Myrtle Beach Council passes penny tax
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Horry County Council OK's new penny sales tax...
Dozens of people crowded into council chambers Tuesday afternoon to hear council?s decision on the tax and hear what many people had to say about the May bike rallies.
Thema Ponton/WBTW
Audience at Myrtle Beach council meeting, Myrtle Beach
Published: May 26, 2009
Updated: May 27, 2009
Tuesday, Myrtle Beach city council voted unanimously to raise the sales tax by one penny, with that revenue going to tourism marketing. Businesses will start collecting the tax on August 1, 2009.
Dozens of people crowded into council chambers Tuesday afternoon to hear council’s decision on the tax and hear what many people had to say about the May bike rallies.
Many people who spoke out in support of the rallies said council members did irreparable damage because they were successful in scaling back the rallies.
Tricia Cunningham, with the group Help Eliminate Lousy Politicians, chocked back tears while she told council about her history in Myrtle Beach and her husband who died during one of the rallies. “To see the selective tourism that has been imposed by the city council, really upset me a lot, I felt compelled to speak in front of them because they weren’t listening, they don’t really understand what they did.“ Cunningham said she and the other members of H.E.L.P. are working to register voters in Myrtle Beach and Horry County so they can make changes in the November elections.
But many people made it a point to thank council for passing a series of ordinances, they say changed their lives.
Birgit Darby said, “I was just happy that I could sleep, I slept, during the Harley week I slept every night and was never awakened.“
Once the rally thank you’s and no thank you’s were done, it was on to the penny tax.
Council has designated the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce as the marketing agency to sell Myrtle Beach through an ad campaign with money from the tax.
But Sea Palms Motel owner Karon Mitchell pleaded with council not to pass the tax. She said the tax isn’t fair to everybody, and said the Chamber of Commerce shouldn’t get all the money, she feels business that aren’t members, like hers, won’t benefit from tourism marketing. “I don’t think that it’s right right now with the recession, I want myrtle beach to do well, don’t get me wrong, I want to promote myrtle beach, but I think there comes a time and a place for everything.” Mitchell said she’s going to start working to repeal the tax.
Chamber board Chairman Brant Branham told News13 passing the tax is a game changer for the tourism industry in Myrtle Beach. “We want to go through an educational process now and a local pr campaign to show these folks that uh do have their doubts, what will be the benefits of being a part of the chamber and what can be beneficial to their businesses with this new marketing money.” Branham said he knows people are much divided on the issue, but in the long run
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Reader Reactions
Eventhough I do not reside in Myrtle Beach proper,this adoption of the ramroded sales tax increase is not a very smart move.In these bad times to increase taxes,for whatever the reasons is an insane move.Do politions really think that this will increase tourism?Do the residents of MB actually believe that property taxes will be less?Anyone who is actually sucker enough to believe that-well I have a bridge across the Atlantic Ocean fosale cheap.I would suggest “remember"come the next election the ones who originally worked up this in Columbia&the;council that voted totally to pass it.My comment Vote them out of office&vote;someone in who listens to the “people”.Do we the citizens pay their saleries & are they not supposed to do the will of the people??
It seems to me that some people are forgetting who they work for!
The real question is who is really responsable for these actions, I have a feeling that the big hotels and the Chamber of Commerce are behind alot of the decisions that the city council has been making. They are the ones who are going to benefit in the long run. You get rid of the Bikers, and the smaller hotels lose money and dont have corperate dollars to help them thru the lean years, so they have to sell, then the mega hotels buy up the property at depressed prices and build more mega hotels. in the meantime the citizens of Myrtle Beach are paying higher taxes so that they can pay for the advertising that will benefit the big hotels and the Chamber of Commerce, of course the city council said that in 3 or 4 years your property tax may be lowered. well there are a few things to think about, 1. it wasnt a year ago that the council raised your property tax 2. the word MAY, there is no guarantee that this will happen and 3. it is for the next TEN years you will be paying it. remember these people were elected to serve you, not MEGA corporations
Put the spotlight on the real villains of the penny tax raise for cities. That would be Senators Rankin and Elliot, along with the help of Rep Tracey Edge and all of the other Horry county gang. They are now hoping that all of US are too stupid to vote their a!!es out next time around. Let us not forget to properly reward them in the next election.
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