Monday, November 18, 2024
Horry County voters will have no advisory referendums on the November 2014 general election ballot asking for additional taxes to be levied on county residents.
Last week it looked as if Horry County voters would get to register their advice on whether to raise millage to help fund the Waccamaw Center for Mental Health services.
The Waccamaw Center for Mental Health is a state designated agency that is underfunded by the General Assembly.
The 14 count federal indictment, with a potential 145 years in prison, brought against former state Rep. Thad Viers earlier this week brings several questions to mind.
Twelve of the counts were for what lawyers do every day – remove money from their trust account at the direction of the client.
If all of the withdrawals were made with the intent to hide assets and if Viers knew this as alleged, wouldn’t the 13th count of conspiracy to hide assets cover these transactions?
Maybe the answer to why such a draconian indictment was brought lies with the 14th count – lying to an IRS investigator.
Gov. Nikki Haley’s recent trip to Atlantic Beach continues to garner negative headlines for South Carolina’s top elected official.
The governor failed in her attempt to have a “frank” discussion with the Atlantic Beach Town Council about ending the Memorial Day Bikefest.
After a short opening address by Haley in which she reportedly promised to help Atlantic Beach return to its glory days of pre-integration prosperity, Haley was met with silence from town officials.
However, that was not all that occurred during the meeting.
Recently released reports of a Federal Transportation Authority inspection of Coast RTA highlight the problems inherent in a multi-jurisdictional authority that spends public money.
The FTA inspection occurs every three years. In 2011, the FTA inspection noted four “findings” of problems at Coast RTA. The 2014 inspection listed 17 “findings. The two most problematic findings are the bus fleet and maintenance shop are literally falling apart.
Those inspection results are noteworthy because Horry County increased its funding of Coast RTA from approximately $400,000 to $1.06 million in the fiscal year beginning July 2011.
Horry County Council is considering asking the county’s voters advice on long term funding for Waccamaw Center for Mental Health.
A state created organization, the state has failed in its obligation to provide all the needed funding for the center.
Sen. Ray Cleary (R-Dist.34) spoke to the Horry County Council Administration Committee last Friday outlining a possible referendum question for county voters to consider in the November 2014 general election.
Horry County will not have to change the value of a property tax mill as a result of property reassessment.
Final reassessed property values countywide came to within approximately 2% of former values so Horry County staff could do some juggling and hold the line on the county’s recently approved Fiscal Year 2015 budget.
But, that does not mean there will not be both winners and losers when tax bills go out. Some property taxes will go up and some will come down relative to prior years’ tax bills. In fact, there will be a distinct shift in tax revenues in the county.
The HCSWA (Horry County Solid Waste Authority) Board of Directors spent several hours Thursday in a workshop to finalize changes to the agency’s bylaws.
One topic of discussion was how the dissolution of the authority will be handled, if it occurs. Actually, it’s not the board’s call.
Don’t you remember that county council recently passed an ordinance covering just that very situation?
Those who think casino gambling is the answer to the next great tourist boom for Myrtle Beach may want to temper their enthusiasm with the Sun Cruz demise.
It was only a decade ago when casino boats were expected to flourish in Horry County and county officials were planning ways to cash in on the boom.
After several years of haggling over taxing the revenue of the boats was unsuccessful, a $7 per passenger fee was agreed to between the boats and the county.
The entire meeting took all of approximately 15 minutes – a complete waste of time.
To her credit, Haley refused to meet with the Atlantic Beach Town Council in executive session after arriving for the meeting, so a short open-session meeting resulted. A minor victory for freedom of information.
Haley addressed council for a short time, during which Haley said she would help Atlantic Beach return to the prosperity it enjoyed in the 1940′s if it would end its Memorial Day Bikefest.
Atlantic Beach Mayor Jake Evans said the town would appreciate any help that was offered, but Memorial Day Bikefest would continue.
Meeting adjourned.
You have to wonder what this was all about. Couldn’t there have been advance planning between Haley and Atlantic Beach officials so they actually accomplished something?
Gov. Nikki Haley and the Atlantic Beach Town Council are scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday July 29th during a specially called council meeting.
To date, there is no official notice of the meeting, but it has been confirmed through media contacts.
The meeting is an apparent followup to Haley’s call for the Atlantic Beach Memorial Day Bikefest to end after the violence in Myrtle Beach two months ago associated with crowds for that event. Haley said she was going to meet with Atlantic Beach officials in June, but the meeting could not be arranged.
It has been reported that the meeting will be held in executive session. We don’t expect anything else of Haley who has made secrecy an art form during her time as governor.
Speak Up…