The location of municipal boundaries plays a critical role in local government operations. They allow public safety agencies and public works departments to know which entity is responsible for providing services at an address. They also determine whether a given voter is eligible to vote in a municipal election, and for whom.
The map of a city’s boundaries comes with tax considerations as well. Cities with business license taxes need to know whether a business at a given address is inside the city, and therefore subject to inside or outside city tax rates. For sales taxes, cities need to know if an online purchase delivery is inside the city, and for local assessment fees, they would need to know if a ride purchased from a transportation network company like Uber or Lyft originated in the city.
Boundaries move in every case where a city annexes a property, so cities need to document and report annexations to state and local agencies to ensure everyone is working from the same map.
Reporting to the state
State law requires municipalities to notify four state-level entities of every property annexation:
- The office of the SC Secretary of State, which issues certificates of incorporation;
- The SC Department of Transportation, which needs information on who has maintenance responsibility for roads;
- The SC Department of Public Safety; and
- The SC Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, which draw lines for election districts and to determine Local Government Fund disbursements.
Historically, the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office has maintained the most accurate database of GIS boundary mapping in South Carolina. RFA posts its database of city and county boundaries online.
To ensure RFA has accurate data, cities and towns should regularly report their boundaries, districts and wards to RFA at least once every year even if no annexations have happened and the boundaries have not changed.
Reporting locally
Beyond the state law requirements, reporting annexations to local entities — including those within the municipality itself — can help with governmental coordination.
Cities should give up-to-date boundary information to all of these groups:
- All municipal departments, preventing incorrect assumptions by city staff about whether a property is in the city;
- The county government, which helps coordinate services, and especially emergency services, properly;
- The county board of voter registration, so it may assign election districts to new annexations; and
- Utility franchisees, so franchise fees can be levied correctly.
Many cities and towns now use their websites to provide boundary maps and zoning maps to help get data into the hands of contractors, engineers or others who may need it.
Officials can find the RFA boundaries database online. For discrepancies or other concerns, contact RFA at mapping@rfa.sc.gov or 803.734.3793.