MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Horry County school leaders say they’re upset the City of Myrtle Beach may pull $20 million intended to build a new school.

Over 20 years ago, the city came up with a plan that included building a new school in the Market Common area, but now that’s changed.

By law, the money must be used in the Market Common district because the General Assembly set it up to redevelop the Old Air Force Base.

The Market Common district has grown a great deal in the last twenty years, city officials say, thanks to what’s called the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district given by the General Assembly. TIF funds are generally used to support public projects.

“So, we had roughly the 4,000 acres of the Air Force base, that’s where the improvements need to be made, and that’s where the money that’s generated from those improvements needs to be spent,” justifies Myrtle Beach Spokesperson Mark Kruea.

Two decades ago, the city drafted a list of projects it would do with the money. Several of those projects have been completed – except the idea of building a natatorium and a school.

“We really didn’t know with 5,000 new homes, whether there would be hundreds, thousands of new school children in the area. Turns out there haven’t been. So, the school is way down on that list,” states Kruea.

Instead of building a new school and natatorium, the city says it needs to construct a parking garage to set up the basic infrastructure to support new construction homes a hotel that’s going to be built in the Market Common.

“We learned of these amendments just recently,” explains Horry County Schools Spokesperson Lisa Bourcier. “We were kind of put back a little bit of some of these proposed amendments, especially taking the $20 million out for the school district.”

Kruea says the school district would still get more than $1 million per year until 2039 to spend how it wants.

“We’re pleased with that, but again, that $20 million was quite a specific line item put in place originally in that TIF agreement. So, that’s something that we’re definitely concerned about,” voices Bourcier.

A few school district members told News13 they wanted to use that $20 million to build a trade school for high school students.

A public hearing was originally scheduled for the plan next week, but that’s now changed so Myrtle Beach city leaders can meet with the school district and county to hear their concerns.