Horry County property tax bill making you wince? This could be why and how to fix it.

Wesley Wolfe spent part of his Friday morning in line at the Horry County Assessor’s Office, reeling from sticker shock that came with his property tax bill.

Last year, the 87-year-old Loris resident was assessed $1,234 for his 3,000-square-foot home along Gateway Drive.

Now, he’s staring down a $6,166 fee with no idea how to pay for it.

“I wasn’t shocked. I was....,” Wolfe said, trailing off with a grin and shaking his head as he recalled unsealing the bill earlier this week.

County assessors are seeing about 400 applications daily from property owners looking to appeal their bills — typical for this time of year, spokesman Thomas Bell said.

While there are some steps homeowners can take to keep their assessments down, the main contributor is out of their hands and a function of Horry County’s explosive growth.

“The reality is that the median price of a single-family home in Horry County has increased 42 percent from September 2020 to September 2022,” Ron Jackson, president of the Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors, said in an email.

Wolfe’s home was assessed at $245,900 in 2019, compared to $401,000 this year.

A critical money-saving measure for Horry County homeowners is establishing their property as a legal, primary residence, which lowers assessment ratios from 6 percent of overall value to 4 percent.

Even as home sale prices rise, sales are stagnating amid rising borrowing costs and interest rates, Jackson’s association said in its September market report.

“The cost of borrowing has reached multi-year highs on everything from credit cards to auto loans in 2022 as mortgage interest rates topped 6% for the first time since 2008, causing existing home sales to decline for the seventh consecutive month,” the organization said.

The assessor’s office explains on its website that price fluctuations contribute to changes in annual bills.

“The market value of property will continue to change. Unfortunately, property values do not all change at the same rate; some increase or decrease at a faster rate due to location, desirability of the neighborhood or property age and physical condition, etc. The key word in the reassessment program is accuracy,” the county’s website says.

Taxes cannot be levied fairly unless the true value of each property is known. Correct assessments are not possible unless correct appraisals of property are made in light of present value, not what it was worth in past years.”

How to get the 4 percent rate

County officials don’t ask about residency status when generating tax bills, so property owners have to make sure they take steps to qualify at the 4 percent rate.

To do so, residents much complete a special assessment application, provide standard forms of identification such a valid driver’s license and a state tax return showing their name and resident.

Newly arrived residents are eligible for a one-year assessment at the 4 percent rate if they provide a state tax return once it becomes available.

A new assessment begins for thousands in Myrtle Beach

In addition to countywide property tax bill variations, 3,600 commercial properties between 11th Ave. S and 21st Ave. N. in Myrtle Beach are about to pay a bit more to finance a decade’s worth of improvements and investment in the sector being called a Municipal Improvement District.

Those parcels — all assessed at 6 percent — will be levied an additional one percent of that value. For example, an assessed property of $100,000 would pay $60 to the district.