Posted on January 31, 2017
By Clayton Stairs, SouthStrand News
Georgetown County leaders will not make a decision on replacement projects for a $6 million dredging project for at least a year, and are focusing on the four other projects slated for funds from a one-cent capital projects sales tax.
The other projects that are now, or soon to be, underway, are: resurfacing for more than 100 road segments throughout the county; dredging of Murrells Inlet; constructing nine fire substations in the western part of the county; and partial funding for an Andrews police and fire complex. These projects are being paid for with an estimated total of $28 million collected from the sales tax from May 2015 to April 2019.
County Economic Development Director Brian Tucker said during a county work session on Jan. 26 that the dredging project – which was the flagship project for the sales tax referendum approved by voters in November 2014 – is not likely to be completed because of escalating costs, the closure of the steel mill and the continual decline of projected annual volume for the port. The dredging project, which would have brought the depth of the channel leading to the port to 27 feet, was originally estimated to cost about $33 million, but, as The Georgetown Times reported previously, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers changed that estimate to about $66 million.
“If we had 27 feet, we could only accommodate 30 percent of the fleet currently in the shipping industry, and that is as much as it will ever be,” Tucker said. “So, the fact of the matter is, ArcelorMittal is gone, so a huge user of the port is gone, ships are getting bigger, requiring more depth, and, even if we had the money to dredge, would the ports authority be able to generate the business to support the $6 million a year for ongoing maintenance?”
County Administrator Sel Hemingway said in an interview with the Times that if the port dredging project is determined to be undo-able, the $6 million slated for that project would be considered excess funds.
“If it is deemed to be excess money, then council would go through the process mandated by the state: three readings and a public hearing to establish projects,” he said. “There would be opportunity for public input in that process.”
He said that the county has at least another year of collecting sales tax and continuing the other four projects before deciding on replacement projects for port dredging.
“The reason we don’t have to absolutely conclude that right now is because we are not at a juncture in the four-year window of collection of the sales tax where we can call it excess money,” Hemingway said, “and we’ve got to decide what we are going to do with that money.”
He said people continually ask what the county is going to do with the money if the port dredging project can’t be completed. He said people who voted for the referendum hoped dredging the port would create jobs, create a tax base and enhance the economy of Georgetown County.
“My recommendation will be … to spend that money on projects that would have the same end goal,” Hemingway said.
He said he and others on his staff are creating a list of ideas for replacement projects as they present themselves.
“One idea is supporting an advanced manufacturing facility at Horry-Georgetown Technical College that will build a prepared work force and prepare them to demonstrate that we’ve got a skilled workforce coming in,” Hemingway said. “Another idea is to use that money to develop industrial sites in other parts of the county … to create jobs and enhance the economy of the county.”
Source: South Strand News
