BAMBERG - Bamberg County leaders are lauding a new multicounty revenue sharing agreement as a bold, visionary step toward being competitive in the high-stakes game of economic development.

The pact was approved by the county councils of Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell and Hampton over the last several months of 2008 and finalized in mid-December with a ceremonial signing by all four council chairmen.

Initiated by the SouthernCarolina Alliance to strengthen collaboration among the counties, the agreement provides an additional incentive to companies to bring their jobs to the region.

Kay Still, chairman of SouthernCarolina Alliance, the regional economic development organization representing the four counties, said the multi-county agreement now means that large or small economic development projects can locate anywhere within any of the four counties to qualify for an additional tax incentive. State law grants economic development projects done on a multicounty basis eligibility for a tax incentive of $1,000 per employee. Kay said prior to passage of the agreement, only projects located at one of the designated multicounty industrial parks could qualify for the extra incentive.

"This is truly an historic occasion for our region," she said. "We have been able to take cooperation and regionalism to an unprecedented level. We believe this agreement will help us create more and better jobs in the coming years, and that's what we're all about."

SouthernCarolina Alliance Marketing and Special Projects Manager Kay Maxwell says the tax revenue sharing provided to the four counties involved is based on certain calculations.

"The multicounty tax revenue will be shared on all qualified multicounty projects," Maxwell said. "The revenue sharing formula depends on the size of the project and is adjusted for those over $20 million to follow a 40/20/20/20 formula. That means that the development's host county will receive 40 percent of the resulting tax revenue and the other three counties will receive 20 percent."

Chris Wilson, who saw the agreement take shape during his tenure as Bamberg County Council chairman, says this agreement affords his county a regional opportunity for economic development and additional tax revenue.

"There are other counties in South Carolina that are doing this kind of revenue sharing agreement, but ours involves four counties," Wilson said. "That's what makes this unique. Right now any tax revenue generated by this agreement will go as general revenue money in Bamberg County. However, it's up to each individual county as to how they want to spend these funds. County Council can make a decision at any future point to earmark some percentage of the additional revenue for special county projects."

Ronnie Maxwell, Bamberg County Chamber of Commerce Board chairman, says the revenue sharing agreement helps make the area globally competitive.

"This enables Bamberg County to further expand our tax base by benefitting from the recruitment of industries in all four counties through the multicounty tax revenue agreement," he said. "This is an opportunity to reduce the tax burden on our local retail businesses and individuals. In hard economic times, our county council will be struggling to find ways to fund county services. This will create a new revenue stream from the industrial recruitment successes in all four counties."

New Bamberg County Council Chairman Clair Guess said the agreement is indicative of the growing cooperation between the four counties to benefit the approximately 72,000 who reside in the region.

"All four counties share a lot of the same workforce," Guess said. "People who live in one county often travel to work in another. A further evolution of this collaboration is that it provides the bedrock for a much grander scheme involving sharing on all sorts of services, such as fire protection."

"We are just anxious to play a larger role in regionalism as a success strategy," he said.

T&D Staff Writer Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at psarata@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5540. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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