(1) "Alternative payment method" means fee payments as provided in Section 12-44-50(A)(3).
(2) "Commencement date" means the last day of the property tax year during which economic development property is placed in service, except that this date must not be later than the last day of the property tax year which is three years from the year in which the county and the sponsor enter into a fee agreement.
(3) Reserved.
(4) "County" means the county or counties in which the project is proposed to be located. A project may be located in more than one county, subject to the provisions of Section 12-44-40(G).
(5) "County council" means the governing body of the county in which the economic development property is located, except as specifically provided by Section 12-44-40(G).
(6) "Department" means the South Carolina Department of Revenue.
(7) "Economic development property" means each item of real and tangible personal property comprising a project which satisfies the provisions of Section 12-44-40(C) and other requirements of this chapter and becomes subject to a fee agreement. That property, other than replacement property qualifying under Section 12-44-60, must be placed in service by the end of the investment period.
(8) "Enhanced investment" means a project which results in a total investment by a sponsor of:
(a) at least two hundred million dollars, which when added to the previous investments, results in a total investment of at least four hundred million dollars, and which is creating at least two hundred new full-time jobs at the project;
(b) at least four hundred million dollars of property qualifying for the fee and which is creating at least two hundred new full-time jobs at the project. The new full-time jobs requirement of this item does not apply to a taxpayer which paid more than fifty percent of all property taxes actually collected in the county for more than the twenty-five years ending on the date of the agreement;
(c) at least four hundred million dollars in a county classified as either least developed or underdeveloped, by a limited liability company and/or one or more of the members or equity holders where a member or equity holder is creating, at a site qualifying for the fee, at least one hundred new full-time jobs with an average annual salary of at least forty thousand dollars within four years of the date of execution of the fee agreement.
(d) at least four hundred million dollars in the building of a gas-fired combined-cycle power facility and creates at least twenty-five full-time jobs as defined in Section 12-6-3360(M) at that facility and invests an additional five hundred million dollars in this State.
(9) "Exemption period" means the period beginning on the later of the commencement date or the last day of the property tax year in which the fee agreement is entered into and ending on the termination date. For projects which are completed and placed in service during more than one year, the exemption period applies to each year's investment made by a sponsor during the investment period.
(10) "Fee agreement" means an agreement between the sponsor and the county obligating the sponsor to pay fees instead of property taxes during the exemption period for each item of economic development property as more particularly described in Section 12-44-40.
(11) "Inducement resolution" means a resolution of the county setting forth the commitment of the county to enter into a fee agreement.
(12) "Infrastructure improvement credit" means a credit against the fee as provided by Section 12-44-70.
(13) "Investment period" means the period beginning sixty days before the county takes action or identifies the project under Section 12-44-40(C) and ending five years after the commencement date; except that for a project with an enhanced investment as described above, the period ends eight years after the commencement date. The minimum investment must be completed within five years of the commencement date. For an enhanced investment, the enhanced investment must be completed within eight years of the commencement date. If the sponsor does not anticipate completing the project within this period, the sponsor may apply to the county before the end of the period for an extension of time to complete the project. If the county agrees to an extension, it must do so in writing and furnish a copy of the extension to the Department of Revenue within thirty days of the date the extension was granted. The extension may not exceed five years in which to complete the project. An extension is not allowed for the time period in which the sponsor must meet the minimum investment requirement.
(14) "Minimum investment" means a project which results in a total investment by a sponsor of not less than five million dollars within the investment period. If a county has an average annual unemployment rate of at least twice the state average during each of the last two completed calendar years, the minimum investment is one million dollars. For all purposes of this chapter, the minimum investment may include amounts expended by a sponsor or sponsor affiliate as a nonresponsible party in a voluntary cleanup contract on the property pursuant to Article 7, Chapter 56 of Title 44, the Brownfields Voluntary Cleanup Program if the Department of Health and Environmental Control certifies completion of the cleanup. If these amounts equal at least one million dollars, the investment threshold requirement of this chapter is deemed to have been met.
(15) "Multicounty park" means an industrial or business park developed by two or more counties as defined in Section 4-1-170.
(16) "Project" means land and buildings and other improvements on the land, including water, sewage treatment and disposal facilities, air pollution control facilities, and all other machinery, apparatus, equipment, office facilities, and furnishings which are necessary, suitable, or useful by a sponsor.
(17) "Replacement property" means property placed under the fee agreement to replace economic development property previously subject to the fee agreement, as provided in Section 12-44-60.
(18) "Sponsor" means one or more entities which sign the fee agreement with the county, subject to the provisions of Section 12-44-40.
(19) "Sponsor affiliate" means an entity that joins with or is an affiliate, as defined in Section 12-44-130, of a sponsor and that participates in the investment in, or financing of, a project.
(20) "Termination date" means the date which is the last day of a property tax year which is the nineteenth year following the first property tax year in which economic development property is placed in service. With respect to a fee agreement involving an enhanced investment, the termination date is the last day of a property tax year which is the twenty-ninth year following the first property tax year in which an economic development property is placed in service. If the fee agreement is terminated in accordance with Section 12-44-140, the termination date is the date the agreement is terminated.