Where Do You Live?

Living in Summerville might be a state of mind — or it could just be your zip code.

Depending on where you live in "Summerville," you could be living in town limits, Dorchester County, Berkeley County, Ladson or North Charleston.

"They always say the same thing: 'But my mailing address says Summerville,'" town Executive Assistant Bonnie Van Etten said.

While it seems clear-cut on your mail, it might not be clear-cut when it comes to public safety, voting, schools or a number of other local services. It can become especially confusing for those renting and not receiving a tax bill in the mail from their municipality.

Town limits are not easily defined.

In one area of Summerville town limits, which resides in Berkeley County, there is an apartment complex that has some apartments in the town and some apartments in the county. In other instances, your neighbor next door could be a citizen of North Charleston and while you could be a citizen of Summerville.

Fortunately most 911 calls get routed to the correct emergency services, even if made from a cell phone. However, jurisdiction for public safety does get mired, according to Summerville Police Public Information Officer Capt. Jon Rogers.

He suggested that if you think you live in Summerville, no matter how close to downtown you are, go ahead an call the department or town call ahead of time to check. That way, if you need to report something, you don't drive to or call the wrong department.

See a Summerville police car drive by your house? They may be on their way to a spot of the town only accessible through another jurisdiction, so don't count on that as an indication of where you live.

Matters usually become trickier when an incident is reported years later. Because the town has annexed portions of three counties and therefore changed over the years, it can sometimes be difficult to find exactly which jurisdiction a victim belonged in, Rogers said.

And it changes with frequency. Just this week, the town planning board voted to approve annexation from a county. So now, those former county resident are town residents.

"I can see where people might get a little confused as to where to call -- annexing makes it dang confusing," Berkeley County Sheriff Public Information Officer Dan Moon said. He added that usually by the time someone has contact his office, the matter has been sorted, however. "By the time it gets to us, we don't know there's been a problem -- blame some of these elected officials county, city and otherwise who do these things."

If you are confused on exactly where you live, call town call, 871-6000, or Summerville Police Department, 871-2463.