North Myrtle Beach furloughs nearly 200 employees due to the coronavirus outbreak
As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread in Horry County, North Myrtle Beach officials announced the need to furlough nearly 200 part-time and full-time employees.
Due to the city’s lack of revenue and certain services closed down, City Spokesperson Pat Dowling said some departments have had to furlough more employees than others. The city has currently furloughed 186 part-time and full-time workers.
“That is simply because there is no current demand for some of the services offered by some departments,” Dowling said. “Very little revenue is being generated in the community and that means very little revenue coming to the city.”
Currently, the city has had to furlough 165 part-time employees - one administrator, two from the human services department, nine beach services division employees, and 153 workers from the parks and recreation department.
As of April 9, 21 full-time employees were furloughed, including two from the planning and development department and 19 employees from the parks and recreation department.
Surfside Beach Mayor Bob Hellyer announced last week at least 41 town employees would also be furloughed starting Monday. Myrtle Beach Spokesperson Mark Kruea said the city has no plans for furloughs or layoffs for its full-time staff.
Horry County has 147 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, with seven reported deaths, according to the DHEC’s online data map Tuesday afternoon.
Georgetown County now has 31 reported cases with one death, DHEC reports.
Reported coronavirus cases have reached at least 3,439 in South Carolina, DHEC reports. There have been 87 coronavirus-related deaths in the state, as of Tuesday afternoon.
This story was originally published April 13, 2020 at 2:39 PM.
