Tag: Horry County Council

New Year for Horry County Council

The New Year is starting out in strange fashion for Horry County Council as its first meeting will be held Thursday night.

Regular council meetings are normally held the first and third Tuesday’s of each month. I understand scheduling conflicts for some of the members moved the first meeting in January two days.

The New Year is starting out where last year left off as far as changes with council are concerned.

Horry County experienced a 44% turnover rate in council membership in 2015 with three new members elected to begin the year and two more new members joining the council in special elections during 2015.

The last of those new members, Jimmy Washington from District 3, won election December 22nd and will be attending his first meeting Thursday night.

The two newest members, Washington and Cam Crawford from District 6, won special elections for unexpired terms that end this year. They will be facing re-election contests in 2016.

But, it wasn’t just membership that changed on Horry County Council in 2015.

In my opinion, there was a rather cavalier attitude toward spending the people’s money that was much more disturbing.

Not only did a majority of council pass the largest property tax increase in county history in 2015, they also increased road vehicle tax by 67%.

Continue Reading →
Taxes, Flag Top 2015 News Stories

Taxes, Flag Top 2015 SC Newsies

Local tax increases and removal of the Confederate battle flag from the statehouse grounds topped the 2015 news stories.

Horry County Council passed the largest single tax increase in county history with a 7.2 mil increase in property taxes. Just for good measure, council also increased the road tax charged on every vehicle registered in the county by 67%.

Sold to the public as a means to increase public safety, the tax increase was really Horry County Council bowing to the will of county employees for a pay raise.

As council member Harold Worley said during debate of the tax increase, “Not one penny of the tax increase will go toward putting one extra officer on the street. Response times will not go down nor will community policing increase because of the tax increase.”

Adding insult to injury, the road annual tax was increased from $30 to $50 per vehicle, ostensibly to provide more money for maintenance of roads in the county road system.

Just a few months later, county council voted to use approximately $16 million in excess revenue from Ride II tax collections not for roads, but to buy a new radio system for public safety.

Five county council members will be up for re-election in 2016, but only one, Gary Loftus, voted to increase taxes.

Five of the six council members voting to raise taxes were elected or re-elected in 2014 and hope the voters will not remember this tax increase in 2018 when they face election again.

The statewide issue that was most intriguing was the removal of the Confederate battle flag from statehouse grounds.

This was done in just several days of a special session called by Gov. Nikki Haley. It demonstrated the General Assembly can act quickly when it wants to.

This special session followed a five month regular session when the General Assembly did absolutely nothing about the most important issues in the state – road maintenance and repair, ethics issues and school funding.

Continue Reading →

HCSWA Moves to Cut Charleston Losses

The Finance Committee of the Horry County Solid Waste Authority board heard Thursday of moves to cut the losses the authority has sustained from its deal to process Charleston County recyclables.

According to HCSWA staff, Charleston County will pay the cost of transportation of its recyclables to Horry County for November, December and January in an attempt to allow the HCSWA to recoup its current losses.

In addition, any amount above 14.5% of residuals will be shipped back to Charleston for disposal.

But, even if the excess of 14.5% is shipped back to Charleston, that won’t solve the other key assumption in the contract that must be met if the HCSWA is ever going to turn a profit from the deal.

Every ton of recyclables above the 14.5% residual threshold means lost revenue that is needed for a profit to be realized.

The estimated profit of $1 million per year is based on a residual rate of not more than 14.5% and the ability to realize an average of $135 per ton revenue from the remaining 85.5% of recyclables processed.

One other problem is the amount of recyclable waste going to the HCSWA landfill.

Horry County Council made it specifically clear that it did not want any Charleston recyclables going into the HCSWA landfill. That space must be saved for Horry County trash and extended as much as possible.

The HCSWA told council it had an arrangement to send C&D waste out of the county in an amount equal to the excess recyclable residual amount realized. This was an airspace neutral arrangement.

The HCSWA claims a historic 14.5% residual rate for recyclables from Horry County.

Continue Reading →

Horry County Department of Airports Inconsistencies

Looking at the Horry County Department of Airports through the years, a conclusion can be drawn that businesses operating at the various airports are treated differently.

It’s almost as if winners and losers are chosen by airport officials based on no apparent criteria.

Such an attitude is contradictory to instructions from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Accepting FAA grant money (of which Horry County receives millions every year) and free land conveyance of former Air Force property brings with it certain requirements of and assurances from the county. The most important of these is that the airports and their facilities must be available for public use in a non-discriminatory manner.

However, after discouraging Hooters Air from renting hangar space at Myrtle Beach International Airport by insisting on rental of $5 per sq. ft., the Horry County Department of Airports rented the same hangars to AvCraft for $2 per sq. ft.

That was only the beginning rent. Over a 10 year period the airport department kept reducing rent , in an attempt to keep AvCraft in business, until the company finally went belly up.

The Conway airport was home to the North American Institute of Aviation. The school did well until the late 1990’s when enrollment started to decline.

Local businessman Benjamin Creel bought the school at that point, but its losses continued to mount.

Continue Reading →

Skydive Myrtle Beach, Horry County and Federal Law

The general aviation procedures at the Horry County Department of Airports seem to raise more questions than answers provided.

The county is currently involved in litigation with Skydive Myrtle Beach over the apparently discriminatory way in which the airport department attempted to treat the skydiving company.

While researching information regarding the ongoing litigation between Skydive Myrtle Beach and Horry County, I came across an interesting piece of information that brings into question leases between the airport department and several individual businesses operating at county airports.

Horry County proposed Skydive Myrtle Beach occupy a hangar at Grand Strand Airport under a space use agreement in which the county would charge Skydive Myrtle Beach $1,200 per month or 24% of the gross receipts of the business, whichever is greater.

The Department of Airport leases with Executive Helicopter at Myrtle Beach International Airport include an annual lease amount or 5% of the gross receipts, whichever is greater.

Skydive Myrtle Beach offered tandem skydiving operations to interested customers. Executive Helicopters provides helicopter sightseeing rides as well as maintenance services.

However, under the terms of what is commonly called the United States Anti Head Tax Act, it appears those charges on gross receipts may be illegal.

The US Department of Transportation, under which the FAA is included, is charged with administering the AHTA.

The AHTA prohibits a state or political subdivision (such as a county) from levying or collecting a: “tax, fee, head charge, or other charge [directly or indirectly] on — an individual traveling in air commerce; … or the gross receipts derived from that air commerce or transportation. 49 U.S.C. § 40116(b)(1), (4).”

Continue Reading →

HCSWA Board Hubris Round Two – Update

Update

The HCSWA board voted 5-2 to recommend to Horry County Council to vote to remove Dan Gray from the board.

As I’ve said before, this is one of the most arrogant decisions made by a public body in the 32 years I have been living in Horry County.

The five board members who voted yay – Lance Thompson, Pam Creech, Norfleet Jones, Mike Campbell and Sam Graves should be ashamed of themselves and they should immediately resign from the board,

_______________________________

Another discussion to recommend removal of HCSWA board member Dan Gray is listed on the agenda for the Thursday December 10, 2015 solid waste authority board meeting.

An attempt to force such a vote was unsuccessful at the November 24, 2015 meeting of the HCSWA board. The board voted unanimously to defer the issue.

It does not appear that a vote Thursday night will garner the necessary super-majority margin of board members for the recommendation to pass.

However, even if it does, the vote by the HCSWA board only serves as a recommendation to Horry County Council to vote on the issue.

In the case of Mr. Gray, there is an added level of consideration as he is a nominee of the League of Cities to the HCSWA board.

The HCSWA board is comprised of seven members. Four of those members are nominated by Horry County Council. Three of the members are nominated by the League of Cities. All seven members of the HCSWA board are appointed by vote of Horry County Council.

According to several Horry County Council members I have spoken with, there will be no vote by council on the issue unless the League of Cities supports the HCSWA board vote.

According to Aynor mayor and League of Cities chairman, Keb Johnson, the League of Cities remains solidly behind Dan Gray remaining on the HCSWA board.

Therefore, it appears the HCSWA board discussion Thursday night is a waste of time. Even if a super-majority of board members vote to recommend removing Gray from the board, it appears this will nothing more than an attempt to publicly humiliate him because the League of Cities will not support the HCSWA board decision.

Continue Reading →

HCSWA Board Hubris Update

By unanimous vote, after a long discussion, the HCSWA board voted to defer consideration of a recommendation to Horry County Council to remove Dan Gray from the HCSWA board until the Thursday December 10, 2015 regular board meeting.

It requires a super majority vote of the seven board members to pass such a recommendation. It was obvious the vote would split 4-3 at best for the board members seeking Gray’s removal. The votes were not there.

Possibly, the HCSWA board is beginning to come to its senses, although I would find that shocking.

We will have more to discuss on this matter prior to that meeting.

————————————————————–

FREE SPEECH OUTLAWED AT HORRY COUNTY SOLID WASTE AUTHORITY

Mention the HCSWA board and hubris is generally the first word that pops into my mind.

Hubris is a word that has evolved from ancient Greece. In ancient times it generally referred to violent or abusive behavior that shamed or humiliated the victim for the gratification or pleasure of the abuser.

In more modern times, hubris generally refers to extreme pride or self-confidence associated with a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one’s own competence, accomplishments or abilities.

In 21st century America, hubris routinely rears its ugly head in the political arena. One could say it’s the number one reason the federal government in Washington doesn’t work.

We are Horry County. We don’t care how they do it in Washington. So why do we insist on copying them?

Late yesterday afternoon, the HCSWA sent out an amended agenda for its 5:30 p.m. board meeting today.

One item was added under new business, “Discussion of Board Member Conduct (Regarding Mr. {Dan} Gray) and Consideration of Recommendation from the Board to Horry County Council of Removal of said Board Member.” (The caps are theirs not mine.)

Continue Reading →

Roads, Radios, Taxes and Horry County Council

The next time we hear Horry County Council members talk about raising taxes, let’s move immediately for recall elections.

There is no provision for recall of elected officials in the state constitution. But, this is the Independent Republic the law doesn’t really apply here anyway.

Certainly very little fiscal responsibility does.

Last spring six members of Horry County Council were determined to raise property taxes by 7.2 mils, the largest increase allowed by law.

Why? Because the county was running out of money and all the county employees, especially public safety, needed pay raises. Or so county council told us at the time.

We were told the road maintenance tax had to be raised by 67% or roads in the county system couldn’t be maintained.

Remember all the talk about the county looking at removing roads from the county road system?

Five months down the road, all that is forgotten. Horry County Council got the tax increases it wanted and business as usual reigns again in Conway.

Tomorrow, the county Infrastructure and Regulation Committee will consider recommending seven resolutions to accept new roads and drainage into the County Maintenance System.

An early prediction is they will all pass.

Horry County Council is two-thirds of the way, with third reading passage of the ordinance guaranteed, to use approximately $16 million in excess revenue from Ride II tax collections for a new 900 MHz radio system for countywide communications.

The Ride II (Riding on a Penny) referendum was passed by the voters of the county to build roads. However, now that there is excess revenue from it Horry County Council quickly found a way to spend that excess in another area.

In 1993, when the current 800 MHZ system was first put in place, county and city officials were told it would have a lifespan of approximately 25 years. Motorola, the system provider, told county officials it would stop servicing the 800 MHz system at the end of next year.

Did Horry County Council establish some type of escrow fund so the money for a new system would be there when it was needed?

Of course not!

Continue Reading →

Horry County Council Wastes Excess Ride II Funds

Tonight, Horry County Council will consider second reading and public review of an ordinance to use leftover Ride II funds for public safety radios.

That’s correct. In 2006, county council asked voters to tax themselves an extra penny on purchases in order to build or improve roads in the county.

Now that funds are leftover, council is trying to make up for years of ill-considered decisions about radios for the public safety division.

There doesn’t seem to be one budget year that goes by without millions of dollars of requests for new radios and supporting equipment.

Next year, Motorola, the manufacturer the county has used for a number of years, will stop supporting the radio system currently used by the county, causing the latest funding crisis.

State law allows capital projects sales tax excess funds to go into the county’s general fund to be spent as council decides.

However, we live in a county that just raised the road maintenance tax by 67% a few months ago. This will add approximately $3 million dollars per year to road maintenance and dirt road paving.

Continue Reading →

International Drive Stalemate

A recent meeting between residents in the SC 90 area and representatives of the Coastal Conservation League highlighted the International Drive stalemate.

According to sources familiar with the meeting, homeowners in the area want the road built and the environmentalists won’t give in unless they get their way.

Their way is to add millions of dollars to the cost of the project for bear tunnels, electronic warning signals, higher fencing and additional mitigation not needed for the project at the cost of a $1.6 million payment to The Nature Conservancy.

In other words, the environmentalist tactic is to delay the project for as long as possible and to add as much additional cost as possible in the hope the road project will be abandoned.

And I don’t believe these delaying tactics are about bears in the area at all.

Fifteen years ago, the Horry County Solid Waste Authority board discussed using authority funds to pave International Drive as a means of reducing garbage truck traffic on SC 90.

The environmentalists were never heard from during these discussions.

Continue Reading →
1 … 16 17 18 19 20 … 43