Author: Paul Gable

It’s Tax Time Again

Spring means many things, but to local governments it means tax time, or consideration of whether to raise taxes or not.

One year after Horry County Council passed the largest tax increase in county history, the cities of Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach are looking to follow suit.

Both city councils are considering a property tax increase and increases in other fees that could significantly impact citizens and businesses.

To be fair, some of the reasons for the tax increase can be directly attributed to the General Assembly. This can be thought of as an indirect tax on citizens from Columbia.

Two areas come to mind quickly, the refusal of the General Assembly to fully fund the Local Government Fund and the need to make up billions of dollars of shortfall in the public pension funds.

The Local Government Fund is a return of state taxes, which is supposed to reimburse local governments for expenditures on state mandated agencies included in local budgets. The General Assembly, however, prefers to pass annual exemptions in order to underfund this return of tax dollars to local communities.

In this way, the General Assembly can appear to be holding the line on taxes while blaming the local governments for tax increases. Never mind that the state laws requiring these agencies came from the same body that refuses to live up to its mandated level to fund them.

The General Assembly is looking to increase the percentage local governments must contribute, per employee, for all employees included in the various state pension plans. This increase would take the local agency contributions from the current 8.16% of an employee’s annual salary to 11.5% of that salary.

I would submit the increase is needed because the General Assembly has refused to perform its fiduciary oversight responsibilities of the SC Retirement System Investment Commission.

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Questions Surround Robert Shelley County Council Candidacy

Robert Shelley, currently a candidate in the special election Republican primary for Horry County Council District 7, may have problems with both state and federal law should he attempt to continue to work for the SC Department of Motor Vehicles if he is elected to the District 7 seat on county council.

According to a Facebook post announcing his candidacy for the open District 7 county council seat, Shelley described his current job which may cause problems for Shelley assuming his seat as a county council member should he win the election.

“In the fall of 2007, I was offered a position with the State of South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, Dealer Licensing & Audit Unit as a Dealer Agent. I currently hold the position of Lead Investigator where I supervise the newly formed state-wide investigative unit,” Shelley said.

In a separate Facebook post, Shelley definitively stated he will continue working for the state agency, if elected.

“I have over 35 years of experience working in City, County & State Government and I plan to continue working for the State of South Carolina if I’m elected,” Shelley said on his Facebook page.

There are three potentially significant legal problems for Shelley if he wins the election and attempts to remain in his state job.

The first is the federal Hatch Act. Although it has been amended several times since it was first passed by Congress in 1939, the act still makes it illegal to run for partisan political office for those who hold certain positions within state government agencies that receive funding through federal grants or loans.

According to a spokesman for the SC Department of Motor Vehicles, that agency definitely receives funding from the federal government as part of its budget.

Shelley’s state position may or may not be one of those affected by the Hatch Act, but it certainly should be something he addresses with the voting public.

The next potential problem is with a state law mirroring the Hatch Act for state employees.

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Republican Party Trumped in New York

Every time the Republican Party elders think they are regaining control of their party, Donald Trump sticks another finger in their eye.

Donald Trump did it again last night with an overwhelming win in the New York Republican Primary. And, there are lots more to come in the Northeast, Middle Atlantic and Pacific Coast regions in the next six weeks or so.

This primary season can basically be described as a two part saga. Nearly every time the voters have their say in primaries, Trump comes out on top. When the party establishment can work its back room tactics in one type of caucus or another, someone else wins.

The quick conclusion that can be drawn from this is that the people want Donald Trump while the Republican Party establishment doesn’t.

Exit polls among Republican voters in New York say the same thing – 61% of those voting in the Republican primary (remember this was a closed primary limited to registered Republicans) said they wanted an outsider as the party’s nominee. At the same time, 69% said they felt the candidate who captures the largest number of delegates in the primaries, even if it isn’t a majority of delegates, should be the party’s nominee.

This is important. It is the voters who go to the polls in November who will elect our next president, not a bunch of party hacks trying to twist and turn the rules to their advantage.

And, if we’ve learned one thing during the primaries, it’s that Ted Cruz doesn’t excite a large number of voters.

If the Republican Party movers and shakers want to guarantee a loss in November, all they have to do is work their back room deals to nominate Cruz in July.

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Dr. Catherine Cameron Announces for School Board

MYRTLE BEACH, April 19 — Dr. Catherine Cameron, 60, of Myrtle Beach has announced her candidacy for the District 4 School Board seat.

Cameron is a lifelong business entrepreneur as well as an educator who has taught college for 20 years in traditional as well as online formats, with many of her students being military master degree candidates. She presently teaches for American Business & Technology University in St. Louis, Mo. Cameron also owned her own accredited real estate school in Pittsburgh, and with her husband runs a condo property management firm in Surfside Beach.

As a business consultant, expert and entrepreneur, she developed the “777 Business Program” for prospective entrepreneurs, along with coursework and program on other management topics. She has published three training manuals, presents this business coursework at Horry Georgetown Technical College’s Workforce Development Program.

Being a college professor, Dr. Cameron experiences firsthand that many students are either not prepared to compete academically with other students, don’t understand how to efficiently and effectively use the computer, internet and other technological tools available, or appreciate group synergy and the importance of working in teams. She is preparing students of Horry County today for their careers tomorrow, she says.

The school board seat Dr. Cameron is running for became open due to the death in February of school board member Kay Loftus, who had served on the board for 14 years. Ironically Dr. Cameron met Kay once at a Chamber of Commerce function and Loftus had recommended she run for the school board. When they discovered they lived in the same district the two just laughed, Dr. Cameron said.

District 4 includes St. James, Socastee, Myrtle Beach and Carolina Forest.

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, Cameron and her husband Bill have owned a second home in Myrtle Beach for 20 years, and finally were able to call it their fulltime home two years ago. She said they are a “real Brady Bunch” and together have 5 children and 9 grandchildren spread out across many States.

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Revenues, Expenses and the HCSWA Budget

The HCSWA budget is in its final preparations before being included in the overall Horry County Government budget as it is every year.

While the Horry County Solid Waste Authority budget has been included as a section of the county budget since its inception in the early 1990’s, Horry County Council has paid little to no attention to it when approving its annual fiscal year budget.

This year is different. Some council members are actually paying attention to the HCSWA budget.

That is a good thing. It was prompted by the initial request of the HCSWA for an increase in tipping fees at the county Hwy 90 landfill.

Tipping fees are the cost, ultimately paid by the citizens of the county, of burying waste in the ground.

To its credit, the HCSWA has essentially charged the same tipping fee, with some minor variations, since 1992. To its detriment, for many of those years, the tipping fee charged to the citizens of the county was too high.

I remember one former executive director of the HCSWA commenting over a decade ago that so much money (from tipping fees) was coming into the authority coffers, it didn’t know what to do with it all.

A lot of the excess revenue got wasted on purchases of land that was not needed, public relations campaigns, lobbying fees, attorney fees, even bugs that theoretically would extend the life of the landfill, but, in fact, died.

While some of this sounds funny, millions upon millions of public dollars were wasted by a succession of HCSWA boards and the indifference of county council.

Now, the HCSWA is in somewhat of a cash crunch, somewhere between $500k-$1,000k projected shortfall in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2016.

The first inclination of the HCSWA staff and board was to raise tipping fees. County council said “NO”.

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First Republican Candidate Poll

Grand Strand Daily has acquired a copy of results from a recent poll on some of the Republican candidates in Horry County and several key races in this election cycle.

Polls such as this are not uncommon this early in the primary period as PACs, campaigns, business groups and donors are interested in where respective candidates are starting and what work must be done to make them viable.

Grand Strand Daily is in no way associated with this poll, but was able to obtain a copy of the results.

According to information provided, polling was conducted over four days. Only registered Republican voters who participated in at least two of the last three Republican primaries were contacted. A total of 347 interviews were completed for the poll sample.

The polling was very limited to ascertain only name recognition and favorability factors for the candidates listed.

Results from the poll questions were as follows:

Questionnaire

I am going to read a list of 12 declared candidates for elective office in Horry County in 2016. Please tell me if you have ever heard of or are familiar with this person. If you do not know this person, just respond ‘Don’t Know’. If you do know or have heard of this person, please tell me if you view this person ‘Favorably’, ‘Unfavorably’ or ‘No Opinion’.

Candidate Don’t Know Fav Unfav No Opinion

Robert Seth Rabon 68%/236 42 12 57

Lois Eargle 31%/108 169 69 109

Scott Pyle 49%/170 94 23 60

Luke Rankin 29%/101 166 51 29

Dennis DiSabato 56%/194 69 41 43

Angie Jones 69%/239 23 65 21

Jonathon Hyman 76%/263 44 12 28

Gary Loftus 42%/145 80 42 80

Dick Withington 61%/212 12 79 44

David Jordan 58%/201 68 31 47

Rene Elvis 72%/250 36 48 13

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Devon Blackwell Kicks Off Campaign

Devon Blackwell kicked off his campaign for Horry County Council District 10 with a barbeque meet and greet in the Red Bluff area earlier this week.

Blackwell is looking to replace incumbent Jody Prince who is retiring from council at the end of this year.

While the evening brought some rain to the hunting camp where the event took place, a good crowd of friends and supporters were on hand.

Blackwell is a first time candidate for political office but is a fifth generation native of Horry County with deep roots in the District 10 communities.

Recently retired from Horry Telephone Cooperative after 35 years with the company, Blackwell said the time is right for him to run for office.

“I have always been interested in politics, especially at the local level,” Blackwell said. “But, I wanted to wait until I retired to run for office. I have already found out campaigning is a full-time job.”

Blackwell said infrastructure, especially roads and drainage, were a concern to his district and throughout the county. He supports making sure first responders are adequately trained and have the equipment necessary to carry out their mission.

In addition, Blackwell said he supported community service projects to clean up litter throughout the county not just the main roads.

Communication with his constituents will be a top priority for Blackwell.

“If you call me with a problem, it is my obligation, as a council member, is to research the issue, then, communicate back to my constituents,” Blackwell said.

With regard to the expenditure of public funds, Blackwell said he will be guided by the question ‘would you spend your own money for this?’

Blackwell said his district, which is the largest land area of all the council districts, has different needs for different areas.

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Community Violence Subcommittee Update

The Community Violence Subcommittee was given specific goals and objectives earlier this week by Al Allen, Chairman of the Horry County Public Safety Committee.

Allen told the committee that he had been too vague when he first appointed the subcommittee and he wanted to clarify its mission.

Allen named the following six persons as committee members: council member Jimmy Washington, chairman, school board member Holly Heniford, vice chairman, Rev. George Payton, spokesperson, HCPD Chief Saundra Rhodes or designee, HC Sheriff Chief Deputy Tom Fox or designee and Van Washington, community leader.

These six members are charged with meeting once a month at the county council conference room where meetings will be broadcast, livestreamed and taped.

In addition, Allen requested subcommittee members to identify the causes and influences that lead to violence in the community as well as visit with all public, private and church groups presently operating to reduce violence and crime in Horry County to rank their effectiveness.

Allen tasked the subcommittee with making a progress report to the Public Safety Committee in September 2016 and to be prepared to present a final report with findings and recommendations to full council in early 2017.

The subcommittee evolved from a request by community activist Benny Swans to the Public Safety Committee.

Swans asked the committee to help in establishing a series of community forums open to all citizens where problems, concerns, and eyewitness accounts of violence could be heard as well as discussions about possible solutions to the growing problem of violent personal and property crimes throughout the county.

Swans stressed the high murder rates, especially among young people, that have occurred in the last several years. Swans stressed that this effort was important to help save the lives of our children.

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Vote for Reese Boyd III for SC Senate District 34

Tired of “Business as usual” in the South Carolina Legislature?

On June 14th, 2016 South Carolina residents living along a large stretch of the coastline will vote for the Republican candidate to replace the retiring Ray Cleary in SC Senate District 34.

This is an important election in that it will send a signal to the SC legislature on whether SC residents are happy with the current status quo of tax and spend Republicans, or similar to the national presidential contest, want to see meaningful change in SC politics.

The current Republican controlled SC House and Senate have failed the taxpayers of South Carolina.

Roads – they have voted for a gas tax increase, yet the DOT has already received more money than it had in 2012 – their budget has grown by $708 million. Most people close to this issue know that the roads will not improve by giving the politicians more money. What is needed is a restructuring of the SCDOT and taking the road improvement prioritization process out of the hands of politicians.
Economy – The most recent U.S. unemployment rate was 5.1%. Horry County’s rate was 7.4% and Georgetown County’s unemployment rate was 8.3%. Reese will work to reform our tax code and bring about economic growth.
Taxes – South Carolina government is growing – at a rapid pace. You won’t hear a lot about increase in taxes, except for the Gas Tax, but the number of taxes and the additional burden on individuals and businesses are growing each year. Reese will fight efforts to raise our taxes, and push for tax simplification and tax relief for working South Carolina families.
Second Amendment Rights. The legislature tried unsuccessfully to pass “constitutional carry” in South Carolina. Currently there are 23 States planning to introduce “constitutional carry”. We need to vote for someone who truly supports the 2nd

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7th Congressional District GOP Convention Report

The 7th Congressional District GOP Convention held in Florence on Saturday April 9, 2016, to select a new 7th C D Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary as well as Republican National delegates (6) to the National Convention in Cleveland on July 18-21 2016 at the “Q” Arena, was hectic.

There is no question Horry County who had 39 voting delegates with 3 alternates (42 total) who attended, came home with only 2 elected National delegates–Alan Clemmons delegate and Gerri McDaniel alternate.

Meanwhile Florence County, who only assembled 23 attending delegates, received the lion share of National delegates and an alternate. There’s no question that the members of the delegation from Florence out maneuvered Horry County as they pooled their votes, having only 6 people running and had 3 delegates making it to the top.

Horry County had 19 delegates running, which cut into its vote count. Consequently no one received more than 20 votes. Hard ball won the day. The other National delegate went to Jerry Rovner of Georgetown who is the present chairman of the 7th CD. With regards to Clemmons and McDaniel they had the good fortune of getting some votes from other delegates.

Some of Horry’s convention attendees are blaming Chairman Robert Rabon for the blow out. To be fair it is NOT Rabon’s fault, and anyone suggesting or saying it is just doesn’t know the facts. Prior to the meeting Chairman Rabon urged the Party members who were going to go to Florence, to only select 6 delegates and as such with 39 voters; the 6 that were chosen would have won handily.

Rabon tried to caution the delegation about this, but it landed on deaf ears. Hopefully, Horry County will learn from this experience and be better organized in the future; no one enjoys losing especially when they are holding all the aces.

At the opening of the meeting at 10:15 AM the chairman of the 7th C D Jerry Rovner gave a extra-ordinary powerful message, one of which was right on point, the essence of which was:

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