Voters support annexation following Horry-Georgetown border issues
Horry County now is officially home for a few hundred residents who until recently didn’t even know they weren’t actually living in the county’s limits.
A ballot referendum asking voter permission for Horry County to annex a few hundred land parcels from Georgetown County into Horry County passed 146 to 6, according to Tuesday’s unofficial 2019 election results.
Affected communities included Mount Gilead and Collins Creek down in the South Strand where Horry and Georgetown counties meet. The election itself was only for affected property owners and was handled by Horry County elections.
“The voters got their say and overwhelmingly supported annexation,” State Rep. Russell Fry said. “I think the worst-case scenario would be if you woke up Wednesday morning to see annexation didn’t pass.”
Allowing the annexation to proceed is basically a vote for no change for the residents. The land in this area was functionally in Horry County for decades, but the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office noticed in 2018 the area was technically in Georgetown County.
Had voters decided to keep the land in Georgetown, they would have to change schools, pay different taxes and have new local leaders. Informal polling at community meetings showed little support for physically remaining in Georgetown County.
State Representatives Fry and Lee Hewitt introduced the legislation with help from Rep. Stephen Goldfinch that allowed voters to choose the county they wanted to be in. Then both counties held public meetings to inform the public of the pros and cons of annexation and what the process would look like.
“I think collaboration works. Horry County and Georgetown County did a fantastic job working together. In our own backyard, we should take a lesson on this that working together solves the greatest amount of problems and puts the residents first,” Fry said.
For the annexation to become official, the State of South Carolina will need to rubber stamp the annexation.
This story was originally published November 5, 2019 at 9:33 PM.
