South Carolina § 4-10-445 - Application of proceeds to debt service.

§ 4-10-445. Application of proceeds to debt service.

(A) If a school district has provided in its resolution adopted pursuant to Section 4-10-425, that any portion of the proceeds of the sales and use tax allocated to it must be applied to debt service on general obligation bonds, the school district shall notify the county treasurer in writing no later than the first day of August of each year of the amount of sales and use taxes to be applied to offset the debt service millage levy for such general obligation bonds. The amount so specified must not exceed the amount of sales and use tax proceeds held by the county treasurer for the school district as of the June thirtieth immediately preceding such first day of August. The notice applies only to debt service payments to be made in the eighteen-month period following that June thirtieth.

Upon receipt of notice from a school district pursuant to this section, the county treasurer shall certify to the county auditor, by the fifteenth day of August of the amount of sales and use taxes designated by the school district for application to general obligation bond debt service payments. The county auditor shall reduce the next levy of property taxes required to pay debt service on such general obligation bonds by the amount of sales and use tax revenues certified as held by the county treasurer and designated by the school district for the purpose. This amount of sales and use taxes thereafter must not be released to the school district, but must be held by the county treasurer to pay debt service on general obligation bonds. However, any sales and use taxes held by the county treasurer in excess of the amounts designated by the school district for payment of debt service on such general obligation bonds must be expended as directed by the school district in accordance with this article. Any investment earnings derived from the sales and use tax must be expended as directed by the school district in accordance with this article. Any sales and use taxes allocated to a school district and not required to accomplish the purposes described in the resolution of the school district adopted pursuant to Section 4-10-425 may be applied to debt service on any general obligation bonds of the school district.

(B) If the school district presents the county treasurer with a surety bond or letter of credit from a financial institution which is rated in one of the two highest rating categories by two national ratings agencies, the county treasurer may treat the amount available under such surety as if it were taxes held by the county treasurer and shall provide the certificate called for in the foregoing paragraph to the auditor by including the amount available under the surety or letter of credit so long as such amount is not in excess of ninety percent of the actual sales and use taxes allocated to the school district in the prior fiscal year, or which would have been allocated if the sales and use tax had been in force for all of the prior fiscal year. The county auditor shall reduce the next levy of ad valorem property taxes required to pay debt service on bonds to which the tax is applicable by the amount so certified by the county treasurer. If the sales and use taxes thereafter allocated to the school district are less than the amount required to pay debt service on bonds during the eighteen-month period established in Section 4-10-445(A), the county treasurer shall draw upon the surety to provide for timely payment of such general obligation bonds. The costs of such surety, including any reimbursements for payments thereon, are deemed to be part of the debt service requirements for such general obligation bonds covered by such surety and may be paid from amounts available in the fund created in accordance with Section 4-10-445(A). Any reimbursement to the financial institution providing such surety may be paid from the fund from taxes collected in the year after any draw.

HISTORY: 2008 Act No. 316, SECTION 1, eff upon approval (became law without the Governor's signature on June 12, 2008).