Could a South Carolina town add nuisance cleanup costs to a property owner's municipal tax notice?

Plain-English summary

In December 2003, South Carolina's Attorney General said a town could put authorized nuisance-abatement costs on a municipal tax notice. The statute allowed a municipality to require correction of rubbish or unsightly property conditions, arrange for the work under an ordinance, make the cost a lien on the real estate, and collect it in the same manner as municipal taxes.

The AG applied an earlier opinion construing similar collection language for the cost of dealing with unfit dwellings. It concluded that the town clerk could include the cleanup charge on a tax notice.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2003. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Historical summary

Town officials and tax collectors

The opinion treated the statutory phrase “collectable in the same manner as municipal taxes” as authorizing the same collection route, including tax notices. The charge still had to arise from correction of conditions authorized by the property-upkeep provision.

Property owners

The statute quoted in the opinion provided for notice of conditions needing correction and municipal action under an ordinance. It also permitted the resulting cost to become a real-estate lien.

Common questions

Could the clerk put a cleanup charge on the tax notice?
Yes. That was the precise collection method the AG approved.

Did the opinion make every town expense collectible as a tax?
No. It addressed costs of correcting property conditions under the identified statute.

Could the cost become a property lien?
The provision quoted by the AG said the municipality could provide for that result by ordinance.

Background and statutory framework

Cheraw's administrator asked how the town could collect the cost of removing rubbish or abating a nuisance. The AG compared the property-upkeep provision with a similar statute concerning unfit dwellings and adopted the earlier opinion's plain-language reading of tax-style collection.

Citations and references

The opinion discussed S.C. Code Ann. Section 5-7-80 and S.C. Code Ann. Section 31-15-30.

Official title

Referencing the provisions of S.C. Code Ann. Section 5-7-80 which provides for ordinances relating to the upkeep of property within a municipality so as to require that the owner of municipal property keep the property free of rubbish and other unsightly material. Specifically, questioning whether such provision authorizes the city to collect the cost incurred in the same manner as the city collects delinquent municipal taxes.

Requester

Mr. J. William Taylor, Cheraw Town Administrator

Source

• Landing page: https://www.scag.gov/opinions/opinions-archive/december-17-2003/
• Original PDF: https://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/03dec-17-Taylor.pdf

Original opinion text

The State of South Carolina

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
HENRY McMAsTER

December 17, 2003

ATTORNEY GENERAL

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Mr. J. William Taylor
Cheraw Town Administrator
Post Office Box 219
Cheraw, South Carolina 29520

Dear Mr. Taylor:
In a letter to this office you referenced the provisions of S.C. Code Ann. Section 5-7-80 which provides for ordinances relating to the upkeep of property within a municipality so as to require that the owner of municipal property keep the property free of rubbish and other unsightly material. The statute further provides that: The municipality may provide by ordinance for notification to the owner of conditions needing correction, may require that the owner take such action as is necessary to correct the conditions, may provide the terms and conditions under which employees of the municipality or any person employed for that purpose may go upon the property to correct the conditions and may provide that the cost of such shall become a lien upon the real estate and shall be collectable in the same manner as municipal taxes.

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(emphasis added). Noting such emphasized portion of Section 5-7-80, you asked whether it is lawful to place removal or nuisance abatement costs onto municipal tax notices for collection by the town clerk. A prior opinion of this office dated March 17, 1998 dealt with a similar question regarding S.C. Code Ann. Section 31-15-30 which deals with dwellings within a municipality deemed unfit for human inhabitation. Subsection 6 of such provision states: That the amount of the cost of such repairs, alterations or improvements, vacating and closing, or removal or demolition by the public officer shall be a lien upon the real property upon which such cost was incurred and shall be collectible in the same manner as municipal taxes. The question was raised as to whether such provision authorizes the city to collect the costs incmTed in the same manner as the city collects delinquent municipal taxes. That opinion indicated that

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POST OFFICE B ox 11549

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COLUMBIA , S.C . 29211-1549

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TELEPHONE: 803-734-3970

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FACSIMILE: 803-253-6283

Mr. Taylor
Page2
December 17, 2003

In interpreting a statute, the primary objective is to ascertain and effectuate the intent of the Legislature... The words of a statute must be given their plain and ordinary meaning without resort to subtle or forced construction to limit or expand the statute's operation ... Where the terms of a statute are clear and unambiguous, the court must apply those terms according to their literal meaning. f

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The opinion concluded that as to the portion of the statute indicating that the cost "shall be collectible in the same manner as municipal taxes",
... based upon theplainmeaningoftheterms used, ... (the statute) ... grants the City... the authority to collect the costs incurred thereunder in the same manner as it collects taxes, including delinquent ad valorem property taxes. Consistent with such, in the opinion of this office, a city may collect the costs associated with correction of conditions authorized by Section 5-7-80 in the same manner as it collects municipal taxes. This would include placing these costs onto municipal tax notices by the town clerk. With kind regards, I am, Very truly yours,

(fJdti~~Charles H. Richardson
Senior Assistant Attorney General