My name is Dick Leavitt. My wife and I have lived here for 17 years. On July 1st County Council approved 3rd Reading of the Carolina Station Development, and loaded the cost of the 4 new schools at Carolina Station – $125,000,000 – squarely on the shoulders of all Horry County Taxpayers. I am here tonight to inform you I do not think that will happen.

I only have 5 minutes so my comments are limited to the schools. However I am aware there are additional legal concerns regarding this Agreement – they pertain to requirements to include specific scheduling information; requirements to list all the I.P. owners’ names; and waiving an ordinance regarding serving alcohol within 500 feet of a residence.

It is puzzling that some Council members have pleaded for years for the State Legislature to provide Counties with a funding tool to pass infrastructure costs on large developments along to Developers. Here we have the largest single development undertaken in this County, and the State Legislature provides you with that tool in the form of the Residential Improvement District Act, and you turned your backs on it. In todays’ tough real estate climate, waiting a couple of months to iron out the R.I.D. agreement with International Paper was not unreasonable. One reason Will Garland asked you to defer 3rd Reading was the School Board knows it is not fair to tax all the residents for these schools. However, Council rejected Mr. Garland’s request. One Councilman argued the R.I.D Act lacked what he called “enabling legislation”. I checked with an attorney in the State Legislature in Columbia who assured me the Residential Improvement Act IS the “enabling legislation”.

The vote you took on July 1st doesn’t become official until the Minutes are approved Tonight; thus there is time for a Councilman to rescind his FOR Vote. However, I hold out no hope that will happen.

So tonight you will approve the minutes, and International Paper and DDC may think it is time to pop the champagne and celebrate the victory of avoiding the cost of paying for the 4 new schools. But that might be premature. I have told members of the Horry County School system that we will have the votes to defeat any attempt to push through a School Bond Referendum that includes schools at Carolina Station. We also would make it very difficult for them to even consider increasing millage to pay for the new schools.

Council has little choice but to sit down and negotiate with International Paper to designate Carolina Station as a Residential Improvement District. IP and DDC will no doubt point out that Section 6-35-30 of the new Act states the Act can only be applied if the owners of the property agree to it. Well, what other choice do they have? They are not going to get the schools built through the School Board avenue. They will have a tough time selling properties if they have to tell prospective owners there aren’t any schools.

The estimates are that infrastructure costs at Carolina Station might amount to an average of $8000 per new home. We all know that amount will not be borne by International Paper – it will be passed down to each new home buyer. If the cost of a $200,000 home increased by $8000, the monthly principle and interest payment on a 30 Year/ 6% Loan would increase from $1199 to $1247, an increase of $48.00 – just barely a 4% increase. That hardly seems to be much of a show stopper for a new home buyer who is qualified to purchase a home in that price range. Another factor you need to consider is many of the potential home buyers will move here from States where infrastructure costs are paid for by developers – they are quite familiar with this practice.

What does this have to do with the interchanges on 501? Even though it would be a different funding mechanism, the estimate in the original Ride II report to build interchanges between Singleton Ridge Road and the Factory Stores was $80,000,000. (It may be more now). I daresay the voters of Horry County would rather pay $80,000,000 to $100,000,000 for 501 road improvements than $125,000,000 for schools in Carolina Station that should be paid for by the people directly benefitting from those schools.
Finally, and most importantly, I urge the Council members who voted for this Development to consider the needs of their Constituents over the needs of their Contributors.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 31st, 2008 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Communications.