Briefs
by John Temple Ligon
Property taxes and parking fees According to CarolinaLiving.com, property taxes on a $400,000 home in Columbia come to $7,330, while in Charleston, $3,796. Charleston Mayor Joe Riley recently proposed a 4.4 percent property tax increase to pay for enhancements to the fire department and other expenditure increases. Riley also wants to raise parking fees by $0.50 an hour, boosting hourly use of a city parking garage from $1.50 to $2.

Home sales and home prices Compared to the same month last year, home sales in the Columbia area dropped five percent in October. The median sales price for a home in Columbia dipped slightly for October at $141,000, down 2.76 percent from October 2006. The Charlotte region is tied for the largest national home- price increase in September from the same month last year. Home prices in Charlotte rose 4.7 percent in September.

Coal The Virginia- based Americans for Balanced Energy Choices plans to spend up to $200,000 in S.C. on its pro- coal campaign. Charlotte- based Duke Energy received approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to build a coal- gasification plant in Edwardsport, Ind. The $2 billion, 630- megawatt plant will capture carbon emissions for storage underground. Santee- Cooper's pulverized coal- burning plant in southern Florence County is expected to cost $1 billion, and it won't capture carbon emissions for storage underground.

Fed Economic conditions in the Federal Reserve's fifth district (Carolinas, Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland, and most of West Virginia) weakened in October and early November as retail sales and a weak housing market dragged down minor gains in other areas.

Tracking the track Lowe's Motor Speedway in the Charlotte suburb of Concord won't move after all, said Bruton Smith of locally based Speedway Motorsports Inc. The city of Concord and the county of Cabarrus joined forces with the state to put together $80 million in incentives. The Concord track is good for $309 million in economic impact annually.

Suit on the coast The S.C. Coastal Conservation League is suing the Charleston District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in federal court, alleging federal permits issued for a cargo container terminal and a road connecting the terminal to Interstate 26 were based on studies that underestimated the full environmental impacts of the $600 million project.

Jobs South Carolina lost 2,900 manufacturing jobs in October, pushing the state's jobless rate up to 5.8 percent, the fourth increase in the past five months.

Local presidential campaign spending Leading up to the January primaries, presidential candidates are expected to spend up to $7 million on television and radio ads in S.C. So far in the state, the campaigns have spent about $2.5 million, of which Republican Mitt Romney spent $2 million. The Republican primary in S.C. is scheduled for January 19 and the Democratic primary, January 26.

Charlotte's urban core leads by example Founders Hall in uptown Charlotte, part of Bank of America's headquarters complex on North Tryon Street, is undergoing a $40 million makeover. Ground- level retail will be added. The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2009 in time for the opening of the $60 million Ritz- Carlton hotel.

Insurance savings Ending the 20- year practice of awarding the contract to the same company without competitive bidding, the S.C. Budget and Control Board recently gave a North Carolina company control of South Carolina's $20.8 million catastrophic windstorm insurance policy. For more than 20 years, the state Insurance Reserve Fund's longtime broker, Competitive Insurance Group LLC, annually received $2.5 million in commissions. The state's new broker, Willis Insurance, will work on a fee- for- service basis over three years for $415,000 per year and provide the same services as Competitive Insurance Group LLC, resulting in a savings of about $6.3 million for the three years.