Search Results for "Horry County Council"

Horry County Council Wastes Excess Ride II Funds

Tonight, Horry County Council will consider second reading and public review of an ordinance to use leftover Ride II funds for public safety radios.

That’s correct. In 2006, county council asked voters to tax themselves an extra penny on purchases in order to build or improve roads in the county.

Now that funds are leftover, council is trying to make up for years of ill-considered decisions about radios for the public safety division.

There doesn’t seem to be one budget year that goes by without millions of dollars of requests for new radios and supporting equipment.

Next year, Motorola, the manufacturer the county has used for a number of years, will stop supporting the radio system currently used by the county, causing the latest funding crisis.

State law allows capital projects sales tax excess funds to go into the county’s general fund to be spent as council decides.

However, we live in a county that just raised the road maintenance tax by 67% a few months ago. This will add approximately $3 million dollars per year to road maintenance and dirt road paving.

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Cam Crawford Newest Horry County Council Member

Cam Crawford swept through the special general election for Horry County Council District 6 Tuesday.

Crawford, who was unopposed on the ballot, gathered 240 of the 250 votes cast.

Rumors of a write-in campaign to challenge Crawford did not pan out as only eight write-in votes were cast.

Crawford can now be sworn into office in time to attend the next scheduled Horry County Council meeting on August 18, 2015.

This election brings council back to full strength, at least for the time being.

In other local election news, Republican runoff candidates Russell Fry and Tyler Servant are scheduled to face off in a debate Thursday August 6, 2015.

Fry and Servant will be opposing each other in a special Republican primary runoff election net Tuesday, August 11, 2015, to see who will be the Republican nominee in the SC House District 106 special general election scheduled for September 15, 2015.

Fry led the first round of primary voting last week with 1,152 votes to 851 votes for Servant who finished second. The winner of the runoff election will be the only name on the special general election ballot as there are no Democratic candidates in the race.

The South Strand Republican Club will be hosting tomorrow’s debate. It will be held at the Horry County Recreation Center in the South Strand government complex on Scipio Lane.

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Vote Tomorrow Horry County Council District 6

By Paul Gable
Vote tomorrow, August 4, 2015, in the special general election for Horry County Council District 6.

Republican Cam Crawford will be the only name on the ballot.

Crawford turned back five other candidates in the special primary election just over a month ago. The Democratic Party did not have any candidates file for this seat.

The citizens of Horry County Council District 6 have had no representation on county council since the death of Bob Grabowski in late March 2015.

In the interim, Horry County Council passed the largest tax increase in a generation in a series of 6-5 votes.

Nothing highlights the need of every district to be represented than those votes.

Even though Crawford’s will be the only name on the ballot, a write-in candidacy is always a possibility. It is important to make your voice heard through the ballot box.

This summer has been an extraordinary time for special elections in the southern end of Horry County.

Last week, Russell Fry and Tyler Servant finished one and two, respectively, in a special Republican Primary for SC House District 106. Next week will see the primary runoff election between these two candidates.

Again, the Democratic Party has no candidates in the SC House District 106 race.

Some areas of these two districts overlap, leaving voters in those precincts the opportunity to vote in both elections.

I know the Dog Days of Summer are a difficult time to get out and get around the Grand Strand as the height (and heat) of the tourist season is still upon us. However, it is important we have as many voters turn out as possible for these important elections.

So please get out and vote.

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Horry County's Accommodations Tax

Horry County Council Budget Resolutions

Horry County Council will consider two resolutions at its meeting tonight to complete this fiscal year’s budget process.

The resolutions will be to approve funding agreements with the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation for two years and with Coast RTA for one year.

These votes will be the final acts of contempt toward county taxpayers in a budget year that brings the largest property tax increase in a generation.

Led by the Republican ‘Gang of Five’ (Mark Lazarus, Al Allen, Johnny Vaught, Gary Loftus and Bill Howard), Horry County Council chose to raise property taxes by 7.2 mils ($13.5 million) without even considering during budget considerations whether funding should be cut for the MBREDC and Coast RTA.

Of course, MBREDC and Coast RTA funding weren’t the only possible savings in a $130 million general fund budget that could have been looked at.

It was just easier for the Republican ‘Gang of Five’ to raise taxes than to go through the details of the budget.

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Dirty Tricks Hit Horry County Council District 6

By Paul Gable
It took a while, but what passes for dirty tricks has arrived in the special primary runoff election for Horry County Council District 6.
A piece arrived in the mail today for District 6 voters stating the LGBT Association of Horry County supports Cam Crawford.
On the back side of the card it states Crawford will sponsor a county ordinance that will provide tax breaks for same-sex couples.
Such an ordinance is an impossibility to introduce. There is no provision in state law, which is what county ordinances must conform to, to allow for such a tax break. Just goes to show how little the author knows about South Carolina law and county legislation.
Then, when you consider there is no LGBT Association of Horry County, the only conclusion that can be drawn is Crawford’s opponent thinks this mailer will hurt Crawford’s vote count.
The piece looks to be exactly the same stock and typesetting that was used in an attempt to smear Tyler Servant during his campaign for Horry County Council District 5.
Now it has moved over to the special election campaign for Horry County Council District 6.
Is there a common denominator in both campaigns?
Possibly one. Jay Specter managed Chuck Ottwell’s campaign for District 5. The same Jay Specter is managing the campaign of Kirk Hanna for District 6.
Is Specter the common denominator? No way to know for sure, but if this piece does hurt Crawford, Hanna would be the only beneficiary.
Dirty Tricks 2.0 is more inflammatory than its predecessor in District 5 with a final line which reads in part, “let Cam know you are here because you are queer and are queer because you are here.”
I doubt it will work. The attempt backfired in the District 5 race as Servant’s voters were energized to get out the vote in response.
Not only should Crawford’s supporters be energized, but the entire LGBT community as well as all reasonable people who see this for what it is.

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Arrest Clouds Horry County Council District 6 Primary – Updated

Voting Tuesday in the Horry County Council District 6 Republican primary runoff is clouded by the recent arrest of a one-time Hanco of SC employee.

Runoff candidate Kirk Hanna is the founder and president of Hanco of SC.

According to Horry County court records, nine arrest warrants for forgery, numbers 2015A2610700601 through 2015A2610700609, were served on Peter Bishop on June 11, 2015. Bishop is currently out on $45,000 bail.

The sworn statement on each of the warrants reads in part, “On (date of incident), while employed by Hanco of SC and working at (location of construction) the Defendant, Peter Bishop, did submit to Horry County Code Enforcement a fabricated soil compaction report on Applied Geotech, LLC letterhead and bearing the forged signature of Technician Michael Hayes.”

According to the warrants, nine separate instances of fabrication and forgery of a soil compaction report occurred at nine construction locations over a 10 month period between August 2012 and June 2013.

Horry County Police Detective Marcus Rhodes, the investigating officer, declined comment on the case because it is still in the legal process. Rhodes did say the initial incident report for the case was filed approximately one year ago, with a supplemental incident report filed later.

Horry County Infrastructure and Regulation Division Head Steve Gosnell said he was not familiar with the particular documents involved, but did say, “Horry County takes very seriously any testing that involves the structural integrity of a project.”

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Food Trucks and Horry County Council

(Ed. Note: The following article on food trucks was sent to Grand Strand Daily from Steven Hoffman, Horry County Republican Party Executive Committee member for Burgess 1 voting precinct. Hoffman visits his son in Austin, Texas approximately twice a year. After seeing the possibilities opened with food trucks in that Texas city, Hoffman believes Horry County could have done a better job licensing this growing industry.)

Food trucks, the latest trend in consumer drive markets. Horry County Council – Ho-Hum.

Consumers in Austin, Texas were first introduced to the food truck phenomena in 2010 primarily in the South Congress Street area.

Since that time the food truck entrepreneurs have widened their scope and some of the more successful ones have even opened brick and mortar stores, for example, Chi-lantro. Today the residents of Austin have the option of eating, Thai, Tex-Mex, Korean, Middle Eastern, Fusion, and other types of food in this culinary heaven of a wide mix of restaurants and food trucks throughout the city.

For the people of Austin, Texas, the food trucks bring increased employment (economic growth) and provide gastronomic diversity (more choices). Isn’t that what America is supposed to be all about? Well, maybe not.

Here on the Grand Strand – the county council recently authorized food trucks, but in a limited scope.

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Budgets - Cuts, Spending and You

Horry County Council Budget Failures

The latest development at MBREDC indicates how casually Horry County Council approached raising taxes this year.

Jim Moore, President and CEO of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation, resigned from that agency Monday.

Moore came to MBREDC only six months ago after the three plus year dismal reign of Brad Lofton. During the four year period represented by these two, MBREDC allegedly reorganized itself with a new approach to attracting jobs to Horry County.

Neither Moore nor Lofton was any more successful in economic development recruitment than the former iteration of MBREDC or Partners Economic Development Corporation before it.

The difference is the current four year MBREDC 2.0 has been receiving serious funding from Horry County Council, between $1.3 million to $1.8 million per year of taxpayer dollars, with little to nothing to show for it.

Think of AvCraft, Project Blue and PTR Industries as the poster children of MBREDC efforts.

Over the past five county budget cycles, MBREDC has received at least $7.5 million from Horry County Council to fund its few employees and other operational costs.

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Horry County Council Tax Explosion

It is now official, the tax and spend Republicans on Horry County Council passed the largest tax increase in a generation last night.

Nothing changed from the budget that passed at second reading. There will be a countywide tax increase of 7.2 mils more for the general fund. The countywide road fee increased from $30 to $50 per vehicle and county building permit fees increased.

The Republican “Gang of Five” who voted to increase taxes consists of chairman Mark Lazarus, and council members Al Allen, Johnny Vaught, Bill Howard and Gary Loftus. Democrat James Frazier made the sixth vote in the 6-5 decision.

Of the six members who voted for it, five (all but Loftus) were elected to their current terms in November 2014, so it will be over three years before they have to face the voters for reelection. There is speculation Loftus may not be planning to run again so his term ending next year may not matter in having to answer for being a tax and spender.

Despite campaign pledges to “oppose new taxes”, “keep property taxes low”, “listen to the taxpayers” and support TEA Party goals, Lazarus, Vaught, Howard and Allen (respectively) make the term conservative Republican virtually extinct in Horry County and, in their particular cases, an oxymoron.

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Stop the Horry County Council Tax Increase

The tax increase FY 2016 budget of Horry County Council remains a major topic of conversation throughout the county.

Council will vote on third reading of what could be the largest Horry County tax increase in a generation at its regular meeting Tuesday June 16, 2015.

Why it all became necessary within the last month is the real story.

During both the fall and spring budget retreats of Horry County Council, as well as first reading of the budget, the discussion was of a balanced budget with no tax increase.

Then, council voted a new contract for county administrator Chris Eldridge with annual pay increases of $10,000 and a six month severance package. The only thing Eldridge is guaranteed is the severance package as council can vote to terminate him at any time, but, if he remains for several years, he will receive annual increases of $10,000.

Upset at the possible pay increases for Eldridge, the county employees, especially those in public safety departments, began an organized campaign of calling council members to complain.

A majority of Horry County Council members were intimidated enough to completely restructure the budget to include somewhere in excess of $4 million for a pay increase for all county employees. (The county has still not answered our request for the total amount being dedicated to the pay increase.)

To mask their intimidation, those council members supporting the tax increase have verbalized things like a shrinking excess reserve fund and the need to better pay public safety employees as their justification for the tax increase.

But, nothing has really changed from first reading of the budget. No tax increase is needed this year. And nothing in the budget increase will pay for new HCPD patrol officers meaning no reduction in response times or increased community policing will result from this massive increase.

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