‘We have no choice’: North Myrtle Beach considers slashing plans, tax hike in new budget
North Myrtle Beach officials will have to slash about $30 million out of their upcoming proposed budget and raise property taxes in order to keep services operating as the coronavirus pandemic persists.
The proposed 2021 budget, which was unveiled during the city’s February budget retreat in Pinopolis, called for $119 million that carried a $27 million increase over last year. Now, officials will vote on a $89 million budget after meeting on Monday to discuss the changes that need to be made to make up for impacts COVID-19 has had on on the city.
While a handful of capital projects originally proposed have been removed from the budget, the city is still proposing a 7.9 mill property tax hike. The current property tax rate is 37.1 mills. Upon passage, the rate is suggested to increase to 45 mills.
The proposed increase comes a year after council approved a budget that reduced its millage rate by 6.1 mill after paying off an eight-year bond used to purchase and construct the 162-acre North Myrtle Beach Park and Sports Complex. But officials say the increase is also necessary to keep operations sustained as the city recovers and navigates the coming months.
“We have no choice but to raise our taxes,” Mayor Marilyn Hatley said, stressing that the millage increase is low for a full-service city. “There’s no way we can makeup for the millions we’ve already lost.”
According to City Spokesperson Pat Dowling, North Myrtle Beach lost about $2 million in revenue when the city shut down businesses and accommodations for almost two months. He said the city is projected to lose an additional $6 million over the year.
Councilman Hank Thomas expressed some concern about raising taxes, questioning if there was another way around it, but Hatley pressed it was the only option to maintain the services the city currently provides. If things get better and revenue increases, she said they’ll look to lower the millage in future budgets, as they’ve done in the past.
“I know that none of us want to raise taxes, that’s nothing any of us wants to do, but I always feel that we are a proactive city and we always try to stay ahead of the game,” Councilwoman Nikki Fontana said. “Unfortunately, I think at this time we’re going to have to do this to keep us moving forward and take care of our citizens because they come first.”
The proposed budget also allows the city to employ 41 of the 186 positions that were furloughed in March.
The original budget discussed in February included four major capital projects the city will now put on hold, City Manager Mike Mahaney said. Those included a $14 million project to construct the 18th Avenue North ocean outfall and a multi-million dollar underground utilities plan in the Cherry Grove area.
A $10 million project to build a roughly 30,000 square-foot Emergency Operations Center and Data Management Center on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway and multi-phased plan to expand the Park and Sports Complex for nearly $34 million have also been halted.
Officials had originally said the expansion would provide the available space to compete and host multiple large sports tourism events and continue to offer opportunities for adult recreation and youth leagues.
While no plans have been approved, officials discussed in February what they’d like to see if the sports complex is expanded.
Ideally, the expansion would be broken into phases. The first phase would add six baseball fields and seven soccer fields, with one being a stadium field, for an estimated $17.9 million. Both the soccer and baseball complexes would include concessions, restrooms, picnic shelters and a playground.
The second phase would include the construction of a roughly 17,000-square-foot family entertainment center at an estimated $9.7 million that would include a 56-game arcade room, an interactive playground, a TAG interactive obstacle arena, birthday party rooms, food and beverage, and provide space for the city’s annual Christmas light show.
The third phase would include an estimated $5.9 million water park with water slides, cabanas, a splash area with no standing water and one which will hold a great volume of water, and a retail store.
Despite the change, Mahaney said the city will still work to finalize those plans and send them out to bid in the fall since the city has already purchased the land. Council will consider how to proceed then, he said, adding the current budget provides a certain flexibility in the event of a second wave of coronavirus cases that results in the city shuttering again.
“I’m all about maximum flexibility and what this 7.9 mill increase does, it provides me and all of our very confident department heads maximum flexibility,” Mahaney said. “I hope we are able to go through without a second wave of the pandemic, but it could happen. We think long-term this is best for this city.”
The proposed budget will be subject to two readings, with the first reading of the budget ordinance and a public hearing to be held on June 15 at City Hall. The new budget must be approved by July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
