How much money do Horry County cities owe? One city’s debt is as high as its budget

As residents around the Grand Strand wrap up yearly finances for 2025, Horry County cities have their own financial accounting.

Conway, Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach each currently carry debt, but the cities’ debt amounts vary considerably.

As the largest city among the three, Myrtle Beach’s debt heading into the new year is as high as its 2025 budget, which was set at $330.2 million for the fiscal year.

Here’s a breakdown of how much each city owes, where that money goes and how the debts compare to the municipal budgets.

Conway

As the city with the smallest budget, Conway also had the least debt. According to the city, Conway’s only current debt is a note payable on a fire truck totaling about $1.4 million. For context, the city’s total budget for the 2025 fiscal year was approximately $86.1 million, and roughly $111.2 million for the 2026 fiscal year.

North Myrtle Beach

A representative for the City of North Myrtle Beach said its unaudited debt balance comes to approximately $35.6 million.

Most of that amount, about $31.8 million, went to benefitting the North Myrtle Beach Park and Sports Complex through general obligation bonds. That includes the $27 million general obligation bond the city obtained in June to expand the complex, plus interest and administrative costs.

Other debt categories each total less than $2 million. North Myrtle Beach owes nearly $2 million for dredging with the Cherry Grove Improvement District Revenue Bond. The remaining roughly $1.8 million accounts for lease and contractual obligations through right to use assets.

Like its debt, North Myrtle Beach’s budget is larger than Conway’s amount. The 2025 fiscal year budget was around $207.8 million and the 2026 total is approximately $211.9 million.

Myrtle Beach

As the largest city with the largest budget, Myrtle Beach’s debt dwarfs that of Conway and North Myrtle Beach. City Director of Communications and Creative Services Meredith Denari described the roughly $298.6 million debt as “long-term financing.”

“Just as you would buy a house or a car through financing, it’s a way to provide a public asset while paying for it over a longer period of time,” Denari said.

The city’s debt is split into governmental activities, which come to about $234.6 million, and business-type activities, which total around $63.9 million.

Myrtle Beach’s governmental activities debt includes approximately $26.4 million for general obligation bonds, $66.5 million for tax increment revenue bonds, $22.3 million for storm water revenue bonds, $84 million for hospitality fee revenue bonds and $35.5 million for notes payable, lease liabilities and subscription-based information technology arrangements.

The smaller business-type activities debt accounts for roughly $63.3 million for water and sewer revenue bonds, as well as about $634,000 for notes payable and lease liabilities.

Myrtle Beach also has the largest budget. In the 2025 fiscal year, the city’s budget was around $330.2 million, and for the 2026 fiscal year, the budget increased to $360.7 million.