Expansion project expected to add over 700 jobs in Florence County

On Thursday the Florence County Council moved forward with a fee-in-lieu-of-tax agreement with the yet-to-be-named developer, meaning there will be a 6 percent tax on the development rather than the usual 10 percent.

“As always, we’re moving right along,” he said. “We always like to take care of our existing industries.”

Caudle added that construction on the expansion will likely start this year, though dates have not been set by the developer.

This project comes after several major employers announced job-creating expansions of their operations in Florence County in the past year.

Honda of South Carolina announced a $45 million, 115,000-square-foot expansion, and McCall Farms announced a $23 million investment and General Electric announced a $40 million expansion.

The council approved a yearly $5 “system fee” increase per vehicle in the county to go toward road maintenance. This raises the fee from $30 per vehicle every year to $35 per vehicle.

Caudle said this fee hasn’t been raised in about 20 years, and an increase was necessary to continue funding rural road work in the county.

“It’s not that we want to raise it, but with the significant amounts of dirt road and drainage issues we’ve had in the last few years, we have to do something,” he said. “Our goal is to improve the roads.”