County schools penny tax bail out

Residents in Horry County will soon vote in the upcoming election on whether to approve a local sales tax proposed by the Horry County School District.

On Wednesday night, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a forum for people to learn more about the penny tax. Turnout was low since many residents were not aware of the time and place for the meeting. Only one man showed up to hear what chamber officials, as well as district officials, had to say about the new proposal.

The biggest selling point, and what most call an advantage, is that the penny tax would cut Horry County residents' property taxes. The district says property taxes would decrease to 10 mills from the current 28 mills by 2010.

"This is what we need," said the lone attendee, Tom Pegram.

It seems the Chamber failed to address the major concerns that many resident have about the penny tax. Many residents see this penny tax much like the recent penny road tax failures and are skeptical about its success. Residents are concerned the tax will be used to help developers that have failed to plan the new development Carolina Station. Carolina Station will be a new large development laking the School system to handle the increase in population. The County has failed to demand developers to cure this problem prior to approval of the construction. This area of the County has been given a free ride from becoming its own special tax district to handle the new schools system requirements. That leaves all residents of the county to pay for the new school additions for a region of the county that most resident will never see. It is these concerns that have many residents ready to defeat a tax that they feel will never help the overcrowding issues that need to be addressed. The County continues to create new problems and throws out emergency plans to "bail out" continued failures from the improper and inadequate planning from the County.

The chief construction officer for Horry County schools, says without the penny tax, much-needed expansion and upkeep in schools would continue to be funded through property taxes.

The new "penny" would generate as much as $1 billion over its 15-year lifetime. Rodelsperger said as much as 60% of the generated revenue would be paid for by non-residents.

The projected $1 billion tax would be divided up in the following manner; 80 percent would go to Horry County schools. The remaining 20% would be split between Coastal Carolina University and Horry-Georgetown Technical College, with the larger majority going to CCU.

For more information on the penny tax, visit http://www.horrycountyschools.net/UserFiles/Servers/Server_743372/File/About%20Us/penny_flyer2008_RGB.pdf