York County Council meets in special session at 8 p.m. Monday to consider undoing the tax incentive package for Octapharma’s proposed $1.5 billion plasma manufacturing campus in Rock Hill, according to the agenda posted for the meeting at the York County Heckle Complex, 1070 Heckle Blvd. in Rock Hill.
The agenda carries two items, both tied to the fee-in-lieu of ad valorem tax and incentive agreement for the project the county identifies as Project Palmetto Rock. The first asks council to reconsider the amendment and third reading of the ordinance authorizing that agreement. The second asks council to take first reading of an ordinance repealing Ordinance No. 2626, the measure that authorized the agreement. An executive session and possible action afterward are also listed.
Council member William “Bump” Roddey, who represents District 4, said in a statement posted to Facebook on Monday afternoon that the county could not reach terms with Rock Hill. After several attempts to reach an agreement with the city, Roddey wrote, York County was unsuccessful in its negotiations to secure a signed agreement to bring Octapharma to Rock Hill and York County. He said council called the meeting to formally repeal Ordinance 2626 and the company’s $1.5 billion investment in the community, and added that the county looks forward to a better working relationship with all entities involved as other opportunities come along.
If council takes up the repeal Monday, it would be first reading only. York County uses a three-reading process for ordinances, so a repeal would not take effect until council passes it twice more at later meetings.
How the deal reached this point
Council gave first reading to the Octapharma incentive package on June 15 and second reading at a special called meeting June 29, after a public hearing that filled the room. County staff put the project at 1,252 new jobs and roughly $1.489 billion in capital investment across a corporate headquarters and a manufacturing campus at Palmetto Research Park, near Interstate 77 and Palmetto Parkway.
The fight was never over whether to land the plant. It was over how to divide the money. At second reading, Roddey moved to change the revenue split so the city of Rock Hill would receive none of the fees generated by the project, and the amended ordinance passed 5-2.
Because the site sits inside Rock Hill’s city limits, state law requires the city’s consent before the property can join the York-Chester Industrial Park, the multi-county park arrangement that makes the incentives possible. Rock Hill City Council gave that consent on June 22 through Resolution R-2026-9, but conditioned it on the city continuing to receive its proportional share of the fees.
On July 8, hours before council took third reading, Rock Hill attorney Paul W. Dillingham of Spencer & Spencer wrote York County Attorney Laura Dover warning that the amended split violated that condition and would rescind the city’s consent automatically, leaving the county without authority to grant the credits at the center of the package. Council passed third reading anyway, 4-3, with Chairwoman Christi Cox, Roddey, Debi Cloninger and Tommy Adkins voting yes and Vice-Chairman Tom Audette, A. Watts Huckabee Sr. and Andy Litten voting no.
The Rock Hill Planning Commission had cleared the zoning side of the project a day earlier, voting 4-0 on July 7 to approve rezoning petition M-2026-06 for the site.
What to watch Monday
The two agenda items point in different directions, and how council sequences them matters. Reconsidering the amendment and third reading would reopen the terms of the deal. Taking first reading on a repeal would begin dismantling it. Council could do one, both, or neither.
The meeting is open to the public.
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
