Julie Harbin opened the meeting and introduced herself, Pam Creech, and Jim Paullin as the Horry County P.R.I.D.E leadership team. A fourth member, Stu Schnur was unable to attend.Two special guests were recognized and introduced: Mike Ryan, County Councilman from 4th District and Gary Loftus, Director, Coastal Carolina University’s Center for Economic and Community Development, and candidate for the County Council’s 4th District.

County Council Budget Retreat, April 3rd and 4th
Pam Creech reported that representatives of Horry County P.R.I.D.E. attended the County Council’s budget retreat to hear details of this year’s budget status. Pam Creech said there are two major factors involved in the potentially large revenue shortfall:

1) The loss of at least $4M in revenue from permits and fees due to the downturn in the building industry, and

2) The potential loss of $7M from the Assessable Transfer of Interest tax that the State Legislature is expected to repeal. The ATI subjects real property to appraisal at the fair market sale value vs. the appraised value for property tax purposes. If we lose the ATI revenue, there are not a lot of options to raise lost revenue.
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SUMMARY OF LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES

• We attend ALL Horry County Council meetings.
• We attend ALL Infrastructure and Regulation Committee meetings.
• We attend ALL Planning Commission meetings.
• We are meeting with Council members.
• We’ve presented two written statements before the Planning Commission 10/4 and 11/1.
• We presented one written statement before the County Council 10/23.
• We attended the Mt. Vernon community meeting on Carolina Station.
• We met with representatives of the proposed Carolina Station development.
• We are examining the County budget to see how the government is spending our money.
• We are researching the cost of development to the taxpayers.

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HORRY COUNTY PRIDE Leadership: Julie Harbin, Pam Creech, Stu Schnur, and Jim Paullin.

Joe Harbin, President, Blackmoor Property Owners Association, welcomed the attendees. Stu Schnurr, a former principal and school district superintendent, a homeowner in Blackmoor, and a founding member of HORRY COUNTY PRIDE, introduced the District 4 Councilman Mike Ryan (District 4 includes Blackmoor).

In his remarks, Councilman Ryan said, “What you’re doing tonight is extremely important….(the situation we have today) is like the St. James football team playing the Patriots.” He stressed the importance and timeliness of organizing the citizens of Horry County to support adequate funding for a strong infrastructure and sustainable natural resources and encouraged participation in HORRY COUNTY PRIDE. He praised the model of a “tribal summit” of HOAs and environmental groups and hoped that Horry citizens would move from a perspective of “not in my backyard” to “not in my County.” “Please get people involved in this and get it rolling” he concluded before leaving the group.

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