The Horry County Council held its annual budget retreat on Thursday, April 10, 2025, starting at 2:00 PM UTC. The meeting included a mid-year fiscal year 2025 update, a five-year financial forecast, a 10-year capital improvement plan (CIP) and debt service overview, updates from public safety, the Department of Airports, and the Solid Waste Authority, and a detailed presentation of the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget. Council took action on three items: first reading of the FY26 budget ordinance, a budget transfer resolution, and the Fantasy Harbor Admissions Tax District resolution. The first reading passed 11–1; the other two passed unanimously.
We're going to go ahead and start on time. If I can get everybody's attention, we'll go ahead and call the county council budget retreat to order. Today is Thursday. If I can get everybody's attention, please. Today is Thursday, April 10th. We're starting the budget retreat on time, so we can finish on time. We do have a lot to do. Let's start the way we always do with the invocation followed by the pledge. If I can get everybody to please stand. Dear Lord, thank you for all the blessings that you have bestowed upon us, especially the biggest blessing of all that we get to live and work here in Ory County and worship you and thank you for all the blessings you've given us. Thank you for the opportunity to do this budget and remind us that we get to do it. We don't have to do it. This is a pleasure to serve everybody that lives and works in Ory County. Give us wisdom and most of all patience as we go through today. And thank you for all the continued guidance that you share with us. In your name we pray. Amen. Attention to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Please be seated. I would just like to make a couple of comments. So when you speak, make sure you push your talk, push the talk button. It's the bottom one on the right. Speaking to your microphone so we can hear you. We want to hear what you got to say. And speaking of what you got to say, the speakers have spent a lot of time, worked very hard to make this uh presentation. So I'd encourage everybody to listen to it and hold your questions to the end more times than not. They will answer your question before they finish, and so we'll just keep moving forward. Um so press the talk, hold your questions to the end. Mr. Barry Spavi will give it overview. Mr. Spivey. Good morning to everyone. I welcome you to this um budget retreat. I wanted to give you a little orientation for the information that you do have in front of you here. You will see that you do have a booklet, uh a notebook with all the particular details of our budget in it, as well as the presentations that we'll be making today so that you can follow along with that. Uh, in addition to that, you will see two additional items uh which are similar to what we have done over the last few years. Uh, there's a summary of the budget and a summary of the capital plan. Uh, this is something that hopefully is helpful to you as you may be out away from your uh office or desk or any of that, and it has a quick summary of all the information that you will be presented today. Uh so it's good reference in that regard. Uh this morning we want to just remind you that this is an informal meeting. We hope this is a discussion and that we have questions and we can answer those questions for you uh in that regard. Uh we will discuss today um a mid-year update where we are at the moment from a fiscal year 2025. We'll look at our five-year financial forecast, the CIP or capital improvement plan and related debt service that are is funding that. Um, public safety will give us an update. We'll have an update from the airport uh as well as the Solid Waste Authority.