Horry County committee votes to pull Myrtle Beach library funding

The Horry County Council Administration Committee voted Monday to pull $35,000 of funding from the Chapin Memorial Library.

“It’s just going to stay in our fund,” said committee chair Harold Worley. “They decided that they didn’t want the money with the stipulations that we’ve placed on it. So they’ve declined to accept the money.”

When the budget was reviewed last year, Myrtle Beach City Manager John Pedersen said that “we had no objections to the county taking it out of their budget.”

The move comes after the City of Myrtle Beach, where the library is located, refused to give county residents library cards and other access to materials at the same rate as city residents.

Right now, county residents are charged more for library access than city residents, said Worley.

The $35,000 that could be pulled from the library includes funding for additional materials, security devices and website training. The money would be given to the library board, which is proposing to spend most of the money on print materials, according to county documents.

The move will still have to be approved by county council.

This story was originally published November 6, 2017 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Horry County committee votes to pull Myrtle Beach library funding."