Mike Roberts Seeking Horry County Council District Seven Seat

By Paul Gable

Lifelong Conway resident Mike Roberts announced last week that he was a Republican candidate for the open Horry County Council District Seven seat.

Roberts was the Republican nominee for the District Seven seat in 2014. After winning the Republican primary, Roberts lost to longtime Democratic council member James Frazier in the 2014 general election. With Frazier’s retirement from the position on March 1, 2014, Roberts is again seeking to represent the citizens of District Seven.

Keeping taxes low will be the number one priority for Roberts if he is elected to county council.

“Government is too quick to raise taxes when it faces some kind of problem,” Roberts said. “We must first look to cut needless spending so we can keep taxes low.”

Horry County Council passed the largest property tax increase in history last summer by a 6-5 vote margin. Frazier voted with the slim majority to raise taxes

It is safe to say, if Roberts had been the victor in 2014, the tax increase would not have passed.

“I would not have voted for it,” Roberts said. “County council passed first reading of the budget with no tax increase. By second reading, we supposedly needed the largest tax increase in history. Nothing changed except the politics.”

A lifelong small business owner, Roberts believes all businesses should be treated the same in Horry County.

“We need to treat all businesses equally,” Roberts said. “They all employ somebody from one or two employees up. There is no reason to give incentives to one business while forgetting all the others already operating in the county.”

Roberts said he also believes in minimum government interference in the lives and property of individual citizens.

“I believe a person should be able to do anything he wants on his property as long as it doesn’t interfere with his neighbors’ quality of life,” Roberts said.

Horry County has been good to me and my family,” Roberts said. “I love Horry County. I am at a time in life where I can give something back to the community and I want to work to keep the quality of life I have known in my lifetime.”

The special primary election for District Seven will be held May 17, 2016 with primary runoffs (if needed) on May 31, 2016. The general election will be held July 5, 2016.