Horry County Council holding line on taxes, fees this year

Horry County residents should not see a tax increase under the spending plan county leaders outlined Tuesday.

Unlike last year when county officials approved a tax hike and a $20 jump in the road maintenance fee, this year they plan to hold the line on any increases for taxpayers.

On the expense side, the council is considering spending about $3.4 million more on merit raises for county workers. County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus said the latest projections show there is enough money in the budget for the raises, but he said the county’s departments — with the exception of the police force —will largely have to make due with the status quo.

“Unless it affects the health and welfare of our citizens, our tourists or our county, there should be no additions and they should work within their current budgets, period,” Lazarus said. “That’s where we need to be. We have given excesses over the last couple of years that were warranted and needed, but I think that got us to this point where we can be balanced without having to dip into reserves and without having to increase taxes.”

The current budget, which covers the fiscal year ending June 30, has seen revenues in the county’s general fund tick up about 3.4 percent, Assistant County Administrator Justin Powell said.

Although the income generated from property taxes remains flat, the county is seeing increases in revenues from building permits, hospitality fees and business licenses. Another positive trend involves EMS bill collections, which are up about $1.2 million over the previous year.

Under the plan discussed Tuesday, the county’s 2,200 workers will not receive an across-the-board raise in the next budget.

Instead, County Administrator Chris Eldridge has proposed providing raises of 1 percent to 5 percent for employees, with the percentage depending on a worker’s performance. The overall average of the raises would be limited to 3 percent.

Eldridge said the county has been grading employees for three years, following a system that tracks a worker’s ability to meet certain goals and objectives. Those measurements will now be used to determine how much more each employee should receive. Eldridge called the system “as objective as we possibly can [be].”

“For 1 percent, you’re just doing barely enough to keep your job,” he said. “Five percent would be the max, somebody’s knocking it out of the park. But we would average it out to 3 percent, so nothing more than 3 [percent] in each department’s budget.”

Lazarus supported the program.

“It’s a good plan,” he said. “It makes everybody accountable.”

County department heads will make their budget requests to council committees in the coming weeks and county leaders plan to take their first vote on a spending plan in late April.

Although the county is projecting to have more than $3 million leftover in the general fund at the end of June, Lazarus cautioned that employee raises and other projects will consume most of that amount in the next budget.

He disagreed with reporters using the term “surplus.”

“We really don’t have any excess,” he said. “Because we haven’t filled the gaps in yet.”

This story was originally published March 8, 2016 at 7:26 PM with the headline "Horry County Council holding line on taxes, fees this year."