Horry County passes budget with major raises for workers and no tax increases
Horry County Council members gave a final approval Tuesday to a $677.8 million spending plan that includes the largest raises for county employees in a decade with no tax increases for residents.
County leaders were able to implement the plan due to the county’s continued growth, particularly with new homes and businesses paying local taxes, officials said.
Between the county’s spring budget workshop and May, the county received updated revenue projections, Assistant Administrator Barry Spivey said, that showed the county taking in $17 million more than anticipated. And at the May budget meeting, council members voted to spend most of those extra funds on employee raises.
Council members ultimately approved the no-tax-increase budget with an 11-1 vote. Surfside Beach council member Tyler Servant voted against it.
Following the council’s Tuesday night meeting, Chairman Johnny Gardner was enthused about the budget the council approved.
“My thoughts on the budget are ‘Phew! Wow! Isn’t that good?’” he said.
“We put a lot in there, and we didn’t have to raise taxes so it’s great for Horry County across the board,” Gardner continued. “I’m very happy about it to be honest with you, I mean really happy.”
The budget also includes funding for 56 new county employees at the Solid Waste Authority, in the police department, at the airport and in other departments. And $64 million is included for various capital projects, including buildings, parks and other one-time costs.
But this year’s budget process also came with challenges, namely inflation. Council member Danny Hardee said inflation had raised costs for the county so much that it would take a millage increase of one mill to cover the expenses. That equates to $8 for a $200,000 home and $12 for a $300,000 home.
At the May budget meeting, Hardee proposed raising property taxes by two mills to pad the budget and reduce the burden of future tax increases.
“I don’t want to raise taxes but I’d rather you get a $20 tax increase for the whole year than get several hundred later on,” Hardee said Tuesday. “I don’t have any problem not raising taxes but at the same time I don’t see any signs that this inflation is going to let up.”
Employee raises
In recent years, the county has used performance reviews and a pay scale to give county workers yearly raises between 1% and 5%. This year, though, the county agreed to give employees raises between 5% and 15%.
And, the council voted to give public safety officers higher raises than other employees in an effort to retain those employees and put the county on par with neighboring cities and counties.
Those raises break down like this:
- A 15% raise for commissioned police and sheriff’s officers, and a 10% raise for all other employees who make $45,000 per year or less;
- An 11.25% raise for commissioned police and sheriff’s officers and a 7.5% raise for all other employees who make between $45,000 and $100,000 per year;
- A 7.5% raise for commissioned police and sheriff’s officers and a 5% raise for employees who make more than $100,000 per year.
Additionally, every full-time county employee will receive a $2,500 bonus, paid out in payments of $625 per quarter. Part-time employees will receive a total bonus of $1,250, or $312.50 per quarter.
With the raises, the starting salary of a county police officer becomes $47,664 annually. A firefighter will start at $41,261 annually, and a corrections officer will start at $42,757. Library assistants, one of the county’s lowest-paid positions, will earn $28,000 annually with the raises.
By comparison, Myrtle Beach starts officers at $44,000 and firefighters at $39,416.
Hardee said they hope the raises help retain employees in their jobs.
“We’re growing, there’s a demand for employees (and) we’ve got an excellent group of employees,” Hardee said. “They do a heck of a job and what we need to do is keep them.”
Addition of staff, projects
Next year’s budget, which will be in place from July through June 2023, also adds several dozen employees to various county departments, pushing the county’s total staff to 2,965. They include:
- 14 new Solid Waste Authority employees;
- 13 new police officers;
- 12 new employees for the airport;
- 8 new employees in its Infrastructure & Regulation division;
- 6 new employees in taxpayer services offices (Assessor, Treasurer and Auditor); and
- 3 new employees in the administration division.
County leaders also included several significant capital projects in next year’s budget.
Those include $10 million for a new public safety training facility that’s currently being designed and $3.25 million to renovate and improve the Carolina Forest recreation center.
Horry County also slated $2.5 million to rehab the historic county courthouse in Conway and nearly $2 million to expand the fire stations in Cherry Hill and Maple.
Funding for various flooding and drainage studies — as well as $40,000 to improve the boat landings at Lees Landing Circle and the Peter Vaught Sr. Park & Landing — are also included in the final budget.
This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 8:07 PM.
