AIKEN — Aiken County Council is preparing to offer a fee in lieu of tax agreement, or FILOT, to a company that wants to make an approximately $100 million investment locally.

The panel voted unanimously Oct. 20 to approve a resolution that commits it to the negotiation of such deal with a firm known by the code name Project Ranger.

“I will only say that it is an existing industry [in the county] and it is an expansion,” County Council Chairman Gary Bunker told the Aiken Standard.

A FILOT is an economic incentive that typically sets the amount of property tax that will be paid over a 20- to 30-year period.

In this case, the period would be for 30 years. There would be a 6% assessment ratio and a fixed millage rate of 258.30 mills. Special source revenue credits of 20% would be available.

The investment made by the company would involve “taxable real and/or personal property,” according to the resolution.

Seven County Council members were present at the meeting at the Aiken County Government Center, and P.K. Hightower participated via telephone.

Danny Feagin was absent because he was attending a conference, the panel’s chairman, Gary Bunker, said.

In another unanimous decision, County Council approved the third reading of an ordinance that authorizes an addendum to an agreement by the county to sell the property at 260 Belvedere Road in the Clearwater area to The South Company LLC.

Brian South is the registered agent for The South Company.

The county entered into the agreement with the The South Company in 2017.

Located on the approximately 25-acre property is an abandoned Seminole textile mill.

The sale price was $55,000.

But for “various reasons,” the deal wasn’t finalized by the closing date set forth in the agreement, according to the ordinance.

“I just know that there were some issues that had to be resolved and some of them were environmental,” Bunker said.