Does the Grand Strand hold a special place in state lawmakers' hearts?
No, but it should, members of the local legislative delegation told area mayors and city council members at a Wednesday night meeting.
“There’s nobody else like the Grand Strand in the state,” said state Rep. Nelson Hardwick, R-Surfside Beach. “They (other areas) have gotten far too comfortable eating off our plate.”
The dinner meeting at the Train Depot was nominally about upcoming laws of concern to city officials – the agenda mentioned annexation and immigration, for example – but concentrated on one upcoming measure that would limit cities’ ability to spend property tax money.
The mayors and council members were concerned, they said, because their ability to cope with future challenges could be hampered, even though they have been fiscally responsible. Myrtle Beach has not seen a tax hike in years, while North Myrtle Beach has even lowered taxes.
“We feel like we’re being punished for it,” said North Myrtle Beach Mayor Marilyn Hatley. “It’s definitely going to create some problems for us.”
Local lawmakers’ support of the bill is not a personal attack on area cities, the legislators responded: it is a political reality. Voters want tax relief and the governor and top legislators have a “top-down mentality of cut and save,” said state Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach.
“What we’re hearing is that you’ve got a problem and therefore you can’t help us,” replied North Myrtle Beach Councilman Bob Cavanaugh. “You can’t just say there’s no answer.”
Discussion of the spending-reduction bill, however, soon gave way to a lament on the lack of love for the Strand in Columbia. The area has 5 percent of the state’s population, but its tourist economy generates 11 percent of the state’s tax revenue, state Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach, reminded city officials. Meanwhile, city officials along the beach are left to create roads, sewers and other services for hundreds of thousands of visitors using the property taxes of a few tens of thousands of residents.
“People in Scranton don’t have our problems,” Hardwick said. “They enjoy the tourists, because they ride through there and they can write a few tickets.”
No solution was reached to the spending-cap bill, though legislators asked city officials to write some concrete suggestions and send them to Columbia, in hopes the bill can be modified to account for the Strand’s particular needs before it passes. Further, the legislators said, city officials should act as their own lobbyists. When the bill comes up again, city officials should drive to the capitol themselves to argue against it.
“You want us to be in Columbia?” asked Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes. “We’ll be in Columbia.”
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