FORT MILL -- Throughout the public relations battle to win local support for Piedmont Medical Center's plan to build a Fort Mill hospital, PMC constantly brought up that it would be the only company that would pay any property taxes to Fort Mill.

Piedmont was the only for-profit company competing with a proposal that fell inside the town limits. Hospital Partners of America, another for-profit company, selected a site outside of town. It would have paid taxes to York County and the Fort Mill School District, but the town wouldn't' see any money. Carolinas HealthCare System and Presbyterian Healthcare, both non-profit companies, proposed sites inside town or that would be annexed into the town, but neither would have paid much property taxes.

For the first 10 years after opening Piedmont's Fort Mill Medical Center, PMC - if it's still the local provider following what's expected to be a protracted appeals process - will only be paying about half of the property taxes it would otherwise owe to Fort Mill because of a tax incentive deal passed by the Fort Mill Town Council before the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control opened the hospital process up for competitive bids.

After more companies were allowed to compete for the hospital, some council members said they wished they had not been so quick to pass the incentive deal. The deal passed 6-1, with Councilman Grady Ervin opposed.

PMC would have faced a tax bill for the town of about $740,000 a year, but that will be reduced to $370,000 for each of the first 10 years. After 10 years the company's property tax bill will return to its normal rate.

Overall, PMC expects to pay about $2.7 million in taxes the first year its Fort Mill hospital is open. Fort Mill will get $370.000 to $380,000 of that. York County will get about $530,000, and the Fort Mill School District will end up with the lion's share of it - about $1.4 million. A countywide school district fund would also get about $270,000.

Besides taxes, hospitals such as PMC in Rock Hill usually spark economic development around them.

"The presence of hospitals usually helps in attracting new industry to an area," said Jim Walker, vice president of the S.C. Hospital Association. "They are usually a top employer and they certainly improve the economic quality by providing stable and well-paying jobs."

PMC is York County's largest business employer with close to 1,600 workers.

Walker said hospitals and the health care industry account for 1 of 13 jobs in South Carolina. Statewide, the combined economic impact of hospitals is $10.7 billion. Experts and business leaders didn't want to guess the effect a Fort Mill hospital will have on the area.

But the hundreds of employees and patients will need somewhere to eat, said Bill Seyfried, an economics professor at Winthrop University.

"You would think restaurants would come," said Seyfried, who believes the dining companies would wait to build until the appeals are resolved.

The Fort Mill area's population topped more than 37,000 by the end of last year, according to the Catawba Regional Council of Governments. A study by York County showed that the population of that area would pass 100,000 by the time all the available land is developed.

• The Herald Business Editor Julie Graham contributed to this story.

A timeline of the Fort Mill hospital battle, 2004-present

Spring 2004: A draft of DHEC's State Health Plan projects a need for Tenet's Piedmont Medical Center to add 22 beds to serve northern York County by 2010. October 2004: The State Health Plan is revised using newer population data. The number of beds needed for Fort Mill Township is increased to 64. Feb. 10, 2005: Citing consumer costs and other complaints, Fort Mill's state House Rep. Ralph Norman, a former PMC board member, pulls his support for a Tenet hospital. Feb. 24, 2005: Hospital Partners of America submits a bid for a $78 million, 64-bed hospital along Gold Hill Road at I-77. Oct. 28, 2004: Piedmont's parent, Tenet Healthcare, announces plans to build a $107 million, 64-bed hospital in Fort Mill. The facility on the 40-acre site, across from The Peach Stand, could be expanded to 250 beds. Jan. 25, 2005: DHEC changes its policy of allocating bed space to specific hospitals when the need is greater than 50 beds. In Fort Mill's case, the need for 64 beds will mean open competition to build the hospital. Feb. 14, 2005: Fort Mill Town Council votes to support PMC's plan because it would be built in town. Council members add they would support any similar plan. April 2005: Fort Mill Town Council votes to support Presbyterian's plan. March 3, 2005: Presbyterian and CHS announce plans, too. Presby's $75 million-$85 million facility would be built on Sutton Road; CHS's $73 million facility, Celanese Road in Rock Hill. Oct. 5, 2005: PMC changes its plan from 64 beds to 100 beds, proposing a transfer of 36 beds from its main hospital to Fort Mill. March 23, 2006: All four bidders head to Columbia to make their final presentations to DHEC's Project Review Committee. Later that day, they attend a public forum sponsored by the Fort Mill Times. April 7, 2006: The last day for all four hospitals to submit final comments following DHEC's Project Review Committee meeting March 23. July 2005: CHS ditches its Rock Hill site in favor of a 50-acre tract west of Sutton Road, near Presby's proposed site. Because of higher land costs, its project total rises to $74 million. October 2005: Fort Mill Town Council votes to support CHS's plan, its third such vote. May 31, 2006: DHEC selects PMC. The others could still appeal the decision in court, tying up a final decision for up to two years.