As Pickens County property owners are aware, the County prepared and issued County-wide reassessment notices on or about September 16, 2025. The county municipalities do not participate in the reassessment process. The County assessment notices are not tax bills. The County’s calculation of taxes are likely being mailed this month; however, the tax bills may be viewed now on the Assessor’s website by searching for individual properties.
All Pickens County municipalities were required to prepare and enact their 2025-2026 budgets to be effective July 1, 2025 - before reassessment notices were released by the County in September. When budgeting, a local government must determine the millage necessary to meet the anticipated costs of providing municipal services. “Millage” simply means the percentage rate of taxes. By budgeting carefully, the City of Liberty did not increase the city tax rate in either 2024 or 2025.
A comparison of the 2025 municipal tax rates in Pickens County reflects a variety of tax rate decisions based on the needs of the various communities. Easley increased its millage; Clemson, Central, and Six Mile decreased their millage; and Liberty, Norris, and Pickens had no increase or decrease in millage.
A broader look at municipal tax rates in the County from 2021 - 2025 shows the following total millage changes of those five years:
Clemson - increase of 12.4
Easley - increase of 10.5
Pickens - increase of 7
Liberty - increase of 6.9
Central - increase of 6.6
Norris - no increase or decrease
Six Mile - decrease of 0.6
There is no question but that goods and services for residents, and for services provided by the municipalities and the County itself, have increased in cost, and appear likely to continue to increase for the foreseeable future. However, there are some things property owners can do to try to lower their property tax bills resulting from the County reassessment.
First, as detailed on the back of the County reassessment notices, a property owner may file an appeal with the Assessor on or before 90 days from the date of the notice.
Second, the 6% property tax rate can be reduced to 4% for owner-occupied residences. Information can be obtained on the County Assessor’s website or by calling 864-898-5872.
Third, there can be exemptions from property taxes for property owners 65 and older (homestead exemption). Also, there may be exemptions available to active-duty military, disabled veterans, and surviving spouses, with possible retroactive application for previous tax years (potentially as far back as 2022). Finally, the agricultural exemption may provide significant reduction in property taxes for land used for agriculture and/or timber (at least 5 acres).
Information on the homestead exemption may be obtained from the County Auditor’s website or by calling 864-898-5895.
Information regarding the agricultural exemption may be obtained from the County Assessor’s website or by calling 864-898-5872.
Information regarding the remaining exemptions can be found on the SCDOR website, with applications made through MyDORWAY or by mail. The Assessor can also provide information on the various exemptions.