Carolina Forest could incorporate: residents could act as soon as January

Could Carolina Forest incorporate as its own city?

A study released Wednesday by the Carolina Forest Civic Association says it could.

The study took into consideration an issues survey open to residents in the Carolina Forest-area zip code as well as a “pragmatic” financial analysis using the most “conservative” estimates, said CCU graduate student Fred Crosby, who led the study.

The study shows incorporation and increased political action as the two most viable options for the region’s future, with a slight majority of respondents not in favor incorporation, citing high taxes.

But the option to incorporate could be done without an increase in out-of-pocket taxes, according to the study. In addition, the study says, state law caps property tax increases at 1.26 percent.

Civic association officials say property taxes will not increase because taxes levied by the city would be taken from those already levied by Horry County, meaning citizens would not be double taxed.

“If Carolina Forest wanted to be its own city, it would be required to have its own police force,” said Jeff DeSantis, a civic association board member who worked on the survey, which showed roads and traffic, public safety and planning as residents’ biggest concerns.

The city would also have to provide at least three other services besides police, he said.

“Some of those other three would be storm water, water, sewer, trash, waste, and even down to things like parks and rec., fire department,” DeSantis said. “There’s a lot of different variables.”

If Carolina Forest were to incorporate, it would start with a petition to the state signed by 15 percent of the area’s registered voters. In this case, said DeSantis, incorporation would include the entire 29579 zip code in unincorporated Horry County, with the exception of Grand Dunes.

If residents of the zip code could get hit that 15 percent number, they could request a special election from the state, at which point incorporation would be put to a vote, said DeSantis. That vote would require a 51 percent approval to incorporate.

But the amount of money the city would get from taxes is still unclear.

Low estimates put county revenues from the 29579 zip code at $17 million. But whether that number is accurate and how much money the new city would get from that amount is unknown, said DeSantis.

“The problem is there’s no clear data what any of this would cost,” he said.

And what about the other options that have been discussed for the region?

A special tax district, in which a small tax is levied to support some government function, was not sufficient because state law prohibits tax district monies from being used to address the community’s biggest needs such as roads and public safety needs, said Crosby.

Annexation by a nearby city would not be possible, according to the study.

Almost 70 percent of survey respondents did not see inaction as an option.

Carolina Forest Civic Association President Carol vanSickler said that residents could begin deciding which direction to take as early as January.

This story was originally published November 15, 2017 at 7:02 PM with the headline "Carolina Forest could incorporate: residents could act as soon as January."