Tag: Gary Loftus

No Extortion on International Drive

Horry County Council gave a resounding NO to the possibility of giving any money to The Nature Conservancy for extra mitigation on International Drive.

The new request came up during a meeting between Horry County officials and representatives from the Coastal Conservation League and the SC Wildlife Federation.

Essentially what was asked for was the county to pay The Nature Conservancy approximately $1.6 million so that agency could purchase land to be used ostensibly for wildlife preservation.

Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus ended the meeting after the new demand was made.

Lazarus reported on the International Drive project during the regular council meeting Tuesday night. He said he wasn’t going to give money from the taxpayers of Horry County to a private nonprofit organization so it could buy land.

It is probably not something that could legally be done either. International Drive is one of the projects paid for by the one cent local option sales tax (Ride II).

Ride II was approved by referendum of county voters in 2006. At that time, each project with the anticipated expenses associated with it was listed in the referendum. The county has already paid for the mitigation credits required by the US Army Corps of Engineers and SCDHEC for the project.

To expend extra dollars just to please conservation groups for land that is neither associated with the project nor required for mitigation certainly seems to be in conflict with state law on capital projects sales tax.

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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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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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Horry County Council Tax Explosion

Horry County Council is spending your tax dollars like a bunch of drunken sailors making a port call.

The council voted 6-5 to amend the FY 2016 budget to include a countywide tax increase of 7.2 mils for the general fund, to increase the business license fees and to raise the road fee to $50 for every vehicle registered in the county.

Council chairman Mark Lazarus was joined by council members Al Allen, Bill Howard, Johnny Vaught, Gary Loftus, and James Frazier in voting yes for the tax increase.

This is an increase of 20% on general fund operating millage and 67% on the vehicle road fee. The increase of 7.2 mils for the general fund is the maximum limit allowed by state law or council probably would have gone higher.

This comes on top of a 6 mil tax increase (50%) for the fire fund in all the unincorporated areas of the county approved two years ago.

And not that many years before, council added 3 mils (100%) to the waste recycling fee in the unincorporated areas of the county.

It used to be if you lived in the city you could expect fairly routine tax increases, albeit for a higher level of services. Now, that holds true for tax increases in the unincorporated areas of Horry County just not for the level of services.

To paraphrase former Republican senator Everett Dirksen, a few mils here, a few mils there, pretty soon it adds up to real money.

Of course, Dirksen was speaking against federal tax and spend programs.

In Horry County, it’s the Republicans who have proudly become the tax and spend party.

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Coast RTA 4th Quarter Funding Approved

Coast RTA will receive its 4th quarter funding from Horry County despite not completing some required tasks in its funding agreement with the county.

However, if Horry County Council comments Tuesday night were any indication, it is still unclear if Coast RTA will receive the same level, or any, funding from the county in the new fiscal year that begins July 1, 2015.

By an 8-3 vote, council followed the suggestion of council chairman Mark Lazarus to release 4th quarter funding “for the public’s benefit, for riders and for employees (of Coast RTA).”

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Former CEO Myers Rollins Sues Coast RTA, Others

Myers Rollins, former General Manager/CEO of Coast RTA, filed suit Tuesday against the agency he headed before being fired April 30th.

In addition to Coast RTA, Rollins is suing SCDOT, Coast RTA board members Bernie Silverman and Kitty D’Angelo, Horry County Council members Mark Lazarus and Gary Loftus, SCDOT employees Doug Frate and Hart Baker and interim Coast RTA General Manager Julie Norton Dew.

Rollins is seeking five million dollars in compensatory damages as well as punitive damages to be determined and reinstatement as GM/CEO of Coast RTA.

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WestJet Guarantee to Cost Horry County Half Million

If current passenger expectations remain valid through the end of October, Horry County will pay WestJet over $500,000 pursuant to a guarantee to the airline county council approved in February 2013.

According to a source familiar with airport operations, the county is already in the hole to WestJet to the tune of $325,000 and expects the bottom line, after WestJet ends this year’s operations October 31st, to be approximately $510,000.

County council approved setting aside a contingency fund of up to $1 million that would be used to guarantee WestJet 60% occupancy, the break-even point for WestJet, on each flight to Myrtle Beach. The county would buy up empty seats on each flight so WestJet would not lose money.

WestJet won’t lose money, but the county did.

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Airport Express Video on Adult Entertainment Issue

It is and has always been the position and vision of Airport Express Video that “if” this adult entertainment ordinance passes we want to do everything within our power to be a proper corporate citizen, including relocation of our business, if that is what Planning Director Janet Carter, and the County’s Top Gun legal counsel Scott Bergthold would like to see happen.

In that regard they have left us with only one viable option and this is the 501 Corridor area of Carolina Forest. We have never said, suggested or indicated that we planned to relocate “inside” of Carolina Forest proper, due solely to the fact that the development agreement prohibits that until 2017.

Of course once that agreement expires then presumably it would open up several more developable locations for the clubs and stores which sell adult related merchandise. Having been a part of this community for many years, we truly feel that all property from Highway 31 West to the Carolina Forest Wal Mart is truly Carolina Forest, regardless of what specific roadway you are physically on.

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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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