Horry County Council Fall Planning Retreat – November 5, 2025
Horry County Council Fall Planning Retreat – November 5, 2025
The Horry County Council held its fall planning retreat to prepare for the FY 2027 budget and next steps on growth, service levels, and strategic direction. County Administrator Barry Spivey, Finance Director Jamie Norman, consultant Bill Tomes, and department staff presented. Council directed staff to prepare a three-year one-mill property tax reduction, approved a resolution supporting the updated strategic plan, adjusted the Eagle Trace Special Tax District millage, and gave first reading to a state-required business license class schedule update. Meeting minutes were not provided. The agenda header lists Tuesday, November 4, 2025, but the meeting date used here is November 5, 2025, per the provided metadata.
FY 2025 Financial Update
- Jamie Norman presented unaudited FY 2025 results, noting the audit was still in progress and figures could change.
- General fund revenues were $299 million, $25 million above budget and $28 million above prior year. Expenditures were $242 million, $25 million under budget. Other financing sources/uses totaled $15.5 million. The general fund added $42 million, ending FY 2025 with a $202.9 million fund balance.
- Revenue increases: property taxes +$11.4 million, interest income just over $7 million, EMS fees almost $2 million. Personnel services were $10.4 million under budget, and combined savings in contractual services and supplies/materials were just over $12 million.
- Special revenue funds: fire fund revenues $45 million, expenditures $42 million, +$4 million fund balance; road maintenance/CTC $25.3 million revenues and almost $23 million expenditures, +$2.6 million; beach renourishment +$2.4 million; stormwater $18.3 million revenues and $13.3 million expenditures, +$4.3 million; recreation $11.6 million revenues and $7.8 million expenditures, +$331,000; waste management almost $22 million revenues and $13 million expenditures, +$5.5 million.
- Governmental funds overall added $165.8 million, ending at about $1.4 billion. Unassigned fund balances: general fund $69.2 million; fire $11.7 million; recreation $5.3 million; stormwater $6.4 million; waste management almost $11 million.
- In discussion, council members asked about recreation fund capital transfers, CTC committee spending, Ride 2/Ride 4 funding, and the use of surplus fund balance. Staff said Ride 2 was essentially complete except for two right-of-way items tied to property issues.
Strategic Plan Update
- Consultant Bill Tomes described the process: interviews with each of the 12 council members, employee and department head surveys, and six facilitated staff sessions between February and September 2025.
- Department head survey strengths: hardworking staff. Weaknesses: recruitment/retention, interdepartmental communication, and technology infrastructure. Employee survey showed lower scores on compensation, communication, and recognition.
- Council member priorities included public safety personnel pay, managing growth, and Ride 4/road connectivity.
- The proposed mission was: "We are committed to building a bright future for Horry County by delivering public services with excellence, protecting what makes our community special, and creating opportunities through progress and partnerships."
- The proposed vision references a safe, healthy community respecting rural heritage, focusing on growth and economic diversification, and partnering to provide infrastructure for long-term sustainability.
- Proposed core values were reduced to five, expressed through the "Horry Way" acronym: Character, Collaboration, Service, Caring, and Quality.
- Four strategic focus areas were presented: community relations, employee relations and internal trust, growth and quality of life, and fiscal responsibility. Strategies included annual community surveys, quarterly town halls, "Gov on the Go" outreach, leadership pipelines, mentorship and job shadowing, recognition programs, internal communications upgrades, behavioral health partnerships, smart growth communication, and budget ownership scorecards.
- Staff highlighted the new Department of Behavioral Services, the "Elevate Horry" process improvement program, and online business license routing as early examples.
Growth, Service Level Needs, and Fiscal Outlook
- Economic briefing: inflation was 2.9%, above the Federal Reserve target; the Fed funds rate was about 4.22–4.25% in September 2025, with a forecast of about a one-percentage-point drop by 2027–2028. Unemployment in Horry County was slightly above state and national averages, and the labor market remained tight.
- Local government job gaps in South Carolina were projected to grow to as many as 10,000 positions by 2040.
- Population: current estimate about 416,000 permanent residents. The state's adopted forecast of 2.4% annual growth would produce 473,000 by 2030, 533,000 by 2035, and 621,000 by 2042. Using the last five years' trend would produce 490,000 in 2030, 578,000 in 2035, and 728,000 in 2042. Staff said they are planning on the lower "blue line" trajectory.
- To maintain the current service level of 7.92 employees per 1,000 residents with 3,383 approved positions, staff estimated about 91 additional positions per year, reaching 4,295 total employees within ten years and 2,419 public safety positions. Public safety's actual request was roughly double that. The county currently has 323 vacancies, concentrated in 911, police, fire rescue, and detention.
- Revenue outlook: 2027 property tax revenues projected about 10% higher; the value of a mill was projected at about $4 million for 2026 and $4.37 million in 2027. Staff said they were not recommending a base millage increase for FY 2027.
- Economically sensitive revenues: the 1.5% hospitality tax was flat to slightly down; the 1% hospitality tax was up 2.6%; business licenses were up 41% year-to-date and expected to finish up about 9%; code enforcement was down 11%; recording fees were up 9.6%; interest income was expected to beat budget by 12–13%; sales tax was essentially flat.
- Needs discussed included EMS station and unit expansions/relocations; firefighter recruitment challenges and possible hybrid staffing; a consultant report on J. Reuben Long Detention Center; possible sixth police precinct; waste management convenience centers; public works and fleet facilities; recreation center and field timelines; airport terminal, runway, and passenger bridge needs; radio tower upgrades; and behavioral health/homeless services.
- Detention center specifics: current average inmate population 863; projected 1,000 by 2030, nearly 1,150 by 2035, and 1,300 by 2040, with an 18% additional capacity factor for inmate separation requirements. The consultant's first phase would build a new housing unit with about 318 beds including medical and female housing, at roughly $90 million. Renovating the existing "bow tie" building was estimated at about $33 million; replacement was estimated at $84–102 million. The CIP includes a $60 million placeholder, and the public safety committee was expected to take up the report.
- Fiscal options discussed included redoing the impact fee study, the eventual termination of the Air Force base TIF district and BNC multicounty business park, and a possible local option sales tax, which would provide a property tax credit and unrestricted revenue, with tourists paying a substantial share.
Key Outcomes
- Council reached consensus on a motion directing staff to prepare a plan to reduce the county millage by one mill per year for three years, for a total of three mills. The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote with no opposition. Council members framed it as giving money back to taxpayers while preserving capacity for public safety pay and growth needs; the county administrator noted the plan would have to balance one-time versus recurring funds.
- Resolution R-149-2025 was approved unanimously, expressing support for the updated strategic plan and adopting the updated mission, vision, and values of Horry County Government.
- Resolution R-151-2025 was approved unanimously, adjusting the Eagle Trace Special Tax District millage rate to zero for the 2025 tax year and amending FY 2026 Budget Ordinance 39-2025 to reduce related revenues and expenditures. The action was described as pausing the district while property owners are given an informal, non-binding poll in January 2026 to reconfirm whether they want the special tax district to proceed. The district covers a 52-lot subdivision whose roads were not built to county standards and were never turned over to the county.
- First reading of Ordinance 105-2025 was approved unanimously, amending the county business license ordinance to adopt the latest state standardized business license class schedule. The state now determines business classifications and updates them every two years; the timing required three readings before December 31, 2025, with second and third readings planned for the November and December meetings.
- No executive session was held. The retreat adjourned after the three action items.
Meeting Transcript
Everybody please stand. Thank you, dear Lord, for another opportunity for us to come together to do the business of the county. We pray for patience and wisdom and guidance as we go through this budget and all the items contained therein. And we ask for knowledge of your will and the power to carry it out and all these things we pray in your name. Amen. Under God with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Please be seated. This is the fall planning retreats. We have the agenda, and everybody has the book with them. Um, like always, this is uh informal type uh venue. So if you have a question, just jump right in and ask it. But I would ask you to hold your questions until the presenter first is because most of the time the presenter will answer the question before the presentation is over. And with that, I will turn it over to a Mr. Administrator for an overview. Well, thank you. It's a privilege to be here with you, and we're grateful to be able to share these plans and um suggestions that we've got um as we begin the 2027 budget process. And you may remember that we've had a lot of discussion already about 2027 because as we were going through the 2026 budget process, we did reach out and and had some discussion about what we wanted to see for not only 26 but also for 27. I think everything that we've talked about up to this point still will hold true. So we have the capacity, I think, to to get into the 2027 year uh without a tax increase, but still have the ability to add uh I think the necessary personnel uh it won't be as much as we would like, um, but also have the opportunity to do something meaningful for our employees in terms of a raise. So as we work through, we'll at least start those discussions today. Um and just remind you as we're here during the meeting uh to facilitate the minutes and so forth. Uh, if you would press your speaking button here, the green button, or the button that turns green, uh, just to make sure everybody's comments are are on the uh record in that regard. Um, on our agenda today, we will be looking at um the unaudited financial update for 2025. We will do a strategic plan update uh as well as go over what we see as the issues from a growth and service level needs, uh, which is traditional for what we do at this time that sets the stage for that budget process. There are three actions that we would desire council to consider this afternoon. Uh, the first is just a resolution in support of the strategic plan that you will hear here shortly. Uh the second is a resolution to adjust the millage rate for Eagle Trace Special Tax District, and we will go into some details of that based on the community meeting that was held and a meeting of the commissioners who are recommending a specific uh action to council. Uh, in addition to that, there's a third item which is just mandated or necessitated by the timing required by the state. Uh, it is a change to the business license ordinance, and it solely addresses the codes that each business is assigned. The state now promulgates that list and which businesses are within which category. And you may remember we have categories one through seven and a few extra add-ons to that. And the lowest price is at category one and the highest price is at category seven based on uh each business and theoretically the profitability related to those businesses. Um, and now the state actually is the one that decides which businesses are in which category, and they update at every two years, and every odd year is the year that we need to adopt the state changes. So that's what this ordinance does solely, uh, just for convenience sake. We need three readings before December 31st. Today would be the first reading. Um at your November meeting would be second, and December meeting would be third. So that's why that action is on this agenda. It was reviewed and recommended by the administration committee previously, and that would lead us to our financial update. Good afternoon. So we're going to start things off with a review of our fiscal year 2025 financial results. I will mention that these are unaudited figures, so they could change because we're still going through our audit, and there's a lot of numbers, so just bear with me. So starting with our general fund for 2025, we had revenues of 299 million. This exceeded our budget projection by 25 million and exceeded prior year by 28 million dollars. Expenditures for the year were 242 million, which is 25 million less than the budget. Other financing sources and uses were 15.5 million, which is just under budget, resulting in an addition of 42 million in fund box and fund balance for the year, leaving the general fund fund balance total at the end of fiscal year 2025 at 202.9 million dollars. Looking at revenues by category for the general fund, we saw the largest increase in property taxes at $11.4 million and interest income at just over $7 million. We also had a large increase in EMS fees at almost $2 million. Looking at expenditures by category in the general fund.
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