Tag: property taxes

Shanda Allen Files for Reelection to Horry County School Board

(Above, Shenda Allen, left, files for reelection)

Shanda Allen, Horry County School Board member for District 11, filed for reelection Saturday on the first day of filing for the upcoming June 11, 2024, Republican Primary voting.
Often school board members and their deliberations fall outside the voters’ immediate awareness of local political issues. However, those same issues may impact local residents and families more directly on a day-to-day basis than any other political discussions in the county.
The School Board oversees the largest budget of any public agency in Horry County. It oversees the safety of the county’s students while they are in school 180 days oer year and the learning environment for those students as they prepare to enter the adult world.
Allen has served two terms on the school board. She currently serves on the Human Relations Committee, which sets the overall policy for staffing school district employees and is Chairman of the Technical Committee, which sets policy for the learning devices provided to each student as education continually shifts from book to digital learning.
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A Vote for the One-cent Sales and Use Tax for Education Capital Projects is a Vote for Lower Taxes

There is an interesting dynamic going on in the electorate with respect to the local referendum to keep in place a one-cent sales and use tax for education capital projects.
Many people I consider politically savvy are voicing opposition to voting “Yes” on this referendum question. The general complaint I am seeing on social media is voters are tired of voting for more taxes.
I understand that attitude. Many people retired down here to escape the high taxes in the northeast and Midwest. They don’t want to see the creeping increases in taxes they experienced during their working lives in those parts of the country.
The conundrum here is that by voting “No”, in other words voting against the referendum to reimpose the education sales and use tax, voters are voting for higher taxes in most cases.
I moved to Horry County in 1983. In the intervening 39+ years, I have seen two new school attendance districts formed, Carolina Forest and St. James, with the necessary primary, elementary, middle and high schools built to serve those new districts. As a point of reference, Carolina Forest at that time was a tree farm for International Paper. No homes or businesses existed there.

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One Cent Sales Tax for Education Worth Every Penny

On the November 8, 2022 general election ballot, Horry County voters will be asked to approve the reimposition of the one-cent Education Capital Improvement Sales and Use Tax for an additional 15 years.
The revenue from this tax is used to keep millage low on property tax for debt indebtedness levied by the Horry County School District throughout Horry County. The current property tax for debt indebtedness by Horry County Schools is 10 mills.
In November 2008, Horry County voters approved a referendum to collect a one-cent local option Education Capital Improvement Sales and Use Tax. The tax will end in March 2024 unless it is reimposed with a new referendum. Since the one-cent sales tax was first approved, property tax millage for school bond indebtedness has been reduced from 28 mills to 10 mills.
Revenue from the tax may be used for capital improvements. It may not be used for salaries, benefits and other personnel costs.

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Myrtle Beach Residents: Double Taxation – Still No Public Safety

Myrtle Beach residents began contacting members of Horry County Council this week requesting help with public safety problems in the city.

This is not as ridiculous as it sounds. After all, they are paying for it.

Countywide tax millage is paid by all property owners throughout Horry County. The Horry County Police Department is funded from the county’s general fund whose main revenue source is countywide tax millage.

City residents pay an additional level of taxes (citywide millage, fees and the like). The Myrtle Beach Police Department is funded from the city’s general fund whose main revenue source is the additional citywide tax millage.

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