News Release

Updated:Town of Hilton Head Island keeps its promise, lowers millage rate for homeowners

August 16, 2023

The Hilton Head Island Town Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to lower its millage rate from 23.1 mills to 21.4 mills. This is fulfilling a promise kept by Council when it passed the 2023-24 budget back in June. 

The State of South Carolina requires that real property undergo a reassessment every five years to reflect changes in market value. When property values increase during this time, the law requires that local governments roll back their millage rates in order to remain “revenue neutral.”

The Town does not want to benefit from a “windfall” of extra money at the expense of its residents, so it lowered its millage rate to comply with this requirement. 

For owner-occupied homes, one mill equals $4 in taxes for every $100,000 of appraised value. For commercial properties or non-owner-occupied homes (second homes), the rate is $6 in taxes for every $100,000 of appraised value.

This millage rate reduction ensures that Hilton Head homeowners are treated fairly during the real property reassessment process and that the Town’s budget will remain balanced.

“We (the Town) want to mitigate the impacts to residents due to the value of their homes increasing by reducing our millage rate” said Town Manager Marc Orlando. “The good news is this reduction in millage rate will not affect the Town’s high quality of services they are currently receiving.”

This action continues a recent trend by Town Council designed to help local residents. Hilton Head Town Council voted previously to reduce the millage rate by an 18% for the 2022-23 budget from 28.1 mills to 23.10 mills.