Tuesday night, similar to other cities in the area, Surfside Beach town council approved a second reading to bring some of the hospitality and accommodations tax dollars back to the town.
Residents and tourists won’t be paying any more than they already are for both taxes.
A portion of the hospitality tax and A tax will be redirected to come to the town, instead of the county.
For the town council, it’s all about transparency.
“I agree with everything that’s been said about this, and maybe we’ll have a little open dialogue now as for where our money goes with the county,” said councilmember Ron Ott.
Surfside Mayor Bob Childs says he agrees with Ott, that it is important to have open communication lines with the county.
“We all should know exactly where the money is going,” he said. “I mean, I think we should know where every penny of it’s going.”
He says there’s one more step to decide exactly how much of those tax dollars will be going back to the town.
“We’re going to set up a committee, where all the cities and towns can get together along with the county, and make these decisions, exactly where the money’s going to go and how it’s spent,” said Childs.
Town officials say the amount of money they’ll decide on will depend on what’s needed around the town.
Mayor Childs says the committee will take into consideration transportation projects, like I-73 when it decides where the money goes.
“Depending on the projects that the county wants to talk about, that this money could be diverted to,” he said.
Council also gave News13 an update on Surfside’s pier and says that architects are putting the finishing touches on details of the construction plan, and that the environmental review for it should be completed within two months.
