‘Time to raise taxes’: Horry County considers tax increase for public safety services

When things get hectic in Horry County — meaning multiple people need aid from a police officer, fire crew or paramedic at one time — the county’s 911 dispatchers have to juggle phones, talking to victims on one line and emergency responders on another.

That’s a big problem, said Renee Hardwick, the head of the county’s 911 service. Dispatchers are overworked and getting burnt out, she said, and it’s become difficult to stretch a small staff to meet the demands of a large — and rapidly-growing — county.

“We’re working our people to death over there and that’s one reason they’re leaving is they’re tired,” Hardwick told members of County Council on Tuesday morning. She can staff a call center with 10 people per shift, she said, “but we need 10 more.”

Situations like that could lead to a modest tax increase, members of county council said Tuesday.

It’s a similar story in other public safety departments in Horry County, other officials said. Joe Hill, the chief of the county police force, said that heavily-involved incidents, like the active shooter the county experienced last week, are becoming more common and are stretching the department thin.

“The scary thing about this beyond the shooting at the cops ... is the fact we almost ran out of people,” Hill said. “If another incident were to occur ... where do we get the bodies from? A bank robbery, another active shooter, that’s a challenge for us because of the lack of staff we’re currently dealing with.”

High call volumes are pushing the county to a point where residents may have to wait for a police officer, paramedic or fire truck, Joseph Tanner, the chief of the county’s fire and rescue division, concurred, a situation leaders hope to avoid.

To remedy the shortfalls public safety officials said they’ve been grappling with, a committee of County Council approved a tax increase that could raise approximately $10 million more per year for more staff and equipment.

Included in that total is funding for 12 emergency medical technicians, two paramedics, and two new ambulances; an additional beach patrol officer; five police officers and a crime analyst; 10 911 dispatchers; a pathologist for the coroner’s office and two assistants; a victim advocate in the solicitor’s office; 23 firefighters and other fire staff, including staff for the Longs fire station and; equipment, tools, overtime costs and other expenses.

The tax increase amounts to a total of 4.8 mills, 2.3 of which will flow into the county’s general fund, and 2.5 of which will flow into the county’s fire fund, which helps fund the Fire/Rescue division. For a home costing $200,000, the increase would mean a resident pays around $38 more per year.

According to the county assessor’s office, those increases would mean residents pay 23.7 mills total into the fire fund and 47.5 mills total into the general fund.

County Council member Bill Howard has been adamant that the county needs to put more money into its public safety services, especially as the county keeps growing.

“I think we have a council that’s scared to raise property taxes. I’m not scared. I’m going to let you know right now, I think we need to fix our broken system,” Howard said Tuesday. “Our public safety is not where it needs to be. Our public works is not where it needs to be. It’s time. I’m ready.”

The tax increase was approved by County Council’s public safety committee in a 4-0 vote Tuesday morning, and will next appear before the full council as part of the discussion and debate on next year’s budget. No tax increases have been enacted yet, but the council must vote to pass its annual budget before June 30. The council is set to discuss the budget next on May 18, and the public will be allowed to comment during that meeting.

The property tax increases for public safety services are the second such increase County Council members have considered this year, now that the county is emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic forced the county to place a freeze on many capital projects and new hiring, and, coupled with other hits to revenue sources stemming from lawsuits and other sources, the county is now playing catch up.

At a budget retreat last month, council members signaled they may increase property taxes an additional 3 mills — to 8.7 mills total — to help ease strains on the county’s garbage system, and increase the stormwater fee by $45 — to $89.40 — to help pay for stormwater management projects, which have taken on a new importance as the county continues to experience heavy rains and storms. South Carolina places a 9 mill cap on property tax increases per year.

On Tuesday, both public safety officials and County Council members were in agreement that the tax increases were necessary. Randy Webster, the county’s assistant administrator for public safety, said he was grateful the council members voted for the increase. Without the additional funding, public safety services could be “degraded” he said.

“(It’s) a blessing, honestly,” he said. “If we can get this far, let us handle it, get all this in place and take a breath and our hope would be to stop the bleed on the degradation part and maintain the service level that’s reasonable. I think it will help us tremendously to provide service for this county.”

Council member Danny Hardee, who represents part of western Horry County and who chairs the public safety committee, said the county had been making it through by “pinching pennies” but that the public safety divisions needed more funding so they could treat their workers better and provide better services to residents.

“We’ve just pinched pennies and pinched pennies until it’s here,” Hardee said. “It’s kind of like, does your house need painting? Yeah. Could you have done it two years earlier and maybe saved some of the cost for sanding or second coat or whatever it be? Sometimes when you have the influx of people that we’ve had here, you get behind the 8 ball.”

Hardee added: “The last thing I want to do is a millage increase for anybody but at the same time what’s a 9-1-1 person’s life worth?” he said. “It’s kind of like that old saying, ‘You can pay me now or you can pay me later,’ and it looks like we’re at the pay later stage. We’re going to have to step up and do it.”