Horry County council pushed back talking about a possible public safety referendum at their meeting Tuesday night.
The referendum would let people vote on the November ballot whether to raise taxes to fund public safety improvements.
Chairman Mark Lazarus said it was too big and comprehensive of a report to explain at their regular meeting and that they needed more time to crunch the numbers.
“We wanted to make sure that the presentation was done thoroughly,” Lazarus said, “And that this council had an appropriate amount of time to be able to discuss what is in this referendum and what it is really all about.”
Last month the county administrator met with police and fire leaders. He asked them to find out how much money it would take to increase police and fire salaries so that they compare to the cities in our area.
Council was originally supposed to review the results Tuesday night, but members say the process is complicated.
All county residents pay into the police fund, but not all pay into the fire fund. “That is only collected in the unincorporated areas of Horry County,” Lazarus said.
There’s also a limit on how much a county can raise taxes to pay for police; by law Horry County can only raise millage by so much. So, even if people voted to tax themselves more to pay for more officers, state law sets a limit on that amount.
Some council members still say that decision should fall to taxpayers. “I want to put that question to the people,” Councilman Dennis DiSabato said. “I dont want to make a decision regarding the tax increases if the people don’t have some input or say into what that decision is.”
Chairman-elect Johnny Gardner ran his campaign off finding ways other than raising taxes to pay for public safety. “I think the citizens want you to be a steward of their money,” Gardner said, “To focus on having a budget and being creative and making sure you’re not wasting money.”
Gardner said he’s not a fan of the proposed referendum.
“The focus should not be on how much we raise taxes. The focus should be on ‘let’s don’t raise taxes.'”
The deadline for the county to get the referendum on the November ballot is August 15.
There will be a special workshop Tuesday, July 24 at 2:00 p.m. to go over all the findings and numbers from staff. Then, council will decide whether to put it on the ballot.
