What does that $15 Horry County fee increase mean?

Horry County property owners will pay an additional $15 fee to help deal with stormwater and flooding.

Initially, the Horry County Stormwater Management department had left over money in savings to cover extra costs, but the fast pace of development is drying up that pool of money. At current rates, the department would run out of savings by around 2021.

"Once your savings account is zero, now what do you do?" director Tom Garigen asked. "You just maintain the current level of service, we can't add people, we can't do additional projects."

County council approved the fee increase on Tuesday to make sure the department could grow and take on more projects, like dam repairs. This is the first stormwater fee increase since the county created the department in 2000.

Is this necessary?

If you want to see increased services, then yes. Not changing the fee means they would be unable to keep up with the demands of a growing population.

The stormwater department is in charge of flood prevention and drainage. And with frequent heavy rains, its services are in high demand.

As revenue coming in to the department slowly increased with population, its spending grew even faster. And as costs grew, the department needed more money just to maintain current operations.

"We're at this point now where our expenditures continue to be up above the incoming money, so then we start losing money," Garigen said.

The new fee total will be $44.40 for a single family home living in an unincorporated area of Horry County, bringing in an additional $2.4 million in revenue to the department.

Even with the fee increase, Horry County continues to have one of the lowest stormwater fees in the state.

What will the fee increase pay for?

Currently, the stormwater department has 32 full-time employees. The fee will add six jobs and the equipment needed for new hires to do their jobs.

"People are demanding service when they call in, we can only do so much," Garigen said.

One of the new hires will be for the mosquito control unit, which helps prevent the insects' population growth in Horry County.

The department's equipment is expensive, he said, but it can last for several years. The department plans to purchase new tractors, a dump truck and mosquito sprayers.

The increase will also help pay for infrastructure improvements, like a million dollars in planned projects to address flooding on Highway 9 near Colonial Charters Golf Club.

Will this stop flooding?

No. As the county grows so does demand, but the fee increase will help the stormwater department keep pace with growing demands and start new projects to help drain water.

Some flood prevention comes from policy. For example, the stormwater department requires new houses to be about two feet above the road to prevent water from reaching homes.

Further, in terms of roads, sometimes minor flooding is by design.

"If that water can drain out in 12 hours and it is not making the road impassable for emergency vehicles, that is acceptable," Garigen said. "You'd rather have some water in the roads than water in houses."

This story was originally published June 21, 2018 at 3:42 PM with the headline "What does that $15 Horry County fee increase mean?."