Horry County Administration Committee Meeting - July 22, 2025
Horry County Administration Committee Meeting - July 22, 2025
The Administration Committee of the Horry County Council met on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, at 1:00 PM in the County Council Conference Room. Chairman Tyler Servant presided. The meeting covered a range of financial, economic development, public safety, and land use items, with several unanimous approvals and a recognition of the Finance Director.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Agenda Contents: Moved by Councilman Causey, seconded by Councilman Hardee. Passed unanimously.
- Approval of Minutes – June 24, 2025: Moved by Councilman Hardee, seconded by Councilman DiSabato. Passed unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public input was offered at the meeting.
Discussion Items
- Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Update (Sandy Davis): The MBREDC reported 75 new leads in 2025 (up from 26 in 2024), 44 active projects, and 220 open leads. Three spec buildings are being marketed, including a 100,000 sq. ft. building at Ascot Valley and a 178,000 sq. ft. multi-tenant building at Palmetto Coast Industrial Park. The update also highlighted new virtual reality site tours (Vision SC), participation in the PGA Tour event, and ongoing industry outreach. No action was taken.
- Financial Update – June 2025 (Jamie Norman): For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, total revenues across all funds were $416 million (70% from the general fund) and total expenditures were $331.6 million (71% from the general fund). General fund revenues were $289.4 million (106% of budget) and expenditures were $235.5 million (88.6% of budget). All special revenue funds (Fire, Road Maintenance, Beach Renourishment, Stormwater, Recreation, Waste Management Recycling) performed as expected, with net fund balance changes ranging from -$326,000 (Recreation) to +$6.5 million (Waste Management). The Administrator’s Contingency account remained unchanged at $150,000. No action taken.
- GFOA Recognition for Outstanding Public Service Professional of the Year: Committee members recognized Jamie Norman for being selected as one of only 50 recipients nationwide and the first from South Carolina. The committee voted to place a resolution honoring her on the full County Council agenda.
- Review of Ordinance to Amend FY2026 Budget (Item VIII-A): The ordinance adds four Behavioral Services positions (funded by excess ARPA revenue), three library positions (funded by state aid), two capital projects (Murrells Inlet Dredging – $5 million; Windy Hill EMS – $4,746,300), and updates tire disposal fees to $150/ton (on-road) and $400/ton (off-road).
- FEMA Fire Prevention & Safety Grant (Item VIII-B): A $315,347.42 grant to support part-time personnel, 2,700 10-year smoke alarms, 900 combination smoke/CO detectors, 40 smoke alarms for the hearing impaired, and educational materials. Focus on mobile homes and low-income seniors.
- Opioid Settlement Funds for Harm Reduction Team (Item VIII-C): Approval to apply for $180,194.15 from the SC Opioid Recovery Fund to hire one Harm Reduction Team Leader and one Specialist. The existing team of four served over 2,200 individuals in the first full year.
- HOME Consortium CAPER (Item VIII-D): Adopted the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report for FY2024-2025, highlighting $1,040,415.60 spent on housing rehabilitation (22 completed, 8 in progress), 5 new homeownership units, 141 households assisted with rental assistance, and 98 homeless individuals served. Public hearings will be held in August.
- Abatement of Unfit Dwellings (Item VIII-E): Authorized the County Administrator to proceed with abatement (repair, close, or demolish) for 15 properties listed in Exhibit A, as the 8th round of such actions. Previous rounds have successfully led to owner remediation or cost recovery.
- Community Benefit Fund Requests (Item VIII-F): Approved four requests totaling $18,500: $5,000 for Loris High School Football Parents Club (equipment and food), $500 for Long Bay Youth Enrichment Center (after-school program), $3,000 for Carolina Forest Middle of the Road (median maintenance), $10,000 for Green Sea Floyds Recreation (softball team travel to Dixie World Series).
- Higher Education Commission Bond Issuance (Items IX-A and IX-B): The committee approved a resolution to call a public hearing (September 16, 2025) on the issuance of up to $7,100,000 in general obligation bonds by the Horry County Higher Education Commission. The funds would acquire approximately 32.21 acres adjacent to Coastal Carolina University for future academic expansion. The commission intends to use existing millage (0.6 mills) and expects a 10-year term. The committee also approved the accompanying ordinance authorizing the finding and issuance. Discussion included the need for an appraisal; the commission chair agreed to obtain one.
- Coastal Carolina Baseball Team Resolution (Item X-A): A resolution honoring the 2025 team for their historic season (56-13 record, 26-game win streak, Sun Belt and Regional championships, College World Series runner-up). Approved unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- All consent items and agenda approvals passed unanimously.
- The FY2026 budget amendment ordinance (Item VIII-A) was approved by voice vote.
- The FEMA Fire Prevention & Safety Grant resolution (Item VIII-B) was approved.
- The Opioid Settlement Funds resolution (Item VIII-C) was approved.
- The HOME Consortium CAPER (Item VIII-D) was approved, with a recommendation to full council.
- The Unfit Dwellings abatement resolution (Item VIII-E) was approved.
- All four Community Benefit Fund requests (Item VIII-F) were approved.
- The Higher Education Commission public hearing resolution (Item IX-A) was approved.
- The Higher Education Commission bond issuance ordinance (Item IX-B) was approved.
- The Coastal Carolina Baseball Team resolution (Item X-A) was approved.
- The committee voted to place a resolution honoring Jamie Norman on the full County Council agenda.
- The next Administration Committee meeting is scheduled for September 23, 2025.
Meeting Transcript
I would like to uh all start off by standing and um we'll start with the uh prayer Lord give us the wisdom to handle today's business uh in a way that is best suited for our constituents and people that we serve. We ask you to please give us wisdom in making these decisions, and we ask that you please uh offer veiled protection over all of our county employees, especially our first responders. In your name, we prayed. And one of the liberty and justice for all. All right, thank you. All right, we will start next uh with any public input. Is anybody signed up for public input today? Okay, no public input. Uh next, I'll entertain a motion for approval of the agenda contents. All in favor? Okay. Next I'll entertain a motion for the approval of the minutes of our June 24th, 2025 meeting. So we're moved. Sorry. Any opposed? All in favor? Okay. Next, we'll move on to new business. I'm gonna call up Sandy Davis to give us the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Update. Thank you. Um our quarter two update for 2025. Um, so far we have seen an increase in our area as far as leads. The MBREDC had 26 new leads this time last year in 2024. And as of right now, we are at 75 leads as of today. So you can see a big increase in 2025. That tends to happen a lot during an election year. Um slower, and then once the election passes, we seem to pick up. I will say that we have not seen the increase yet in visits, people come into the area. So mostly they have been learning us to video sending videos to FaceTime. South Carolina Department of Commerce has also been seeing pretty much the same. So we met with them last week and they showed us this new thing that they have. It's called Vision SC. South Carolina is the first to start promoting this, and it's where you use the goggles, and you can see everywhere. So we would get to put the information we want on the goggles, send it to them, and then while we wear a headset, they would wear a headset and be able to explore the areas that we think they would be a good fit for. So we are hoping to be able to move forward on that. Department of Commerce is going to have some grants available to be able to do this, and NISA is also trying to help um all of their counties to be able to get this. Those um headsets are actually $4,000 each, and just to sign up for the program is $15,000. So we will be working to try to do that. Um we do have close to 220 leads open. We're a little over that number, but I do think we've seen um an increase due to having available product as well. So we have the spec building at Ascot Valley, and it is a hundred a little over a hundred thousand square feet and expandable to 153,000 square feet. We have three projects currently looking, one existing company and two from out of our area. In addition to that, we have the spec building at um Palmetto Coast Industrial Park where we located Amazon and Pepsi. It's owned by a um private developer, but we are promoting it. It has been a huge asset for us. The third building that they have just completed on the exterior, it's going to be a multi-tenant building instead of a single tenant, like we did with Petsy and Amazon. That building is 178,000 square feet, and we are currently working with seven different companies to open operations in that facility. Most of them are existing industries that we're looking, and then two new businesses from outside the area, so we will keep you all posted on that. We are working 44 projects. Um projects are people who have actually visited, completed their project profile sheet, have an open incentive summary to um negotiate with us, tell us what they're looking for.
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