Court Opinion

ID: 9623614
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:38:00.379974+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:32.360959
License: Public Domain

*408Ness, Justice
(dissenting):
The majority surprisingly holds that the adoption of Florence County Ordinance #14-82-83 is unconstitutional because it is not for a valid public purpose. This holding is contrary to this Court’s prior decisions, thus I disagree and would affirm.
The majority is correct in that the validity of this Ordinance hinges solely on the issue of public purpose. The majority, however, is in error in relating the issue of public purpose to taxpayer liability and further, in refusing to apply the clear rule established in Elliott v. McNair, 250 S. C. 75, 156 S. E. (2d) 421 (1967). The majority’s attempt to circumvent and distinguish Elliott is not persuasive.
Industrial development in this state as concluded in Elliott v. McNair, is valid public purpose for the issuance of bonds by a political subdivision. The public purpose issue here is identical to that same issue decided in Elliott and, further, is identical to the public purpose served continuously by the South Carolina Development Board.
The majority finds that the public benefits to be derived from the instant bond issuance are speculative and that private industry, not the public, will be the primary beneficiaries. I disagree.
The record is replete with uncontradicted facts establishing that Florence County is greatly in need of major economic development. There are nearly 6,000 unemployed people in Florence County, and the Pee Dee region of the state is experiencing a 13.7% unemployment rate, while the state overall is 10.9%. Florence County’s ranking in per capita income in the state dropped from 9th in 1974 to 19th in 1980, and the increase in the number of manufacturing jobs over the past four years amounts to a mere 18. In the past 10 years, Florence County has managed to locate only three new industries that employ 100 or more people.
The use of the proceeds from these bonds as provided by the County Council will be used by Florence County to purchase a tract of land and install utilities, water, sewer, electricity, roadways and railways therein. In turn, the property of the Industrial Park “will be sold to industry at a cost that will cover the County’s investment,” including the cost of improvements. I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that private businesses will be spared analysis costs, costs of roads, sewer, water and electricity facilities. (Tr. p. 95).
*409Based upon the experience of other industrial parks in South Carolina and other states, this investment will pay for itself many times in terms of tax dollars collected, jobs created and additional wealth pumped into the local economy by manufacturing payrolls. (Tr. p. 74). Moreover, the record reveals “two industries are currently considering the Florence area only because of the site offered by the proposed project. These two firms would represent over 750 jobs. These jobs are not a possibility unless the facility is developed.” (Tr. p. 95).
If the benefits to the public here, such as the creation of jobs and the betterment of Florence County’s economic standards, are so indirect so as to render this Ordinance unconstitutional, then the appropriation of monies by our General Assembly to fund the State Development Board for the purpose of encouraging and soliciting new industries to locate in South Carolina is likewise unconstitutional. I completely disagree with this analysis and holding by the majority.
The General Assembly has, for several decades, appropriated the state tax monies to the Development Board for the sole purpose of industrial development. The reasoning being that attraction of industry to the state will employ our labor force and utilize our natural resources which increases our tax bases and incomes and thereby improves the state’s overall quality of living.
Under the Home Rule Act, § 4-9-30(5), Code of Laws of South Carolina (1976 as amended), the General Assembly has authorized the county governments to levy ad valorem taxes and make appropriations for economic development. Thus, Florence County Council could simply increase taxes to provide funding for this project. This is the method employed by our General Assembly in funding the State Development Board. On the other hand, the issuance of these proposed bonds will pass on all of the cost incurred in developing the industrial park to the industries located there so as to avoid any unnecessary increase in taxes to the County taxpayers. There is no difference in the degree of speculation involved in the bonds issuance as proposed by Florence County here and that of the General Assembly in appropriating monies to the State Development Board.
The opinion in Elliott v. McNair, supra, authored by Mr. Justice Moss, is conclusive.
*410There is no doubt of the fact that the economy of South Carolina has undergone a startling change in the last few years. The inhabitants of this state were for many years dependent almost entirely upon agriculture and related industries for their livelihood. Agriculture no longer provides the livelihood of those who only a few years ago were almost entirely supported by it. The Act here under consideration recites that South Carolina has promoted industrial expansion and has actively supported the State Development Board, for which public moneys have been appropriated and through [sic] it has endeavored to promote the industrial development of the state for the welfare of its inhabitants. This has been done as a matter of state policy. It is the purpose of the Act to empower the governing bodies of the several counties of the state, under the terms and conditions of this Act, to provide such assistance and to that end to acquire, own, lease and dispose of properties, through which the industrial development of the state will be promoted, and trade developed by inducing manufacturing, and other commercial enterprises to locate in and remain in the state, and to utilize and employ the manpower, agricultural products and natural resources of the state. 156 S. E. (2d) 421 at 427. (Emphasis added.)
There is no county in this State to which this holding is more applicable than Florence County. Once one of our leading agricultural counties, Florence is suffering from the loss of j obs j ust as this Court noted our entire state was in Elliott v. McNair. The issuance of bonds in the present case is for the “public purpose” as established in Elliott v. McNair, and is “merely an expansion of the established legislative policy of improving the industrial climate of South Carolina in order to provide for the welfare and prosperity of its inhabitants....” 250 S. C. at 89, 156 S. E. (2d) 421.
If the acquisition of properties to promote industrial development in an area for the purpose of creating jobs and increasing the area’s overall standard of living are so indirect as to render this Ordinance unconstitutional in failing to meet the test for a valid public purpose, then the work of the State Development Board likewise cannot be held to be for a public purpose.
*411I would hold the issuance of bonds as provided in Ordinance #14-82-83 for the industrial development of Florence County is for a valid public and corporate purpose as required by Article X, Section 14 of our Constitution. To hold otherwise flies squarely in the face of this Court’s decision in Elliott v. McNair and our General Assembly’s actions in funding our State Development Board. I see no alternative but to affirm and would affirm.
Gregory, J., concurs.