What is a FILOT and why do we have them?

If you attend Greenville County Council meetings, you’ll typically see several items on the agenda related to Fee in Lieu of Tax agreement. Your eyes might glaze over at this point in the meeting or your ears might perk up wondering why someone might pay a fee instead of a tax. These agreements have been in the news twice just this year as Council rejected a Greer development project looking for a Fee in Lieu of Tax agreement and reversed course allowing a FILOT for another large development project. What are FILOTs, or Fee in Lieu of Tax agreements, why do they exist, and how do governments use them? To help us understand, we're joined by Mark Farris, President and CEO of Greenville Area Development Corporation, or GADC for short. GADC is a county chartered organization tasked with promoting and enhancing the economic growth of Greenville County and Mark joined GADC in 2014. Over his decades-long career, Mark and his teams have brought billions of economic investment to the communities he served along with tens of thousands of jobs. We hope you’ll find Mark's discussion of FILOTs in South Carolina's tax system helpful. Find Mark Farris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-farris-1778b6a4/ Scott Case Episode on Taxes: https://simplecivicsgreenvillecounty.org/property-taxes-in-greenville-county-an-overview-with-county-auditor-scott-case/  _ Produced by The Greenville Podcast Company.