Tag: retirement

"Public pensions must be more transparent, accountable." Curtis M. Loftis Jr.

Press Release: Loftis’ Statement on Employee Retirement Rate Hike

Columbia, SC – Today, I voted against a request from PEBA to the State Fiscal Accountability Authority to increase both employee and employer retirement contribution rates to the state pension fund by .5% effective July 1, 2017. The increases are a result of years of mismanagement of the South Carolina pension fund, and now has state and public employees contributing 9.16% of their pay towards future retirement benefits, which is 55% more than the national average. Public employees and taxpayers are going to pay more, when they are guilty of nothing but working hard and trusting their elected officials.

This increase is not going to fix the problem. At this rate, the pension issue is going to continue to grow, until it’s too big to fix. Pension increase should not be measured in money, but by how many teachers, policemen, firefighters, and other public employees are taken off the streets.

Lawmakers have tough choices when it comes to fixing the pension fund problem. They must make the pension system their top priority in January when session starts. The pension is the most significant challenge of our generation.

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Roddy Dickinson Retiring from Treasurer’s Post

In the final year of his third term as Horry County Treasurer, Roddy Dickinson announced recently that he would not be seeking a fourth term in office.

“I could not commit to spending another full four year term in office and I’m not going to run for office and quit halfway through,” said Dickinson. “It’s time for me to move on.”

When he completes his 12th and final year as Treasurer at the end of December 2016, Dickinson will have a total of 32 years of service with Horry County Government.

“My first 15 years were with the Finance Office,” said Dickinson. “I moved to the Treasurer’s office when Johnnie Allen was Treasurer. When Allen retired, he supported me in my bid to succeed him.”

The Treasurer’s office has responsibility for collecting current and delinquent property taxes; has oversight over accommodations and hospitality tax collections in the county; is responsible for delinquent tax sale of property and invests revenue for Horry County, Horry County Schools, Horry County Department of Airports and Horry County Solid Waste Authority.

During his time in office, the population of Horry County grew by approximately 100,000 placing demands on the office as a significant amount of new residential property was added to the tax rolls.

“The Treasurer’s job was probably the biggest challenge of my life,” said Dickinson. “We went through a significant explosion of technology since I first took office in 2005 and have added services to the public while keeping staff positions steady.”

Dickinson also steered the office through the difficult period of economic recession caused by the burst of the national housing bubble and succeeding banking crisis in 2008.

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