The Horry County Council held its regular meeting on May 19, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. The meeting included approval of consent items, a public hearing on the FY2027 budget, several ordinance readings, and memorial dedications.
Always start with the invitation tonight by Mr. Waltis, followed by the budget of allegiance, which will be led by Mr. Mascarella. If I get it right, please stand. Lord, we come to you tonight asking for clarity of mind because we know the decisions we make can affect many areas of our lives. Open our eyes to see your will for us, and may your light shine on the situation so we won't make a wrong decision. Please give us the strength and courage to follow you. Even when you take us to unfamiliar paths. Help us to hear your voice above all the noise and to recognize when you are calling us to move in a different direction. We ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen. And to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Please be seated. Move right on to public input. Tonight we've had one person sign up. Public input is uh very important part of what we do here. If you're a citizen or resident of Ory County and you've got an issue that Ory County Council can help, we want to hear from you. And tonight it's Mr. Michael Hutton talking about property taxes. Come to the podium and tell us your name. We have this uh clock system here. Green is go and yellow is one minute left and red is stopped. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you for having me this evening. My name is Michael Hutton. I've been an Ory County resident for approximately 15 years. I inherited a property that's my primary, my homestead. Two years ago, and this is where the problem started. I purchased a secondary property in Little River. And the disparity, the difference of the property taxes of my homestead, my homestead's approximately 1200 a year with the homestead. And I understand the 4%, 6% difference. But when I bought the second property, the first the first problem I ran into was getting the disclosure, the full disclosure of what the full property taxes were, not what the building tax was. So at closing, I closed 6124. Figuring we'd prorate the taxes. I prorated $600, is what I was to have. Approximately five months later, I received a tax bill from the builder to me, because it had my lot number. The tax bill was $2,800. So I called and tried to talk to people in different, you know, assessor's office, treasurer's office, different people. They said, Well, you own the property, you have to take it. I said, but I've only owned the property for half the year. Why am I paying the full full year? Well, that was the first problem. Then the second problem was when the assessment came out for my new townhouse, my property tax was listed at almost $3,400, which was my next door neighbor who has a larger unit is only paying $1,900. So my problem is why am I being punished tax-wise by owning two pieces of property in Ory County? And I can't find anybody to help me in the treasurer's office. Anybody in so that's why I'm here in front of County Council is to try to figure out how is a resident by owning two pieces of property to disparage you from paying eleven hundred dollars on a property worth 270,000 to paying 3,500 on a property worth roughly the same. Why aren't they equal?