Legal team tells Bluffton council TIF has driven decades of growth; process outlined for future changes

Frannie Heizer, a senior partner with law firm Berne Furman, gave the council a historical overview of the Town of Bluffton's tax‑increment financing district and credited the vehicle for enabling public projects without increasing millage. Heizer said the TIF's initial assessed base was small and that it has grown dramatically over time.

"That initial assessed value that is the foundation of every TIF was $16,000,000," Heizer said, citing the district's first valuation and noting later issuance of debt. She described the 2004 statutory changes that allowed agricultural/undeveloped land to qualify and removed the previous 5% municipal size cap, enabling Bluffton's atypically large TIF boundaries.

Michael Season, a law partner who followed Heizer, walked council through the procedural steps required by South Carolina law to create or amend a TIF: prepare or update a redevelopment plan describing the district and proposed projects; adopt the plan by ordinance with two readings; publish public‑hearing notices (generally 15–30 days before the hearing); and, where borrowing is needed, adopt a bond ordinance or pursue private placement. Season said the town's original plan was adopted in 2005 and has been amended multiple times, including in 2022.

Council members asked about who benefits and about security for bonds. Season explained that earlier bond series were secured in part by municipal improvement district assessments while more recent series have relied solely on incremental tax revenues. He said that if council authorized new debt in the future, it could follow the same approach used in recent financing, with bonds secured by incremental revenues.

The presentation framed the TIF as a financing tool that has funded roads and utilities to unlock private development; it left next steps to council, which could direct staff to return with amendments, boundary changes, or potential new projects for public consideration.