Taxes, fees may be going up in North Myrtle Beach

Property taxes and fees may be on the rise in North Myrtle Beach as city leaders wrestle with the need for more officers, road repairs and stormwater management projects that became a painful necessity when historic rains flooded parts of the city last fall.

North Myrtle Beach City Council discussed a millage increase that would amount to $8 annually for the owner of a home with an appraised value of $100,000. The council also discussed raising the monthly stormwater management fees by $1.50 to $2.

The rate hikes would increase stormwater management bills from $6 to $8 per month for single family homes and from $4 to $5.50 per month for condo units, according to city spokesman Pat Dowling.

North Myrtle Beach city leaders discussed the proposed increases to meet next year’s budget needs at the council’s annual budget retreat Monday and Tuesday at Santee Cooper’s Wampee Conference Center in Pinopolis.

“City Council reviewed $1.7 million in proposed stormwater improvement projects” at the board’s retreat, Dowling said. “The projects represent the city’s response to many stormwater management challenges that arose during the historically heavy rains experienced in North Myrtle Beach during September and October of 2015.”

The city’s current property tax rate is 39.3 mills – 6.2 mills of which are set to sunset in October 2019 when a bond for the construction of the North Myrtle Beach Park & Sports Complex is paid off, according to Dowling. The proposed tax rate of 41.3 mills remains the lowest tax rate in Horry County.

The tax increase is predicted to generate an extra $750,000 annually and will primarily be used to pay for four new public safety employees and enhanced paving and maintenance of the city’s roads, he said.

The $93,816,202 budget proposed for next fiscal year is $13,656,195 more than last year’s budget, “due primarily to various street improvements, major water and sewer projects, stormwater management improvement initiatives and other projects,” Dowling noted.

The rise in stormwater management fees, which are applied to local stormwater improvement projects, would also help fund the city’s next ocean outfall project at 18th Avenue North. Construction on the outfall project is slated to begin in 2019 and cost about $11 million, according to Dowling.

“The city will have four or five ocean outfall projects remaining after the 18th Avenue North project has been completed and the fee increase will also help to begin to fund those projects,” Dowling noted.

The proposed budget, which must be adopted before the next fiscal year starts July 1, includes a bond issue for the Cherry Grove dredging project; a final payment on a $1.2 million platform fire truck; in-house capital improvement projects; and more than $1.5 million in road paving projects.

Other projects noted in the budget are streetscape improvements to Ocean Boulevard in the city’s Crescent Beach section and improvements to 11th Avenue North. The city plans to widen the street and bury utility lines along Ocean Boulevard.

Projects needed to be done by outside contractors were prioritized into four groups. Projects the city could tackle with in-house staff and equipment were placed into a fifth priority group.

Council members determined the city could tackle many of the stormwater projects in the first two priority groups next fiscal year, with the rest earmarked for completion in fiscal years that begin in 2018 and 2019.

A continued addition of sidewalks is also part of the proposed budget, Dowling said. “Since 1995, the city has installed 34 miles of sidewalks. Additional sidewalks and paths proposed for the fiscal year 2017 budget include an addition to the East Coast Greenway along Water Tower Road near Barefoot Resort & Golf, along Robert Edge Parkway west of the bridge and along Little River Neck Road.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Taxes, fees may be going up in North Myrtle Beach."