Carolina Station Plan: Burden falls on taxpayers to build schools

July 22, 2008, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach
Opinion by Dick Leavitt

On July 1, Horry County Council approved the 13,800 home, 6,277-acre Carolina Station development. The big $125 million question is: Who pays for the new high school, middle school and two elementary schools [that would be required once the development is built out]?

Unless the voters of Horry County band together to force developer International Paper Realty to pay for these schools, the Horry County school board will be forced to submit a bond referendum sometime in the future to pay for the new schools, which means that every citizen who purchases things that the [proposed] penny tax [for school construction] applies to will pay for the schools.

Don't confuse the bond referendum with the tax referendum that the voters will be asked to pass this November. The tax referendum, if passed, only enables the tax to be imposed - it does not permit the school board to spend money on building projects. When the school board feels it will need the bonds to pay for Carolina Station schools, we will have a bond referendum, which, if approved, would authorize the expenditure of the $125 million.

However, there still is time to reverse the process that International Paper, DDC Engineers and Horry Council may think is on "automatic pilot." I am confident we can muster the support to defeat any bond referendum that applies to building schools at Carolina Station. If various organizations band together, we can enlist the support of tens of thousands of voters to vote down a Carolina Station bond referendum.

Actually, the school board has expressed sympathy for our position. In fact, at the July County Council meeting, the school board chairman, Will Garland, asked the council to defer [approval] to explore new funding options. His request was denied.

The main reason for Garland's request was the recent enactment of the Residential Improvement Development Act. Oddly enough, this act had been requested by Horry council members, including Marion Foxworth.

For years certain County Council members have pleaded with the General Assembly to provide the county with a funding tool to force developers to pay their fair share of infrastructure costs, including schools. Isn't it ironic that the very first time the council had an opportunity to employ the provisions of this act, it failed to do so.

Foxworth argued the act did not provide the enabling legislation needed by the County Council. That simply is not so. Attorneys at the Statehouse say the act provides all the tools the county requires to designate Carolina Station as an RID.

The act can only be applied with the agreement of the property owners. Obviously, International Paper Realty will not agree if they think they can transfer the school building costs to the taxpayers of Horry County. However, they will have no choice when they realize the taxpayers will vote down any bond referendum to build schools for Carolina Station residents.

We plan on an aggressive informational campaign to educate Horry County residents regarding this vital issue.

The estimated cost [of an RID to new Carolina Station homeowners to pay for infrastructure costs is approximately $8,000. A $200,000 home would increase in cost to $208,000. For a 30-year, 6 percent mortgage, the principal and interest payment would increase $48 from $1,199 to $1,247, or 4 percent.

It is interesting that the estimated cost of overpasses at Singleton Ridge Road, Gardner-Lacy Road and Carolina Forest Boulevard, which were part of the original Road Improvement Development Effort II Plan, is approximately $125 million.

I think the citizens of Horry County would rather be saddled with a 1 percent tax to pay for these badly needed traffic improvements that will benefit millions of people who travel U.S. 501 annually than to pay a 1 percent tax that benefits only the residents of Carolina Station.