Tag: Horry County Solid Waste Authority

Horry County Council Scrutiny and Racism Charges

When Horry County Council convened its fall budget retreat last week, charges of racism were the last thing I expected to hear emerge from the deliberations.

But emerge they did, exposing what appear to be systemic problems in Horry County government that go well beyond the simple balancing of revenues and expenditures.

The controversy started with a 6 a.m. Thursday morning (the day of the budget retreat) email requesting further information about the annual compensation package of Coast RTA CEO Myers Rollins. This started a two day email exchange viewed by Coast RTA board members, Horry County Council members and Horry County government staff as well as a phone call to Columbia attorney Jay Bender, an expert on the S.C. Freedom of Information law.

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Horry County Council Budget Uncertainty

Horry County Council will conduct its annual fall budget retreat next week among uncertainty about how much revenue the county will collect from property taxes in the coming fiscal year.

This is a budget reassessment year with all indications that property in the county will have a lower assessed value than it did five years ago, the result of the bursting of the housing bubble five years ago.

Some oceanfront property is known to have sold as much as 70 percent lower in the past few years as the result of distressed sales.

The state’s Act 388 of 2007 made the point of sale price the determining factor in new assessed values on property. Lower sales prices mean lower assessed values on which taxes are calculated.

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Horry County's Accommodations Tax

The Problems With Public Nonprofit Authorities

Why is it that public nonprofit authorities think they are an entity unto themselves?

Created by government act, they soon seem to forget that the whole purpose of their existence is to serve the citizens of the political sub-division that created them.

But, among other benefits, they sure love taking part in the public funded health insurance and retirement plans. No Obamacare worries for them!

The Nerve recently did a great article on the S.C. Research Authority and its ‘public nonprofit’ attitude “which views itself as public when it’s convenient and private when it comes to accountability.”

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The HCSWA and Its Tangled Web

The Horry County Solid Waste Authority (HCSWA) will have another day in court as the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in an appeal by William Clyburn, former owner of Sandlands C&D LLC and Express Disposal.

The arguments are scheduled for October 31, 2013 in Richmond. Clyburn will be attempting to overturn the district court decision that upheld the county’s waste stream flow control ordinance that established a monopoly in garbage disposal for the HCSWA, seriously hurting Clyburn’s businesses.

For the hearing, the HCSWA will be claiming it is a non-profit corporation. As HCSWA Executive Director Danny Knight said in an I&R meeting two months ago, “in court we’re not the county.”

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John Weaver Running for County Council?

Several reliable sources have recently mentioned that former county administrator and county attorney John Weaver is considering a run against incumbent Paul Price for the Horry County District 5 seat.

Weaver left his final position as county administrator after a majority of council refused to extend his contract and encouraged him to leave five months before the expiration date of the contract.

It would be extremely interesting to see Weaver enter the political spotlight considering some of his past positions on important county issues.

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Horry County Council Oversight Inconsistent

The specter of further contretemps between Horry County Council and the Coast RTA board over appointment power to that board appears to be looming in the not too distant future.

Horry County provides approximately 50% of the total amount of state and local grants to the transit authority ($1.06 million of an approximate $2 million total). Those grants are matched 50-50 by the federal government to provide most of the Coast RTA operating budget.

Fourth quarter FY 2014 funds were only recently released to Coast RTA by county council. But, if information sources are providing to us proves accurate, the real showdown will come when next year’s budget is discussed.

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HCSWA Board Just Doesn’t Get It

The Horry County Solid Waste Authority (HCSWA) board ignored business while spending one-third of its meeting time Tuesday night in what appeared to be a choreographed criticism over the verbiage in emails sent by board member Dan Gray.

The entire exercise was utterly ridiculous, but it did accomplish its probable goal of altering the discussion from what the HCSWA board and staff is not doing to chastising the one board member who has the courage to point out what the board and authority should be doing.

The email that offended the board members is quoted below in its entirety. It was sent in reference to the public meeting held by the authority recently to discuss plans for HCSWA property after closure of the landfill.

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Getting HCSWA Under Control

When Horry County Council tabled a resolution to sign a contract with the Horry County Solid Waste Authority (HCSWA) it took the first step to get an out of control agency under control.

This was a much needed and long overdue step, but only the first of what must be many steps.

In refusing to sign the contract, the county is now in the ridiculous position of paying higher tipping fees at its own landfill than Waste Industries, which has signed a contract.

A private hauler getting better rates at the county owned landfill than the county?

And for anyone who doesn’t believe the landfill is owned by the county, one only has to refer to the many statements by HCSWA director Danny Knight in which he said the landfill was owned by all the citizens of the county.

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Council Tables HCSWA Contract

By a vote of 8-3 Tuesday night, Horry County Council tabled consideration of a contract with the Horry County Solid Waste Authority (HCSWA).

In simple form, the contract would have reduced the landfill charges to the county based on the amount of recyclable materials sent to the landfill.

But, it’s a county owned landfill and all the waste sent to it from the county comes from the convenience centers spread throughout the unincorporated areas. The county charges residents in the unincorporated areas property taxes of slightly over $6 million per year, which it pays to the HCSWA to operate those centers.

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HCSWA Absurdity Rises

Horry County Solid Waste Authority (HCSWA) officials are raising the level of absurdity at the Highway 90 landfill well above its normal limits with a discussion Thursday about land planning for after the landfill closes in 2035.

Some would say its good business to plan for 22 years hence and it may be if sufficient planning for the period within those 22 years had already taken place.

But, alas, it hasn’t. There has been no planning for what will happen to trash generated within the county after the landfill closes – the HCWSA’s primary function.

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