Recent Posts

Towering Political Egos

Towering political egos are the bane of sensible political discussion and of the ability of a politician to take a reflective look at him or herself.

It doesn’t take long for the average politician to believe that anyone criticizing them is wrong by definition and that any criticism of them is a mean-spirited personal attack.

Too often this attitude is the result of an inner insecurity that is masked by a false confidence and arrogance.

No, this isn’t meant to be a column on the psychology of politicians. The above is merely an expression of my conclusions over many years of observing the political scene, criticizing many statements, decisions and votes and watching the reactions of those politicians involved.

Word has reached me that I bruised a few egos again this week.

Evidently I hurt some feelings when I called Cam Crawford the stealth candidate for dodging candidate forums in the current Horry County Council District 6 Republican special primary campaign.

I have even been told Crawford’s wife, Rep. Heather Ammons Crawford, was making statements about being mad not only at me, but also at political consultant Donald Smith.

Mad at me for writing that Cam should not be a political candidate if he was unwilling to answer questions from the public and engage voters and the other candidates and mad at Smith for not stopping me from writing those statements.

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Stop the Horry County Council Tax Increase

The tax increase FY 2016 budget of Horry County Council remains a major topic of conversation throughout the county.

Council will vote on third reading of what could be the largest Horry County tax increase in a generation at its regular meeting Tuesday June 16, 2015.

Why it all became necessary within the last month is the real story.

During both the fall and spring budget retreats of Horry County Council, as well as first reading of the budget, the discussion was of a balanced budget with no tax increase.

Then, council voted a new contract for county administrator Chris Eldridge with annual pay increases of $10,000 and a six month severance package. The only thing Eldridge is guaranteed is the severance package as council can vote to terminate him at any time, but, if he remains for several years, he will receive annual increases of $10,000.

Upset at the possible pay increases for Eldridge, the county employees, especially those in public safety departments, began an organized campaign of calling council members to complain.

A majority of Horry County Council members were intimidated enough to completely restructure the budget to include somewhere in excess of $4 million for a pay increase for all county employees. (The county has still not answered our request for the total amount being dedicated to the pay increase.)

To mask their intimidation, those council members supporting the tax increase have verbalized things like a shrinking excess reserve fund and the need to better pay public safety employees as their justification for the tax increase.

But, nothing has really changed from first reading of the budget. No tax increase is needed this year. And nothing in the budget increase will pay for new HCPD patrol officers meaning no reduction in response times or increased community policing will result from this massive increase.

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Horry County Council District 6 Forum

The South Strand Republican Club hosted a candidate forum Tuesday night for those seeking the Horry County Council District 6 Republican special primary nomination.

As has been the norm over six forums held throughout the district during this special election campaign, five candidates, Blaine Garren, Ric Coates, Chris Stephens, Cary Rowell and Kirk Hanna, showed up.

The sixth (alleged) candidate in the race, Cam Crawford, remained conspicuous by his absence from any forum where he would have to answer questions and engage in debate with the other candidates in the race.

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Bureaucracy to prevail at expense of the taxpayer

SC General Assembly Ongoing Road Problems

The effort to find funding to fix the state’s roads will be the elephant in the room when the SC General Assembly convenes in January 2016.

With several road bills already in the legislative process, how to mix a possible gas tax increase with other proposals in an election year will cause big problems for legislators.

An astute political observer I have known for a long time predicts no road maintenance bill will be passed next year because of the elections.

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Election Day for Berkeley County Sheriff Update

Duane Lewis Wins Berkeley County Sheriff Election

It was a bit closer than expected, but Duane Lewis is the new Berkeley County Sheriff.

Lewis captured 47% of the votes cast with write-ins garnering 33% and Democrat Anthony Smalls finishing third with 20% of the vote.

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Group Opposes Horry County Council on Taxes

The Republican Liberty Caucus is circulating a petition opposing the proposed Horry County Council 7.2 mil tax increase.

According to the information we have received, the petition will be presented to Horry County Council members prior to third reading of the FY 2016 budget scheduled for council’s June 16, 2015 regular meeting.

This is the type of taxpayer involvement in the budget process that is needed to let Horry County Council members know their spendthrift ways are being watched.

The petition makes a solid case in noting that this is not the time for a tax increase for county businesses and residents since Horry County still has 7.7% unemployed. Raising taxes will not stimulate the economy to, hopefully, create new jobs.

Regardless of what has been publicized about diminishing county excess reserves and public safety needs, this tax increase is all about giving an across the board pay increase to all county employees.

According to the county’s briefing documents, a total of nearly $3 million additional dollars will be added to the county general fund to pay the 1,631 county employees paid from the general fund.

This group already earns $57,177 in pay and benefits per year on the average with a total of at least 34 paid days off each year.

The county has not responded to a request to provide the numbers on the total additional dollars that will be spent on the pay increase. Approximately 600 county employees are paid from funds other than the general fund.

Therefore, the amount of tax dollars expended on pay increases will be significantly more than the nearly $3 million already documented.

The $57,177 average salary and benefits package for county employees is far greater than private sector employees in Horry County receive in average pay and benefits – $44,779 according to the petition.

Why should those who earn less on average (private sector) get taxed more to fund a pay increase for those who already earn more on average (public sector)?

Something about that just doesn’t pass the smell test.

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Bureaucracy to prevail at expense of the taxpayer

SC General Assembly Fails Local Government

It can be argued that the SC General Assembly is at least partially responsible for a large tax increase being considered in Horry County.

There is something called the Local Government Fund that is mandated by state law. It evolved from a group of taxes due to cities and counties collected by the state government.

To simplify the return of this money, the SC General Assembly, in 1991, passed a law that states 4.5 percent of the previous fiscal year’s general fund revenue must be divided between counties (83.3%) and cities (16.7%) based on population.

This Local Government Fund may not be cut below the 4.5% level without separate and specific legislation being passed.

In many years at least since 2000, the SC General Assembly passed an annual legislative exception (separate and specific legislation) to the 4.5% required Local Government Fund.

Why?

Because a significant number of members in both houses of the SC General Assembly hate local government and would like to see Home Rule done away with.

Since the passage of Act 388 of 2006, the SC General Assembly has directly interfered with local governments’ ability to fund local services and has used the annual exceptions to LGF amounts to continue to further restrict local government revenues.

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Horry County Council Tax Explosion

Horry County Council is spending your tax dollars like a bunch of drunken sailors making a port call.

The council voted 6-5 to amend the FY 2016 budget to include a countywide tax increase of 7.2 mils for the general fund, to increase the business license fees and to raise the road fee to $50 for every vehicle registered in the county.

Council chairman Mark Lazarus was joined by council members Al Allen, Bill Howard, Johnny Vaught, Gary Loftus, and James Frazier in voting yes for the tax increase.

This is an increase of 20% on general fund operating millage and 67% on the vehicle road fee. The increase of 7.2 mils for the general fund is the maximum limit allowed by state law or council probably would have gone higher.

This comes on top of a 6 mil tax increase (50%) for the fire fund in all the unincorporated areas of the county approved two years ago.

And not that many years before, council added 3 mils (100%) to the waste recycling fee in the unincorporated areas of the county.

It used to be if you lived in the city you could expect fairly routine tax increases, albeit for a higher level of services. Now, that holds true for tax increases in the unincorporated areas of Horry County just not for the level of services.

To paraphrase former Republican senator Everett Dirksen, a few mils here, a few mils there, pretty soon it adds up to real money.

Of course, Dirksen was speaking against federal tax and spend programs.

In Horry County, it’s the Republicans who have proudly become the tax and spend party.

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Bureaucracy to prevail at expense of the taxpayer

Last Regular Week for SC General Assembly

The SC General Assembly meets today to begin its last regular week of this legislative year.

To say this year has been a disappointment in real legislation is an understatement. In fact, this year will be known by what wasn’t accomplished rather than by what was.

An attempt to pass an ethics reform bill hung up on the shoals of the SC Senate. Seems our senators are determined to keep ethics oversight within the Senate Ethics Committee. No independent investigations of conduct of senators are allowed unless the Senate okays it (read Robert Ford).

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Our police departments are looking like armies

“The linked article from the Charleston City Paper is an SC Hotline must read for anyone who cares about our freedoms.

The author hits the nail on the head about the militarization of police forces that may be heading to a “domestic army who are as heavily armed as the military and can act with complete impunity.”

As he correctly points out, “America has allowed itself to become protected,… by heavily armed men and women in large vehicles with questionable amounts of training who follow bad policies.” ~Paul Gable

By Mat Catastrophe

Last week, President Barack Obama announced that he would end the federal government’s policy of giving some kinds of used military equipment to local police forces. This move was in response to criticism that law enforcement officers had used military equipment to quiet civil unrest in several American cities, most notably Baltimore, Md.

Sadly, Obama’s actions are just another example of the president’s too-little-too-late approach to governance. The truth is, Obama is not the wild-eyed radical the hard right paints him as. In reality, he’s about as radical as a cup of warm water.

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