Mrytle Beach SC Not Following Trash Mandates
By: LORENA ANDERSON
The Horry County Solid Waste Authority’s largest customer, the city of Myrtle Beach, declined Tuesday to back the agency’s bid for control of where trash is dumped in the county.
At stake, some people say, is nothing less than their business.
Tim Lee, one of the owners of Lee Disposal Services, which has a recycling center in Myrtle Beach, told city leaders that if the waste agency gains control, “it would put us out of business.”
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The solid waste agency owns the landfill facility on S.C. 90, and if it controls the flow of waste, it could mandate that all solid refuse is taken there. It could send some haulers to other landfills, but many feel that’s not likely.
“They call it flow control, but I call it a monopoly,” Myrtle Beach resident Birgit Darby told the council.
Lee said the deal he has worked out with the Marion County landfill for his recycling materials allows him to make a profit while benefiting the community and the environment.
Even with a discount the solid waste agency says it would offer, he said, his recycling business would become a losing proposition.
But the waste authority says the dumping fees it charges fund its recycling and education programs, and that’s why it has requested control.
The five council members present passed a motion at the afternoon meeting saying the waste authority had not sufficiently made its case proving why it should dictate where solid waste goes. Mayor John Rhodes and Mayor Pro Tem Wayne Gray were absent.
The Horry County Council already has voted in favor of the waste agency twice, and must give one more vote of approval before the deal is done.
“Regardless of what we say, it appears the county is going to pass the third reading of this,” Councilwoman Susan Grissom Means said.
County Councilman Marion Foxworth said it’s a complicated issue because most members of the County Council have an array of reasons for supporting the agency’s request, including that most of the county’s cities have endorsed it.
“But they are the biggest customer, so it’s something to consider,” he said, “but I don’t know if it will have a big impact.”
Foxworth said he supports the agency having control “based on what I know and have seen over the last 20 years. We’ve based our revenue on property tax, and we’ve had very few other revenue streams. We slipped in with the hospitality tax, but the General Assembly acts very quickly to close the window. With the assembly cutting off property taxes and with local governments facing fiscal crises as we are, it would be almost foolish not to nail down that potential revenue source.”
Foxworth said he and his colleagues don’t want to put anyone out of business, but there are always unintended consequences to government decisions.
“Anything we do has impact,” he said. “The needs of the many outweigh the wishes of the few. We’re trying to provide governmental goods and services, and this affects our ability to do that.”
In other business Tuesday, the Myrtle Beach City Council agreed to issue up to $625,000 in bonds to replace a heating-and-cooling system at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center and build a staircase next to the escalator in the center’s main entry hall, because when the escalator is closed for repairs, there’s no convenient way to reach the second floor. The bond money will also pay for some repairs on the swimming pool at Pepper Geddings Recreation Center.
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