Horry County ATAC recommends FY27 ATAX allocations, approves beach renourishment funding and reduced biker-event overtime

The Horry County ATAC committee on April reviewed its FY27 tourism promotion fund forecast and recommended allocations for the year, approving a series of funding recommendations for festivals, public-safety coverage and park improvements.

Staff presented the FY27 revenue forecast, saying, "the FY27 budgeted revenues are a little over $7,400,000," with 65% of that amount available to agencies (about $4,800,000) and a one-time fund balance of approximately $872,008.63. The presenter said the committee’s role was to recommend how to allocate the 65% agency pool and suggested reserving one-time funds for nonrecurring requests.

Why it matters: ATAC’s recommendations are advisory to county council; staff said the administrative committee will review the recommendations on April 28 and the budget ordinance moves to second reading May 5 and third reading May 19. The committee’s recommendations, if adopted by council, will determine FY27 spending for events and tourism-support services across unincorporated Horry County.

Key decisions and amounts: The committee voted by voice for multiple allocations, often matching prior-year funding or moderated first-year requests. Notable approvals included Carolina Master Corral ($5,000); Coast Football Alliance ($18,000); Myrtle Beach Bowl police support ($5,000); Myrtle Beach Classic law-enforcement support ($10,000); Long Bay Symphony ($10,000); Theater of the Republic one-time audio upgrade ($15,000); and Varna International Music Academy ($7,500). The committee fully funded Myrtle Beach State Park’s one-time ADA trail request at $33,002.57 and approved Beach United Soccer at $5,000.

Biker events overtime: The meeting recorded a heated exchange about the biker-event overtime request, which rose sharply from prior-year figures. Assistant county administrator of public safety Renee Hardwick asked to table the item and obtain more detail from the police department, saying, "I would ask if maybe you could table this and I could get some answers from the police for you." Committee members agreed they needed to act because the committee would not reconvene before council; a motion was amended and the committee approved the amount consistent with the state proviso maximum for recommendation ($197,827).

Public-safety and marine services: The committee voted to recommend funding for Horry County Fire & Rescue staffing and support at $193,208 and approved a substantially increased recommendation for Murrells Inlet/Garden City fire marine-safety services after debate (committee-approved recommendation $100,000). Committee members discussed whether some coverage requests were duplicative of county obligations and weighed the tourism-economic impacts of events when setting amounts.

One-time funds and balancing the recommendation: After voting through individual items, members moved to allocate remaining one-time funds to balance the recommendation and to direct the residual one-time balance to beach renourishment. By voice vote the committee approved using the remaining one-time funding to fully fund the recommendation set and to apply the balance to beach renourishment, concluding the committee’s recommended allocations would be balanced before submission to the administrative committee.

Procedure and next steps: Staff told members the administrative committee would review ATAC’s recommendations on April 28, and county council will consider the budget ordinance at second and third readings on May 5 and May 19. The committee adjourned after the vote.

Attributions: Quotes and attributions in this report come from the meeting transcript. Committee members were identified by transcript cues when names were explicitly spoken; Drew McElveen was referenced in the transcript as making the agenda-motion suggestion and is cited here by name; Renee Hardwick identified herself on the record as "the assistant county administrator of public safety." Where speakers were not named in the transcript, this article uses functional labels (Chair, committee member, staff member) consistent with meeting roles.

Next step: ATAC’s recommendations will be reviewed by the county’s administrative committee on April 28 and then forwarded to county council for consideration during May ordinance readings.