Horry County to consider tax increase to raise $13M

Horry County Councilmen are mulling a tax increase that would allow them to balance next year’s budget without reserves and provide additional law enforcement staff, county employee raises and public safety equipment.

The proposed increase would raise more than $13 million for the county and provide enough money to prevent it from reaching for $8 million in its reserves to balance the 2016 budget.

The 7.2-mill increase is not a shoo-in, however. Some councilmen said at a budget workshop Wednesday that they flat-out would not support property tax increases and others wanted to examine the budget requests versus the request to see if it could be reduced. Council will meet again on the budget at another workshop Tuesday at 4 p.m. in council chambers.