CONWAY -- More jobs may be on the way to Horry County, spurred by an incentive packaged approved at the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp. meeting Wednesday, where executive committee members also discussed delays that may be slowing future job growth.
The executive committee gave the go ahead for a trio of incentives -- $135,000 in closing funds, a 20-year fee-in-lieu of taxes agreement and a 10-year special source revenue credit agreement -- that will now have to go to Horry County Council for approval.
The company set to receive the incentives will not be identified until the deal is finalized but it would bring more than 50 jobs to the county, said Brad Lofton, the corporation’s CEO.
“The good news is two to three of these are lining up and we’re starting to get some good momentum,” he said.
Horry County Council approved incentives for the expansion of a company dubbed AV2 at its last meeting and more information about the roughly 140 jobs should be released by the end of the year, Lofton said. The EDC has also approved incentives for another yet unnamed company that would bring about 79 jobs to the area.
There are some challenges, primarily delays on projects that were expected to be completed by now.
The EDC’s new website, which already has been delayed a few times , still isn’t complete, leaving an outdated, embarrassing site that doesn’t represent the corporation, said Doug Wendel, the chairman of the executive committee.
Ebbie Phillips, the owner of Tyson Sign Company, a member of the executive committee and the chairman of the marketing and existing industry subcommittee, has been working to solve some of the problems, he said. Horry County had previously offered to host and develop the site for the EDC for free, but staff changes and an approvals process has held up the completion of the project, Lofton said.
Several executive committee members expressed concerns about the delay and said it has taken too long, and is critical to the corporation to have a new website as its face to the world. The executive committee authorized the EDC to spend between $25,000 and $30,000 to pay a private company to develop the website if issues with the county cannot be worked out swiftly.
Most of the content for the site is complete, but the EDC is working to hire a company to package it in a more appealing way so it can go into the framework for the site that Horry County employees already have completed, Phillips said. The videos the Brandon Agency is making for the site also are taking longer than expected, but should be complete by the end of January, he said.
A delay in the construction of the first phase of the International Technology and Aerospace Park, a planned business park near the Myrtle Beach International Airport that is being marketed to aeronautics and technology-related companies, is also a concern, Lofton said.
The construction was held up because some utility work took longer than expected, but the project is on track again and the first phase should be done in February, said Lauren Morris, a spokeswoman for Horry County Airports.
There is no huge impact or delay in companies moving into the site, she said.
The EDC is working to market the project and is targeting businesses that may be a good fit, Lofton said. Having properties ready to go when companies come looking is crucial to the recruitment process, he said.
The EDC executive committee also discussed a clawback policy that would be included in all further closing fund incentive deals to ensure that a company creates the number of jobs and makes the investment that it promised to get the incentives. A company that gets closing fund incentives would have to pay back a portion of the money if it fails to create the promised jobs.
The Horry County attorney and other officials will review the policy and offer suggestions and the EDC will likely ask for approval at its next meeting in January, Lofton said.
“It protects the taxpayer and reminds the company consistently ...they have skin in the game,” he said.
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