Do they live in Horry or Georgetown County? Voters get to resolve border issue
Property owners along the Horry-Georgetown county line will get to decide this November where they reside.
About 200 parcels of land, long believed to be in Horry County, are actually in Georgetown County, as discovered last year by the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, according to a news release from state Rep. Lee Hewitt’s Office.
Communities affected by this discovery include Mount Gilead and Collins Creek.
“This issue is very important in that it affects property taxes, school attendance and voting,” Hewitt said in the release.
Hewitt and fellow state Reps. Russell Fry and Stephen Goldfinch sponsored legislation seeking to resolve this issue by calling for a referendum to allow those affected to choose their county.
Gov. Henry McMaster approved the referendum Monday, declaring a vote will take place Nov. 5 during the general election.
Voters in that referendum, who are now officially considered Georgetown County residents, will get to decide whether or not they want to be annexed into Horry County, which would essentially allow them to maintain the status quo. Two-thirds of those voters must vote in favor of the annexation for it to pass.
If they don’t approve the referendum, Horry County would be essentially losing the tax revenue those property owners provide to Georgetown County.
Fry praised Georgetown County leaders, who could have fought to claw back taxes paid by these property owners to Horry County, for their benevolence and allowing the process to move forward to allow voters to make the ultimate decision.
This story was originally published August 29, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
