Thursday, May 16, 2024
Myrtle Beach City Council held an executive session yesterday to discuss safety and security planning for Memorial Day weekend.
That’s great, but it’s only a small part of the public safety problem in the city.
While the Myrtle Beach City Council is looking for better ways to control crowds during Memorial Day weekend, it must not forget it has a growing year around policing problem.
The RIDE III Committee had its opening meeting yesterday marking the first move toward a possible November 2016 ballot referendum for new road projects funded by a one-cent local sales tax.
The committee will take the next year or so considering possible road projects to include in the referendum with public meetings included on its future agenda.
One thing to remember is the committee is purely advisory.
Once the committee finalizes a list of possible projects, the list will be sent as recommendations to a six-member RIDE III Commission.
Myrtle Beach City Council yesterday halted its attempt to annex approximately 640 acres along the U.S. 17 Bypass corridor.
The attempted annexation included two residential neighborhoods totaling approximately 44 acres. To this was added nearly 600 acres of commercial and undeveloped property attached to the residential annexation by city officials.
While 25% of registered voters in the annexation area had to sign a petition requesting annexation and later approve a referendum by majority vote, the commercial property owners had no say in the process.
Horry County voters will have no advisory referendums on the November 2014 general election ballot asking for additional taxes to be levied on county residents.
Last week it looked as if Horry County voters would get to register their advice on whether to raise millage to help fund the Waccamaw Center for Mental Health services.
The Waccamaw Center for Mental Health is a state designated agency that is underfunded by the General Assembly.
The 14 count federal indictment, with a potential 145 years in prison, brought against former state Rep. Thad Viers earlier this week brings several questions to mind.
Twelve of the counts were for what lawyers do every day – remove money from their trust account at the direction of the client.
If all of the withdrawals were made with the intent to hide assets and if Viers knew this as alleged, wouldn’t the 13th count of conspiracy to hide assets cover these transactions?
Maybe the answer to why such a draconian indictment was brought lies with the 14th count – lying to an IRS investigator.
Gov. Nikki Haley’s recent trip to Atlantic Beach continues to garner negative headlines for South Carolina’s top elected official.
The governor failed in her attempt to have a “frank” discussion with the Atlantic Beach Town Council about ending the Memorial Day Bikefest.
After a short opening address by Haley in which she reportedly promised to help Atlantic Beach return to its glory days of pre-integration prosperity, Haley was met with silence from town officials.
However, that was not all that occurred during the meeting.
Recently released reports of a Federal Transportation Authority inspection of Coast RTA highlight the problems inherent in a multi-jurisdictional authority that spends public money.
The FTA inspection occurs every three years. In 2011, the FTA inspection noted four “findings” of problems at Coast RTA. The 2014 inspection listed 17 “findings. The two most problematic findings are the bus fleet and maintenance shop are literally falling apart.
Those inspection results are noteworthy because Horry County increased its funding of Coast RTA from approximately $400,000 to $1.06 million in the fiscal year beginning July 2011.
Horry County Council is considering asking the county’s voters advice on long term funding for Waccamaw Center for Mental Health.
A state created organization, the state has failed in its obligation to provide all the needed funding for the center.
Sen. Ray Cleary (R-Dist.34) spoke to the Horry County Council Administration Committee last Friday outlining a possible referendum question for county voters to consider in the November 2014 general election.
Horry County will not have to change the value of a property tax mill as a result of property reassessment.
Final reassessed property values countywide came to within approximately 2% of former values so Horry County staff could do some juggling and hold the line on the county’s recently approved Fiscal Year 2015 budget.
But, that does not mean there will not be both winners and losers when tax bills go out. Some property taxes will go up and some will come down relative to prior years’ tax bills. In fact, there will be a distinct shift in tax revenues in the county.
The HCSWA (Horry County Solid Waste Authority) Board of Directors spent several hours Thursday in a workshop to finalize changes to the agency’s bylaws.
One topic of discussion was how the dissolution of the authority will be handled, if it occurs. Actually, it’s not the board’s call.
Don’t you remember that county council recently passed an ordinance covering just that very situation?
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