South Carolina Looking for Robin Hood, or a Few Angels

SUMMERTON, S.C. — An angel passing over this hardscrabble burg wouldn’t mistake it for Bedford Falls, the quaint town in Frank Capra’s Christmas classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

But Summerton, with its mix of modest homes, large Victorians and mom-and-pop businesses, seems frozen in roughly the same era.

With only 975 people, 64% of whom are either on welfare or unemployed, the town’s demographics do not call out to fast-food franchises or motel and theater chains to locate here, let alone the kind of high-paying, labor-intensive industries that have transformed the economy of the western portion of the state.

Summerton is like most of the rest of South Carolina’s low-country region: rural, undeveloped and poor--and sorely in need of an angel.

Now towns like Summerton have been given a lift by a law the state General Assembly passed last year. Although it has been criticized by wealthier parts of the state as an ill-conceived Robin Hood-type plan to boost poor districts by unfairly taking from the rich, the Rural Development Act was championed by Gov. David Beasley as an attempt to level the playing field.

The law helps poor areas, which have been crippled by the closing of textile and apparel plants, by giving companies economic incentives to locate there. Many of the least-developed areas are in the southern portion of the state, not far from affluent tourist destinations, such as Charleston and Hilton Head Island.

Among the law’s provisions: Companies locating in the least-developed counties may receive larger tax breaks than those locating in developed counties, and wealthier districts must contribute to a fund that will be used to make infrastructure improvements in the least-developed areas.

“It’ll be a great advantage,” said Mark Myers, Summerton’s town administrator. Summerton is in Clarendon County, which has been designated as among the least developed in the state.

Economic disparity between rural and urban areas is not limited to South Carolina. Surveys taken in the late 1980s by the Corporation for Enterprise Development, an economic-development think tank based in Washington, showed that “the nation’s rural areas had not enjoyed the prosperity born of the vaunted 1980s economic recovery.”

The Corporation for Enterprise Development’s 1996 Report Card for the States gives South Carolina an F in equity, meaning that wide gaps exist between rural and metropolitan areas in employment growth, average earnings and other economic measures.

Beasley, South Carolina’s first governor in 16 years who is not from the booming upstate region, proposed the Rural Development Act as a way to narrow the gap.

Myers is hoping that the new law, aided by Summerton’s proximity to Interstate 95 and a large lake popular with fishermen, will help it attract businesses.

But even within Clarendon County, Summerton is at a disadvantage because it is so small. It’s hard to lure restaurants and services when there are larger towns with more customers just up the road. Many residents would be happy if the law merely led to a choice of local burger joints. Right now, except for a Dairy Queen just outside of town, the nearest place to buy a hamburger is in Manning, 10 miles away.

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But other parts of the state are not happy with the new law.

Lexington County, designated as moderately developed, began feeling consequences even before the law took effect. The Michelin tire company had signed a deal to build a $280-million plant there. The county had agreed to tax the company at a 6% rate instead of the normal 10.5% property tax rate charged to businesses. Michelin came back with a request that the rate be changed after 10 years to 4%.

But after the assembly passed the Rural Development Act, giving the least-developed counties the authority to tax at 4% and other advantages, the company requested an immediate 4% tax rate. County officials felt compelled to comply.