Monday, November 18, 2024
The Freedom of Information Act in South Carolina took a huge step backward last week with a ruling issued by the S.C. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court basically ruled out any requirement for public bodies to tell citizens what they are doing, or intend to do, during their meetings.
The rather surprising Supreme Court ruling was based on interpretation by the justices of S.C. Code of Laws 30-4-80, otherwise known as the Freedom of Information Act.
It’s been four weeks since the violence that made national news erupted during the Memorial Day Atlantic Beach Bikefest and Myrtle Beach City Council remains AWOL.
With the city council missing, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce has stepped into the breach ‘considering’ a curfew and offering to pay for more police next year.
Last time I checked, those considerations come under core responsibilities of local government. They should not be suggestions made on the other side of Oak Street.
But, nature abhors a vacuum and the apparent missing status of Myrtle Beach City Council has created a political vacuum.
Myers Rollins, former General Manager/CEO of Coast RTA, filed suit Tuesday against the agency he headed before being fired April 30th.
In addition to Coast RTA, Rollins is suing SCDOT, Coast RTA board members Bernie Silverman and Kitty D’Angelo, Horry County Council members Mark Lazarus and Gary Loftus, SCDOT employees Doug Frate and Hart Baker and interim Coast RTA General Manager Julie Norton Dew.
Rollins is seeking five million dollars in compensatory damages as well as punitive damages to be determined and reinstatement as GM/CEO of Coast RTA.
Myrtle Beach residents began contacting members of Horry County Council this week requesting help with public safety problems in the city.
This is not as ridiculous as it sounds. After all, they are paying for it.
Countywide tax millage is paid by all property owners throughout Horry County. The Horry County Police Department is funded from the county’s general fund whose main revenue source is countywide tax millage.
City residents pay an additional level of taxes (citywide millage, fees and the like). The Myrtle Beach Police Department is funded from the city’s general fund whose main revenue source is the additional citywide tax millage.
Third reading of the Fiscal Year 2014-15 Horry County budget could provide some interesting viewing at tonight’s meeting of Horry County Council.
Central to the discussions will be a new funding agreement with Coast RTA, which will tighten council control over the money it provides Coast RTA, but not nearly to the extent that was called “overreaching” by several council members earlier this month.
Also of concern to some council members is the “hidden tax increase” included in the millage rollup associated with last year’s reassessment of property values throughout the county.
Property values showed a net decline due to the housing bubble bust several years ago and a slight increase in millage was needed to balance next year’s county budget.
Much has been made about the extra money from accommodations tax that will be available to purchase the services of extra police for next year’s Atlantic Beach Bikefest.
Thanks to quick work in the General Assembly, approximately $2.3 million dollars will be allowed to be diverted from tourism marketing and promotion to law enforcement costs next year.
I have even heard some talk about some of that money being used for private security firms, such as Blackwater Security, if a few additional changes can be made to state law to allow it.
An automatic statewide vote recount to finalize the second position in the Lt. Governor’s race was cancelled this evening when unofficial second place finisher Pat McKinney dropped out of the race.
McKinney, who finished in second place in unofficial vote tallies after Tuesday’s primary, led third place finisher Mike Campbell by 1,250 votes triggering an automatic recount because the margin separating the two was within a 1% margin of the total vote.
According to campaign manager Taylor Hall, McKinney decided to drop out of the race for personal reasons having lost his father and father-in-law within the last two months.
Grand Strand Daily has learned that a computer glitch caused incorrect absentee vote totals to be credited to candidates Tuesday night resulting in a change of results for two Horry County primary election races.
According to sources involved in the process, an apparent fault was first discovered Wednesday morning in the absentee vote totals credited to the Horry County Council District Five candidates.
The sources said that some of the absentee vote totals are stored in a computer prior to election night, those being the early voters in the county. Other absentee votes are registered on paper ballots that were cast in the traditional absentee method.
When the paper ballot vote totals were added to the computer vote totals, the addition of approximately 300 extra votes were credited to candidate Clif Smith, according to sources. None of the other candidates received the benefit of extra votes.
Anti-incumbent fever raged through Horry County primaries Tuesday as five of six incumbents running in contested primaries lost.
One of the causes for the upsets, if you can call them that, was the pitiful, approximately 13%, voter turnout countywide.
The only survivor was S.C. House District 56 representative Mike Ryhal who won in a rematch against challenger Dennis DiSabato who Ryhal defeated two years ago to win the new house district seat.
The two biggest surprises of the night were the losses by incumbent S.C. House District 104 representative Tracy Edge and by Horry County District Three council member Brent Schulz.
It’s Primary Election Day in South Carolina.
Get out and Vote! Polls open at 7 a.m. and remain open until 7 p.m.
This is your chance to have a say in who governs and on what issues over the next several years.
Speak Up…