When does the term of office for a newly elected municipal councilmember begin?
Under Title 5 of the South Carolina Code, municipalities can choose the date of their own elections. Following that, state law provides no fixed date or time after a municipal election on which the new terms will begin.
State, county and municipal election dates
SC Code Section 7-13-10 provides that “general elections for Federal, State and county officers in this State shall be held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November in each even-numbered year.”
SC Code Section 5-15-50, meanwhile, states that “each municipal governing body may by ordinance establish municipal ward lines and the time for general and special elections within the municipality.”
In other words, the regular elections for state and county officers always occur on the national general election date. Municipalities, however, can choose any reasonable date for municipal council elections.
Commencement of term
State law applicable to municipalities provides no fixed date when the term of a municipal elected official begins. Instead, their term of office begins as soon as the official is “qualified.” This occurs when the election results have been certified and the official takes the required oaths of office.
Clarifying the time for swearing-in ceremonies
Municipal elected officials may begin their term at any time after the election results are certified by simply taking the appropriate oaths of office. In practice, however, most municipalities have a swearing-in ceremony when all newly elected officials take the oath of office in a formal setting.
Many of these municipalities provide in their codes of ordinances that the swearing-in ceremony will take place at a certain time — for example, the next council meeting following the election, or the first meeting of the month after the month in which the election occurs. Other municipalities have a local custom for the swearing-in ceremony.
In some cases, the lack of a certain date, time and placement in the meeting agenda for the commencement of municipal terms can create disagreement. Municipal councils have been divided over whether the new councilmember oaths should be administered at the beginning or at the end of the meeting. For this reason, the Association recommends that all municipalities include details on the swearing-in ceremony in their elections ordinance. In general, the safest method is to provide that the newly elected officials will take the oath of office and commence their terms at the first meeting in the month after the election. For municipalities that have November elections, new councilmember terms may also begin at the first meeting in the following January.