Tag: Horry County Council

Special Election Primary – Who Cares?

We are at the weekend before the special election primary for Horry County Council chairman and there is very little buzz “on the street” about the race.

Is it that voters are electioned out or that the five candidates have failed to generate any real excitement about themselves?

I suspect both of the above are part of the problem.

Two things I am hearing on the street from average citizens are no matter who becomes the next chairman, there is little support for giving government money to private businesses in the name of economic development and there is little support for building I-73.

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Carolina Southern Railroad and Horry County

Carolina Southern Railroad and Horry County officials appear to remain far apart on any plan to get the railroad back in operation.

Service on portions of the rail line was voluntarily suspended by Carolina Southern Railroad officials when new federal regulations, especially on bridges, went into effect in the summer of 2011. Those service interruptions directly affect Horry County.

Since then, the railroad has been searching for funding with which to make the repairs. It joined with Horry County in two unsuccessful applications for discretionary railroad infrastructure TIGER grants from the federal government.

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Horry County Council and Its WestJet Guarantee

The vote by Horry County Council earlier this week to set aside a contingency fund of $1 million to guarantee Canadian airline WestJet from suffering losses on new passenger service to Myrtle Beach International Airport continues to be a topic of discussion by the general public.

Several times this past week I was asked the question, “What is Horry County Council thinking by guaranteeing a private business against losses?”

My first inclination was to respond that ‘Horry County Council thinking’ is an oxymoron, but I settled for ‘I don’t have the slightest idea.’

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SWA Asks Chamber to Support Flow Control Monopoly

The Horry County Solid Waste Authority is trying to enlist the help of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce with lobbying efforts to maintain the solid waste flow control monopoly the SWA currently enjoys in the county.

Officials from the SWA will make a presentation this morning to the chamber’s Legislative Policy Council, chaired by George Mims, urging defeat of the Business Freedom to Choose Act, currently under consideration in the SC Senate.

The Business Freedom to Choose Act would ban flow control within the borders of South Carolina. Of course, since Horry County is the only county of the 46 in the state to have legislatively mandated a government monopoly over solid waste disposal, the SWA is hoping the Chamber will see the fight as local.

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Flow Control ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ Lawsuit Update

The Horry County Administration Committee will hear an update at its Friday meeting on plans to hire a law firm to sue the State of South Carolina if the General Assembly passes legislation to outlaw solid waste flow control within the state.

The ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ lawsuit would be one of the highest forms of political folly ever seen in this county of almost continuous political follies.

Couched by county council members as their line in the sand for ‘home rule’, it is anything but.

The Horry County Solid Waste Authority and then county attorney John Weaver sold county council a bill of goods in 2008 about the authority’s need to have flow control in order to stay in business.

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SC House Passes Flow Control Ban

The S.C. House ended the month of January by passing third reading on the Business Freedom to Choose Act (H3290), which would make Horry County’s solid waste flow control ordinance illegal.

The fate of the county’s monopoly on solid waste disposal for all solid waste generated in the county now rests with the S.C. Senate.

According to information we are hearing, Sen. Luke Rankin and Sen. Greg Hembree will fight passage of the bill in the Senate, which would act to the detriment of the citizens they represent.

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Tourism Development Fee Tales

The Tourism Development Fee, otherwise known as the reverse Robin Hood tourism ad sales tax, is again in the news as Myrtle Beach city and Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce officials continue to attempt to justify it.

They speak of capital improvement projects and reduced property tax for owner occupied homes in the city as well as possibilities of extending the tourism base for local business.

What we don’t hear about is how the motel and restaurant owners were able to decrease their advertising budgets in excess of 90 percent, allowing them to put more money in their pockets, while the maids, waitresses and bus boys they pay minimum wage to pay more tax.

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Expanding Flow Control Monopoly in Horry County

As the S.C. General Assembly considers legislation this year that would make flow control of the waste stream illegal throughout the state, Horry County government is planning to expand waste operations of the Horry County Solid Waste Authority and carry the fight into the courts to maintain its government monopoly over the waste business within county borders.

For over three years now, Horry County has legislated that all waste generated within the county must be disposed at the county dump, also known as the Horry County Solid Waste Authority, at rates dictated by the SWA.

This is nothing more than maximizing the income stream for the county created SWA, which operates as a quasi-governmental authority, without the SWA having to compete in the free market against private companies. And it must work well because the SWA has cut no jobs, even in the depressed economy, and each of its over 100 employees received a $500 Christmas bonus in 2011 and 2012.

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Flow Control – ‘Don’t Tread on Me’

Horry County is preparing to sue the State of South Carolina if the General Assembly passes into law legislation currently before the General Assembly that would eliminate the Horry County Solid Waste Authority’s flow control monopoly of the county’s solid waste stream.

In a far reaching debate last week on flow control, home rule and revenue streams, the county Administration Committee passed a motion to put a resolution before full council directing the county administrator and attorney to begin searching for a law firm to represent the county. The catch phrase is “The Don’t Tread on Me” resolution.

As usual in Horry County when the debate is on the SWA and/or flow control, the committee and council are framing the debate wrong.

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Debbie Harwell Entering Chairman Race

Several sources have told Grand Strand Daily that local businesswoman Debbie Harwell will announce her candidacy for the vacant Horry County Council Chairman seat within the next 48 hours.

Harwell, owner of Adobe Palm Communications and former morning talk radio personality on WRNN radio, will bring the number of candidates announced for the race to four.

Former council chair Liz Gilland, former council member Mark Lazarus and current District 11 county council representative Al Allen are the other announced candidates.

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