‘A lot of work to do’ in Horry: Gardner’s message from 2020 ‘state of the county address’
Horry County Chairman Johnny Gardner believes Horry County is a safer place to live, but more work needs to be done to support the stormwater department.
Gardner gave his “state of the county” address at Tuesday’s County Council meeting. He spoke about dealing with growth, supporting county staff and prioritizing public safety.
“This has been a very trying year for me, but we came through,” Gardner said. “Horry County always makes it through.”
Since Gardner took over last year, all four of the top staff leaders — the administrator and three assistant administrators — have turned over. The fight to push out past Administrator Chris Eldridge dominated the first months of 2019, leaving council divided.
But by the second half of the year, Gardner believes council managed to come together and began working well together.
In March, an ongoing hospitality fee lawsuit was filed by Myrtle Beach against the county. The lawsuit remains at a standstill as an agreement to bring the matter to an end was not approved by Horry County Council despite being approved by most municipalities.
Over the summer came tax and fee increases to cover raises for all Horry County employees, with an emphasis on improving pay for public safety workers. In addition, a federal “SAFER” grant helped the county hire additional personnel to increase the amount of firefighters on each truck.
Gardner thanked the other elected officials who serve in roles outside of council council. Attendees included Solicitor Jimmy Richardson, Coroner Robert Edge, Treasurer Angie Jones, Judge Kathy Ward, Clerk of Court Reene Elvis, Sheriff Phillip Thompson and Horry County Schools Board Member Shanda Allen.
While Gardner is proud of all that has been done, he said more work is needed.
Future concerns include funding the parks system, improving the capacity of stormwater staff and a plan to raise revenue to address growing strains on public service.
Council is especially looking to increase stormwater funding through the implementation of an impact fee to cover issues created by the rapid population expansion in Horry County. Staff is still working on what the fee on new construction might look like.
Gardner said resolving the hospitality fee lawsuit would free up money in the budget that could complement last year’s efforts to improve public safety and infrastructure, like approving a list of improvements requested during November’s budget retreat. On Tuesday, however, he had no update on when the suit might be settled.
Horry County will meet during the spring to discuss future challenges the county faces. There, the hard decisions will have to be made to decide what the county will fund with the limited resources available.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’ve made headway in some time,” Gardner said.
This story was originally published January 7, 2020 at 8:05 PM.
