residents in July, all showing a change in their taxable property value.
But recently retired Ruby ‘l Carrllo said she didn’t think her bill would be this high.
“How can you keep going up on taxes on someone who has a fixed budget? I’m not going to be getting any extra money but I’m going to have to be paying out money. So eventually this is going to be forcing some people out of their homes,” said Carrllo.
Back in July, the Horry County Tax Assessor told ABC15 that South Carolina mandates the maximum increase on your bill, meaning your bill can’t be raised more than 15%.
Just because the value of your house went up doesn’t mean you’ll see a massive increase.
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Antoinette Tocheck is a Horry County homeowner and she said her increase felt massive and that she’s never seen her bill this high.
Tocheck said, “And I’m one of the first houses built, I’m one of the first owners in the neighborhood.”
According to the county’s website, if you didn’t receive a notice this summer, you have until January 15 to appeal the tax bill.
Resident, Lisa Dequarto, is doing just that. She told ABC 15 she had the same issue with her taxes last year.
“They were supposed to have been corrected this year. Last year they also charged me the incorrect fee but I investigated too late in the year so they just said pay that for now and we’ll correct it next year, well they didn’t correct it. It was still 3900 dollars,” said Dequarto.
She said she contacted the county’s tax assessor office as soon as she saw the error, and said they responded quickly and were helpful.
Dequarto said, “I’m content now. Once I get the new tax bill at 800 to 900 dollars, I’ll be happy then.”