As Horry County takes another step toward raising taxes, here’s what’s on the table

Your taxes may be going up, but Horry County Council wants to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth from the government.

During the second reading of the proposed budget, Horry County Council approved an amendment to increase spending by nearly $8 million compared to the first draft of the budget.

“Tonight we want to share with you what we gleaned from council at the budget workshop,” Interim County Administrator Barry Spivey said.

If approved on third reading before the July 1 deadline, the proposed budget will need a tax increase, but Spivey said they’ll be using fees and other revenue to keep the cost to residents at a minimum — all without knowing the hospitality fee’s future.

The changes in the budget passed 10 to 2 Tuesday with council members Tyler Servant and Harold Worley voting no.

While changes are likely to come in the final reading, here is how what the increase in spending would buy and how it’ll be paid for:

What it would cost the taxpayer?

Council members Danny Hardee and Dennis DiSabato will both in 2020 be up for re-election, typically a time when politicians vote against tax increases. Despite that, they both said, the tax increases are necessary to provide for integral parts of government.

“I do have to run next year, and I wish I could say I never voted for a tax increase,” Hardee said. “But I am going to vote for this one, to not to is a disservice to the people of Horry County.”

DiSabato said an impact fee could help get more revenue in the future to help avoid a future tax increase. Hardee said he hopes it could roll back the increases that moved forward Tuesday.

According to the staff presentation, a resident with a $200,000 home would pay an increase of $11.40 next year compared to this year’s property tax.

For a car worth $20,000, a resident would pay an increase of $2.28 cents compared to last year’s vehicle taxes, according to the presentation.

Not all of the additional revenue would require a tax increase. Spivey said council could have a variety of fee increases that would lessen how much taxes would need to be increased.

These increases include costs on casino boat, inspection, building permit, parks and recreation fees, and n administrative fee on property tax fees, bringing in over $1 million in revenue.

Second, increases on the business license collected in unincorporated Horry County for bigger commerce coming into the area could lead to $4 million in additional revenue.

The fee would only increase fees a marginal amount for small business, but would greatly increase for businesses that make millions each year.

For example, a restaurant making $15 million in revenue currently pays $4,000 in fees, if approved, next year it would pay $10,000.

Still, council member Gary Loftus said that while he thinks the presentation was well done, he is hopeful for a path to avoid any tax increase at all. While he voted in favor of the amendments, he said he will continue looking for alternatives from the third — and final — reading.

What would the increases pay for?

Council member Al Allen said this increase pays for what the people have overwhelmingly said they want: a focus on valuing public safety and better parks.

“If we’re going to be a government for the people, and the people are asking and requesting the certain services, it is up to us to find a way to provide those services,” he said.

The biggest spending change would go to public safety, which would switch from a merit pay system to a compensation system that rewards longevity.

The raises would not be the same for every officer. It would take into account years of service within the department, with the hope of increasing retention of officers, according to a presentation given to council by Spivey.

The raise would be $500 per year as an officer processes through the organization. After a decade, an officer would hit the maximum yearly raise of $5,000.

The raises would cost the county an increased $3.34 million in the upcoming budget.

Other county employees would see raises in this budget as well. While not the focus of the past months of council debate over the budget, a study presented in March showed Horry County employees were paid below market compared to other governments.

These raises would cost the county an additional $999,328 in the upcoming budget.

In total, these raises for all workers would cost $4.33 million more compared to the current budget, according to staff’s presentation.

“It would help us recruit and retain qualified individuals for jobs we so desperately need,” Spivey said.

The second key issue was parks and recreation, which was in dire need of additional funding to avoid more than 20 percent of the recreational offerings in the area from closing.

While privatization could be on the horizon, as was discussed at a previous council meeting, Horry County Council is planning to pass a $2.6 million tax increase to keep current operations open as a public enterprise.

Spivey said this would include operations and maintenance costs, as well as filling some empty positions.

If approved in final reading, this increase would keep the Carolina Forest Recreation Center open for the coming year, Spivey said. In fact, the recreation center could help offset some of the increase parks spending through raising fees for usage.

Why isn’t the hospitality fee used?

Servant said he voted no because he does not believe the government has exhausted all options, notably waiting for the hospitality fee money to become available.

To put it simply, a lawsuit filed by Myrtle Beach against Horry County will have to be resolved before the hospitality fee can be used.

As Horry County Council debates tax increases, between $9 million and $40 million dollars sit unusable. In the budget, Horry County Council can pass a resolution to use the hospitality money once it’s available. But that first requires a resolution to the lawsuit.

The Horry County League of Cities — an alliance formed by cities involved in the dispute — held a press conference a day prior to Horry County’s meeting to state that the desire for cities to collect their hospitality fee is a home rule issue, not an attempt to derail I-73. The mayors who spoke said the way Horry County went about collecting the fee violated the law, hence the legal action.

In a recent filing, the City of Myrtle Beach responded to some counterclaims from over Horry County over the lawsuit.

Council member Bill Howard responded to the press conference on Tuesday, saying he doesn’t want to take away autonomy from cities to spend their money and that he just doesn’t want to see the money lost in the process.

“We’re not trying to tell them what to do, we’re just trying to show them that if we collect that fee it produces an extra $11 million per year,” Howard said. “We’re not trying to tell them what to do, we’re trying to work with them.”

Howard was alluding to an offer Horry County made to the cities in April to divide up the money. Council member Harold Worley asked Spivey to walk the public back through the offer and how it benefits everyone in Horry County.

“Council has been extremely generous,” Spivey said in agreement. “It is an awesome deal.”

The offer to Myrtle Beach would use $18 million toward road building, $9 million to the county and then $29 million plus yearly growth would be divided up amongst the municipalities, Spivey said.

This would result in the municipalities having upward of $4 million more dollars to do with as they please when you factor in contributions to I-73, he said.

Myrtle Beach rejected this deal in April. Mayor Brenda Bethune said then she does not believe this deal will give the most benefit to her citizens.

DiSabato asked Spivey to put it into perspective what that would mean to his constituents in Myrtle Beach if the deal is rejected.

“So my constituents are losing $4 million,” DiSabato asked.

“Yes sir,” Spivey said.

This story was originally published May 21, 2019 at 10:40 PM.