The Administration Committee of Horry County Council met on September 24, 2024, at 1:00 PM in the County Council Conference Room. The committee reviewed financial updates for June, July, and August 2024, approved an EMS receivable write-off, and acted on multiple budget, personnel, housing, and infrastructure items. All actions were approved unanimously unless noted.
Ms. Todd presented financial summaries. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, general fund revenues were $270.3 million (107% of budget) and expenditures $219.4 million (90% of budget), resulting in a net fund balance increase of $24.4 million. For the first two months of FY2025 (July and August), general fund revenues were $14.3 million (5.3% of budget), expenditures $38.4 million (14.6% of budget), with net change in fund balance of -$25.7 million, as expected due to property tax timing. Special revenue funds (Fire, Road Maintenance, Beach Renourishment, Stormwater, Recreation, Waste Management) were performing as anticipated.
Ms. Todd requested approval to write off $5,222,531 in uncollected EMS charges originating from services provided on or before June 30, 2021 (the COVID period). The write-off complies with accounting standards; collections efforts will continue. The committee noted improved collection rates, with $812,992 collected in FY2024 from previously written-off accounts.
Ms. Todd reported no new best practices from GFOA or GASB since the last review. Staff recommended no changes to the Financial Policies or Capital Improvements Program Policies. The committee accepted the report without action.
Mr. Foxworth presented a new free fraud alert service for property owners. The RNS notifies registrants via email the same day a document is recorded in their name. The system is live; over 200 citizens signed up in the first three weeks. The committee praised the initiative.
Mr. Roscoe demonstrated a new online tax estimator tool that allows property owners to estimate taxes using parcel number and value. As of the meeting, 3,708 reassessment appeals had been filed (expected total 4,500-5,000); 58% have received written responses and 11% are closed. The committee thanked staff for the tool.
The meeting adjourned at approximately 1:56 PM. The next meeting is scheduled for October 22, 2024.
Followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Everybody please rise. With bow your heads. Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us here today to do the county business. Please guide us in the decisions that we are about to make for the betterment of all of Ory County. Please look after all of our public safety and every employee that works for the county and all the municipalities as they go about their jobs today. Please keep them safe and guide us as we move forward. In your name and pray. I'm in. Moving on to public input. Do we have any public input signed up for today? Okay, moving on to the review and approval of the agenda contents of move, Mr. Chairman. Second. All in favor, aye. Aye. Ayes have it. Moving on to the approval of the minutes from the July 9th, 2024 meeting. Motion to approve. All in favor, aye. Aye. Moving on to new business. Financial update, June, July, and August 2024, Ms. Todd. Welcome. Several months for you today. So we'll start off in June, which was the last month of the fiscal year. So we saw revenues on a year-to-date basis of 270.3 million, expenditures of 219 million, transfers of 26 million, resulting in a net change in fund balance of 24 million. At budget to actual revenues were at 107% of budget amounts, whereas expenditures were at 80%, excuse me, 90%. So looking at revenues for general fund in comparison to prior year, we're currently up just under 28 million. This is mostly due to property taxes with a combination of millage increase and growth. Also, interest is up over prior year by 3.2 million. Looking at expenditures for general fund in comparison to prior year, currently up 13 and a half million. The largest driver here is going to be in personnel services due to all the new positions added. And we're also seeing large increases in contractual services with 2.8 million over prior year. Fire fund had a net change in fund balance over prior year of 6.6 million. Revenues are up due to millage increase in interest, whereas expenditures are up due to the new fire stations and the associated personnel added there. Road maintenance fund, relatively neutral in comparison to the prior year with a net change in fund balance of 228,000. Large driver here is going to be your difference in transfers, and that's because we had no large projects scheduled for that fiscal year. And the stormwater fund had a net change of 1.7 million. We're seeing additional revenues due to increase in fees and interests, and also seeing transfers decrease due to less planned vehicle purchases and repairs. And that's mainly due to increases in taxes and interest. Okay, we'll move on to item B EMS receivable write-off. Okay. I am going to skip July and go straight into August. But you will see that for the new fiscal year we've made some changes. So for one, where you you can see we have August. So we've moved our deadlines up so we can present you the most up-to-date information. Also I've changed the format. So we're instead of our old comparison was prior actuals to current actuals.