CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Impact fees on new developments in Horry County could move forward after voters overwhelmingly supported the idea in Tuesday’s election.
About 72.6 percent of voters supported the referendum. The question was only to gauge public opinion and isn’t a binding decision.
The idea is for homeowners in new developments to pay impact fees to fund infrastructure projects and emergency services in the county. That’s to keep up with Horry County’s rising population, which is estimated to hit 423,000 by 2040.
Newly elected Horry County Schools board chair Ken Richardson says the fees could also help the county’s education system.
“We’re in a situation now that this is a fast growing county,” Richardson said.
Richardson says impact fee funds could help pay for new schools as more families move to Horry County.
He also says that extra money can fund competitive employee salaries.
“You have to be able to pay them what the going rate is out there,” Richardson said. “We’ve lost some employees to other districts.”
There hasn’t been any set rate proposed for an impact fee yet.
Richardson says he hopes an impact fee wouldn’t be too expensive because it could scare off homebuyers who would also pay school taxes.
“It needs to be a reasonable impact fee,” he said. “It needs to be something that people can live with and not so high that it’s going to hurt. You don’t want to hurt the real estate market.”
Horry County Council would have to push for a change to state law on impact fees because the money can only be used on certain projects.
