The future of I-73 and Horry County’s funding contribution to it are uncertain.
A county council subcommittee talked Tuesday about altering a formal contract the county entered into with the South Carolina Department of Transportation back in November.
The contract involved sending SCDOT $25 million a year to begin work orders, as early as this month, on projects like I-73.
That original plan is crumbling because Horry County doesn’t know from where it’s going to get the $25 million anymore.
The 1.5 percent hospitality fee, which is a tax collected from tourists who spend money within the county, is supposed to be the main local source of funding for I-73.
Originally, the hospitality fee was used to pay off the debt for road projects under the RIDE I plan.
Once the debt was paid off, the county voted to keep receiving those funds indefinitely. Local cities didn’t like that.
“It was probably pushed a little hastily and a bit quickly, and the other entities within Horry County did not have an opportunity to have a seat at the table to have input, which they probably should have been,” Horry County Councilman Al Allen said.
Within the last few weeks, several Horry County municipalities said they want to keep the hospitality money within their own governments.
The potential loss of funding is why Horry County now looks to pump the brakes on the SCDOT contract.
“Would not harm us at all to put a stay on it in order to give the other entities in this county the chance to come and sit down at the table and for all of us to work together to see if this project is something that everyone wants and how much and when and where everyone is going to contribute to it,” Allen said.
Ultimately, the county subcommittee did not take any formal actions Tuesday to halt the SCDOT contract, so it lives on, as-is for now.
Under the current contract, SCDOT will submit its first work order to the county by the end of this month. Allen recommended pushing the start date to January 2020.
Because the subcommittee did not formally alter the contract, it is now up to full council at its next meeting to make some sort of decision on the contract prior to the March 31 work order deadline.
So far, Horry County is the only entity who has brought any money to the table, even though the project would go through numerous counties in the region.
Allen said it’s time for those municipalities, and the state, to step up. He said the state has a $1 billion budget surplus and wants to know why none has gone toward I-73.
“I would plead with our state representatives to work diligently to get some of that money,” Allen said. “Because if they’re serious about I-73 let them bring some money to the table along with us. Because I-73 will help put money not only in Horry County but the state of South Carolina.”
News13 reached out to Rep. Tom Rice (R-SC) for his response to this.
He said the state is stepping up to the plate and that a couple of weeks ago the state submitted a grant request to the federal government for $360 million for I-73.
“So that tells you how viable the state thinks, how important the state thinks the project is as they requested $360 million, which would go toward the construction,” Rice said.
Rice also said he wants to stress that even if Horry County cities end the practice of sending their local tourist taxes to the county this does not necessarily mean they oppose I-73.
Spokespeople for some of those cities echoed that same sentiment to News13 when asked for comment.