Politics

Coast RTA Meetings

Two meetings will be held today that will look to how Coast RTA will be conducting its operations in the future.

The first will be at 10:30 a.m. at the Coast RTA board room where Coast RTA officials will meet with members of the Horry County legislative delegation, a Georgetown County representative and several members of Horry County council.

The purpose of the morning meeting is to investigate changes in state law to provide Horry County more representation on the Coast RTA board in line with its local grant contributions to the Coast RTA budget.

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SC Pension Fund Woes

A recent report released by two Maryland public policy think tanks lists SC pension fund at the top of the list of 10 states paying the most money management fees over the last five years.

The report by the Maryland Public Policy Institute and Maryland Tax Education Foundation looked at average fees paid versus average investment return for fiscal years 2008-2012 inclusive.

South Carolina paid the most fees across the study span with an average of 1.3% of pension fund assets. For that, South Carolina’s average rate of return over the five years was 1.5%, according to the study.

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Coast RTA Budget, Horry County and Communication

The controversy generated by a county budget amendment regarding a Coast RTA revenue grant, added during third reading of the Fiscal Year 2014 county budget, appears to be the result of lack of communication between county and Coast RTA officials.

A two hour meeting with Coast RTA officials last week revealed how the potential loss of a county payment to Coast RTA of $263,758, for the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year 2014, would result in a total loss to Coast RTA of $599,733.

The potential loss of the county grant payment costs Coast RTA an additional $236,523 in matching federal funds, $50,000 in ad revenue and $49,460 in lost passenger fares from two routes that will be cut, Entertainment Express and Airport to Ocean Boulevard. The Coast RTA budget, submitted to the Federal Transportation Authority must reflect these potential cuts.

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Ad Hoc Committee for Strip Club Law

An Ad Hoc Committee of Horry County Council will take the next three months to consider recommendations that will strongly regulate but not eliminate strip clubs and other adult entertainment establishments in the county.

The committee will consist of council members Harold Worley (chairman), Bob Grabowski, Paul Price, Brent Schulz, Marion Foxworth and Jody Prince. Staff members who will assist the committee are Infrastructure and Regulation Division Director Steve Gosnell, Planning Division Director Janet Carter and Horry County Police Chief Saundra Rhodes.

The appointment of the ad hoc committee by council chairman Mark Lazarus resulted from discussion at a special June 24, 2013 workshop. A majority of council members were not willing to adopt an extremely stringent ordinance drawn up for the county by an attorney in Tennessee, specializing in this type of law.

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Coast RTA Funding – Tempest in a Teapot?

It seems that the controversy over funding that erupted last week between Coast RTA and Horry County may be on its way to resolution.

The Coast RTA board passed a resolution at its regular board meeting Wednesday to work with Horry County and the Horry County legislative delegation to reconstitute who appoints board members to more closely reflect local agency funding of the authority.

Why couldn’t this resolution have been passed in the six months since January 2014? If it had, there is a very good chance uncertainty about a $268,000 payment from Horry County to Coast RTA in May 2014 would never have arisen.

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Chad Connelly Censured

The embattled former state chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, Chad Connelly took another big political hit to his checkered career Monday night. The Greenville County Republican Party formally censured him for his egregious conduct at the Republican state convention earlier this year.

Greenville County, with a population of 450,000 is the largest county in the state. It is also by far the most Republican, and the most conservative, county in the state. Meeting in executive session, the county GOP took the unprecedented step of formally censuring Mr. Connelly. The vote to impose the censure garnered the support of a whopping 89% of the executive committee members present and voting.

The motion to Censure Chad Connelly was duly made and seconded in the last meeting of the county executive committee. However, it was pointed out, under the rules, the motion for censure could not be voted on at the same meeting when it was introduced. Rather than wait two months to consider the censure motion, twenty-three members of the executive committee signed a letter to County Chairman Betty Poe calling for a special meeting to vote on the censure motion. That special meeting was held Monday night.

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Coast RTA vs. Horry County Budget Fight

It never takes much to stir up a political controversy in Horry County, but the one that has erupted in the last couple of days between Coast RTA and Horry County Council, over budgets, is ridiculous beyond belief.

Like any good political battle, egos are up and there are charges and counter-charges and more misinformation than real information in the air. But, the victor in these types of controversies is usually the one who controls the purse strings and that’s not good news for Coast RTA.

The genesis of this foolishness rests with the Horry County advisory referendum of 2010 in which 62.5 percent of voters said they would support giving tax dollars from the county’s general fund to Coast RTA to help fund its operations.

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Horry County Strip Club Law Workshop

Horry County Council will hold a workshop on its proposed new strip club law Tuesday June 25, 2013 in council chambers beginning at 4 p.m.

The meat of the agenda is advertised as an explanation of pending federal litigation and proposed Horry County ordinances.

The federal litigation is the stimulus for changing the current county ordinances governing strip clubs, which are woefully inadequate and expected to be struck down with the current litigation.

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Mark Lazarus Hits a Grand Slam

With just a few appearances as Horry County Council chairman under his belt, Mark Lazarus hit a grand slam home run at Tuesday night’s regular meeting of council.

After many years of despairing over poor to non-existent leadership on Horry County Council, Lazarus has quickly stepped into the void, in my opinion.

He runs a good meeting and the other 11 council members seem comfortable with him at the helm. That’s certainly not a statement that could have been made very often, if at all, over the last several decades.

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A Funny Thing Happened to Flow Control Insurance

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum to the Horry County Solid Waste Authority Tuesday night. It ran into a problem while trying to foist its solid waste stream flow control insurance plan on Horry County Council.

Expectations are the S.C. General Assembly will finally pass legislation outlawing flow control statewide next year. Since it was Horry County Council, at the direction of the SWA four years ago, that established the only flow control monopoly in the state, the SWA was blindsided when council did not roll over for it at Tuesday’s regular meeting.

The SWA is now running around the county attempting to sign most haulers and all trash generating communities to five year contracts. If the customers agree to bring all their trash to the SWA landfill during that period, the SWA will give a $2 per ton reduction on its tipping fee if certain minimum recycling percentages are met.

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