CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Horry County is anticipating a $19 million bill to clean up and repair damages from Hurricane Florence and the flooding.
Tuesday night, Horry County Council voted to spend its entire unassigned fund of $13.6 million to go toward the recovery efforts. This fund was previously set aside by council and saved for situations like disaster relief.
Horry County says they are expecting to spend the majority of those funds to clean up the debris left from the storm and flood. Chairman Mark Lazarus says because the county saved the $13.6 million, they are prepared to address the community’s needs without having to borrow large sums of money.
“Just storm debris alone, you saw, is gonna be a $12 million dollar event; $3 million for mosquitoes, so a very proactive, very good budgeting on our county council part, and our staff’s part, to have those unrestricted funds set aside for us to be able to have in case of events like this, that doesn’t put the county’s bonding and economy in jeopardy,”Lazarus said.
Horry County says they will still have to move around other funds in efforts to fully cover the estimated $19 million in relief costs, including the $5 million they recently allotted for a new Emergency Operations Center. The county also says they have plans to apply for assistance with FEMA.
