City Council - Regular Meeting

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All right. Good morning. Welcome to the May 5th council workshop. want to welcome everybody here and on behalf of our mayor who is on a I think a well-deserved break this week. Um happy to be here leading our workshop. We're going to hear from a lot of folks, reports and updates on council business. And so I'd like to go ahead and get started. We're going to start with the CTC resurfacing request. Janet Good morning.

Good morning, council. So before you this morning, um we have on the first slide what we are planning to resurface for fiscal year 27. And again, that's dependent on budget approval of uh 3.2 million for road resurfacing for fiscal year 27. And again, depending on where we land with the capital project, um we can adjust these roads as we see fit. Um we have 7.45 miles of city roads that we are anticipating in in resurfacing in fiscal year 27. And that gives you an an example of what the construction estimate is. But recognize once we have the bidding, we kind of know where where we land in terms of what we can or cannot do when we can fluctuate, put roads on, take roads off. That's how we write our contract. And we're looking to go out to bid as early as we can so that we can take advantage of the full fiscal year to get these these roads resurfaced before the busy summer season. And in years past, um, we seek a road project with ORECTC as a complimentary project to resurface state roads primarily within our residential areas and neighborhoods in this in the city so that um, we're able to add these roads into our project. We make a larger project which is more enticing for the contractors. Um, and I will tell you that for our 2025 road projects with CTC, we are tracking to

actually come, we've come under budget of what Ory CTC awarded us previously. And what I'm want to ask them in the next meeting when we submit our road application is that I would like to keep those dollars here in our community. And I would like to reallocate the money from the savings in the project to resurface an additional 1.7 miles of state roads in our community. And that is roughly about um $747,000 of additional work of money they've already awarded to us to keep the money here. And then in that same ask, I'm bringing forward a new road project for 2026 and that is 2.77 miles of roads for about $1.3 million. And the upcoming CTC meeting where I will be submitting this application is actually next Tuesday on May 12th at 6 o'clock. Uh we are hosting that meeting at the train depot. Uh should you care to to join us when we submit that application?

And are there any questions? Any questions? Hope we get them all done. Yeah, absolutely. If it happens. Absolutely. You'll see a motion on your agenda next Tuesday. Just reaffirming. Perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks, John. All right. Next, we have a workforce housing update. I think Brian's going to start us off with that. And we've got some guests, maybe.

Good morning. We do have some guests. Um Lawrence, Madison, and Blakeley are all here with us this morning. They are members of the board. Um along with me um we talked to you not that long ago about the community land trust and some of the progress that we have been making uh as we um as we formalized that regional partnership. I think we we've talked about workforce housing around here for at least the last five years. In the last couple of years uh we've recognized that this isn't a problem we can necessarily address ourselves. This is a regional partnership. It requires collaboration from the private sector uh from various municipalities. Uh creation of the community land trust allowed us to create the mechanism for um permanent affordability. Uh and what we have today are two options that the the CLT is pursuing. Both of them inside the city limits. Uh one of them at Third Avenue North and Broadway. I've got the the um sort of blown out map there and the both are on Third Avenue North. One's at Broadway and then one's a little further down. Excuse me. Um the blue parcel uh we actually have un or the CLT, I won't say we, that we gets a little confusing when I stand up here as a board member and as a staff member. So, uh CLT has the blue parcel uh under contract. Um and and there's a 90-day due diligence period on that um as we work through a lot of the details. the green po the green portions they are actually owned by uh the Chapen company and we've had conversations with Chapen about partnering with them buying that property them buying our property in an effort to advance workforce housing uh downtown. Um, the request from the CLT this morning is that the city use proceeds from the workforce housing fund to actually fund the acquisition of

these two parcels, which would be we're estimating between $780,000 and and $800,000. Those would be based on fair market value. We have appraisals for for both of these parcels um or or will have I know we have a I know we have appraisals for the parcels in green there. I I believe we are in the process of getting an appraisal on the blue section. Before we get too far down this path, we wanted to to come to this body and and just request and get temperature really on are you supportive of us using workforce housing funds to acquire these properties. If the answer is yes, we will move ahead with due diligence. We will go through um the appraisal process. we will go through other standard due diligence and make sure that that we can build uh on these properties that the that all of the zoning and obviously we we've looked into some of this preliminarily u make sure the zoning works have a better idea of what a site plan would look like very roughly we believe we can get about 40 units on these two parcels which come to about two acres that would make a meaningful difference and give us a very quick win easy win for the CLT again the city's been at this a little longer than the CLT has existed Ed, but this would be a great win for the CLT. Um, again, fund balance right now is about $3.4 million in the workforce housing fund. Uh, you all have made comments just very recently about how we plan to deploy that and how we plan to put that into action. This is a very meaningful way to put that into action. Um, the process or what would happen if you all want us to move forward and fund it. What would happen next is again we would go through the due diligence, we would go through the site planning, we would close on the property. Property would be held in the name of the CLT forever. Uh which is that CLT model is what provides for permanent affordability. So um we can go through some of the mechanics of how the community land trust model works. But

once the community land trust owns these parcels, um they would own them forever and the units above would be sold since so think of a think of a condo model. The dirt would be owned by the community land trust. Uh the units would be sold off at whatever the cost was um to build the units, but you don't have to factor in the dirt. So that's that's what helps it become affordable and it helps it remain affordable. Again, that's a that's a longer conversation. Um, I'll take a breath there and ask if you've got any questions about the specifics, the financials of of the the request. Yes, sir.

Couple questions. If we were good with p spending that money to purchase these parcels, will these be units uh that are folks would rent these or would folks this would be units that will be purchased by an individual and own?

The current thought is that that all of these units would be for sale for qualifying individuals. So they have to we have to income verify that they are truly workforce housing. um they will basically become part of the club if you will. So I mean they they would be this is not the right word but I'm going to use it for the sake of the conversation. They would essentially be customers of the community land trust. There would be an existing long-term relationship between the property owners uh and then the dirt holders which is the community trust. Second question is a person purchase

a unit. Will that person be allowed to turn around and rent that unit out? That's important question for me to answer for me to hear. Uh number three, we do this and is the is the private sector the ones who's going to construct these these units or will there be an additional ask from the city to uh partner in the actual construction of these units?

We're working on the math now to figure out what the what the economics will be on the vertical construction. My my position was I think the economics would work out that this would be our contribution toward the construction of these units. Um I think Megan Megan who's not able to be here, she's worked out a proforma where we think we know what the construction cost would be and we think we know what the sales price would be. Uh there will be some there will be an ask from Ory County, from Conway, from some of the other municipalities and even maybe even the private sector here to help us get the funding completely secured. But again, these are at a critical part inside the city limits. Yeah.

I just don't want to say okay because you hear this, we hear this time and time and time again. uh this is all we need and then 6 months later well you know we need this so and and and that's the thing I would I'd like to see us get away from if we is this is our is this is what our ask is okay now rest of it

so from a from a comfort standpoint let me tell you this number one I'm asking for a general consensus today on on how you feel about moving forward. If I get a positive feedback, if we get positive feedback from you, what we would do is then go through the process of getting through the due diligence before we've officially come back and you approve the funding. I think I would like to hear a little bit more about what the plan is before I could say, "Yeah, I'll go. I'll go." I would I would like to see a see a plan, see what the units are, what the size of units may be, all of that kind of stuff. We get that, then I I might feel a whole lot more com. This might understand. I feel a little more comfortable about Is it Is it safe

$800,000 on on these two lots? Is it safe for me to say if we can develop a plan that that this is our own this is the only ask of the city and we were able to get 30 to 40 units on there that are, you know, of a market size, attractive marketable size. conceptually you would be more favorable towards something like that. Yes, it's very qualified, but just trying to get a general sense. Yeah, Brian. Um sir,

the uh the two parcels in green and then the one almost triangular in blue. Um you're talking about 30 to 40 units. Is that for all three parcels or just that would be the total of the total acquisition of all of these parcels would yield we think about 40 units. About 40 units and I was reading some of the notes. So these would be anywhere from onebedroom one bath up to threebedroom two bath to accommodate families.

Correct. And and if you remember back we and when Megan is back, she can do this more formal presentation, but we actually did an inventory and we we did a survey asking what what the demands were of the folks that fit this 80 to 120 uh income bracket and the the the the bedroom counts will will be decided on based on the the assessment that we got or that the CLT got.

Um I also recall that uh in I'll call it survey that the group did uh that a a good portion of the people that responded to that showed interest in it uh were city employees, right? And in order to qualify for this, they're going to have to to I guess be city employees. Is that correct?

Not not necessarily. they they they they would have to they would absolutely have to fit the income brackets. If we if as we got through this we wanted to set aside a certain portion for I I would ask that we expand it beyond city employees to public employees whether it's school teachers um you know I would even say I would even include nurses in there but you know our our what we would consider our essential workforce

would they have to currently be living within our city limits in other words a teacher but is teaching out in Conway somewhere Not necessarily. That That's not That's not the current thought. Oh, okay. I would hope that we keep it open so we can encourage someone to move back into the city. I for people working in the city. That's the point. And that that's that's the general thought is u folks that are going to be drawn to these parcels are very likely going to be working in the city even if they're not currently living in the city. All right.

I I do feel nervous, and this is just this is just me. We haven't had this conversation at the board level. Um I'd feel a little nervous pigeon holing us so tightly. Um you know, to to Councilman Chestnut's point, I'd try to make it as flexible as possible to attract as many people as possible. I understand that, but at the same time, I want to be sure that we're not excluding uh city employees for the sake of expanding it. No, no, we certainly wouldn't be excluding them. It may just not be exclusive to them. Okay. So,

I'll tell you just me one, I mean, I'm excited. And um I think this has been a long time coming and you know we've been talking about this for several years and um you know it's time to take a bite at the apple and I agree Mr. Louder. Let's be a little cautious but at the same time at the same time I'm I'm ready to see something happen. Understood. One thing I I failed to mention earlier, uh, Councilman Louder, to your point, um, these are just two of the projects that the Community Land Trust is currently considering. There are a number of other projects that are outside the city limits in the county.

Some of that is land that is owned by the city of Conway that they're contributing.

They're just contributing. Same with same with Ory County. They have a couple of chunks of property that they are looking to contribute. Um, we have, if you remember, we have the parcel on 16th Avenue South, uh, that we brought to you a couple of meetings ago. Um, and and and we're looking at, we're looking at conveying that piece to the land trust. The proceeds from that could be essentially half the purchase price of these parcels. Um, but again, we didn't want to make the commitment to sell the property to buy this property until Councilman Lauder, exactly what you said. We knew what the plan was going to be. So, we are we are actively working the plan. I was let Lawrence say a couple things as our chairman.

Yeah, good morning. I'm Lawrence Bolus. How you doing, D? I'm the uh president of CCNB in my full-time work, but also the president of the community land trust and to Councilman Chestnut's point. We wouldn't have the land trust without the city and we certainly appreciate y'all's support. This is another step and you one could argue it's taken a while to get here, but we're extremely excited about this potential and appreciate really Brian's help and the city kind of thinking about using these funds to help us do this because this is to get 40 units in this space really gets us down the road and we'll certainly work on the plan of attack relative to the financing of the construction. The vertical piece, Councilman Louderder, but uh this is a very exciting time for us. We're sorry Megan is not here with us today, but she'll be here next time. And uh she has been working for years and years in this space and really is an expert in this field, but we're excited about this opportunity and grateful for the city to consider it, but we think it's a first step for us and really kind of moving the needle in this space, which is really needed. So, but appreciate you all considering.

Thanks. I think for me the um community land trust the why I'm so supportive of this model is because people can buy their home,

they can own it and then they can appreciate the value of it and then it can be resold but using the same model but they can receive the benefit of having something a property that has appreciated in value as well. So, um it gives the opportunity for home ownership. I think we've talked a lot about um workforce housing. It's very different than other types of housing we hear about. And um you know, I think Kevin um Weights and his team and HR did a survey for city of Myrtle Beach employees about workforce housing. And we've got a lot of employees that can't live here. And it'd be great to see those folks coming back to the city, too.

Go ahead. I was just agreeing again. One of the most important things to me about this, I don't want this to turn into an opportunity for someone to buy units and then turn around and lease them out. Uh because it's got to be strictly homeowner. And as to Miss Connor, what she just said about a person could own a home and then sell it. And I'm assuming and that assume assumption sometime is a bad word to use, but uh I I would think that they have that unit has to be sold to somebody who would be characterized in this. Yes.

Yeah. It every future owner of the house has to qualify based on those income brackets. Number one. and and Councilman Councilman Connor to your point, I I think the ability to create wealth, home ownership, to have them share in some of the appreciation in the property and yet keep it affordable, uh it the CLT model is truly a win-win across the board. Okay. And it's a proven model across the country.

I think u go ahead. Just just a question over and beyond what we're doing here. Are there legislative initiatives with local government entities where a certain portion of new development is dedicated to affordable or workforce housing, a percentage per se, before the project moves forward? That that gets super tricky in South Carolina. Um, we you cannot rec if a project is presented that meets the zoning code and they're not asking for any any variances or any exceptions, you cannot require them to have any certain level of of housing. If they ask for accommodations and it becomes a negotiation, then that's on the table. But

okay, but so that it's a little bit of a gray area. Uh very rarely does a project of any scale not come to us and ask for at least some kind of a a give somewhere and is if they if they do ask for that then yeah we can we can entertain a conversation about some percentage of of of workforce housing. Understood. Thank you. It's a that's a very tricky one.

South Carolina. Brian, I would uh when you do come back and for the group, uh there is also what you just talked about the model, there is a misperception about what this really is. I know that after the Friday facts came out uh Saturday morning, I got two calls saying, "Oh my god, this is going to be section 8 housing." And I'm saying, "No, it's not." Uh but I think a a redeploy, if you will, of what the model is and how it works. uh for the public in general uh because it it it seems to be uh something that has worked in other places and uh it seems to be very fair. You can acquire wealth. Uh it's just it it's a sweet deal, but a lot of people still don't understand it.

Completely understand. And to and to be to be completely clear, Megan has site plans for the project. She has proformas for the project. They're not fully vetted yet. So, I don't want I don't want to pres put that in front of you and have a situation where I'm showing you 40 units and we only can only get 32 units and we end up in a situation where it's not what you originally saw. So, I'm trying to keep it super high level at this point, but to your point, there will be a much more formal education component once we get to the to the hard ask and before we ask you to vote, you'll have numbers in front of you. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. That's great. Good. Any other questions? Good.

All right. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Thank you. All right. Next up is a review of a food truck ordinance update.

Good morning. uh planning department received an application to amend the current 1314 food truck food vending regulations. Um at a high level it would be to allow ice cream trailers which are mobile food units to be governed under permanent food units but still remain mobile in nature. So just going to go over kind of a high level of where the food truck ordinance stands um the request that was made and then also staff and planning commission's recommendations um just get some feedback from y'all on. So, as a quick history, in 2017, the city passed an ordinance creating the food truck pilot program. It allowed food trucks to operate in highway commercial 1 and two and cap the program at six trucks. In 2019, it continued the pilot program for a second year, expanding to allow food trucks in entertainment, uh, medical professional, wholesale manufacturing, uh, and light manufacturing, and increase the permit cap to 20 mobile food units. We are currently now on year nine of a secondyear pilot program. So the requested text amendment came in to allow ice cream trailers and similar dessert focused units to operate as permanent food units on private property without the requirement of affiliation with a brickandmortar restaurant. In 1314 we have a requirement that a mobile food truck has an affiliation with a permanent brickandmortar s uh restaurant. That's also a requirement by the department of a at the state level. I won't read through all of these. Uh this the high level. Only permanent food units limited to ice cream trucks or similar dessert focused operations may operate on private property without requiring affiliation with a brick-and-mortar establishment. These units shall comply with all applicable department of a food safety regulations, city health, safety, and operation standards as related to food trucks. Again, this would take a mobile food unit, allow it to be governed under permanent food unit requirements, but still remain mobile is the request that's in front of us today. I'm just going to skip ahead through these slides

because that's just more language essentially outlining the same thing. It also asks to add mobile food unit vending into the a the amusement district. Currently, that's Myrtle Waves Water Park, the Family Kingdom, and then also the Pavilion area in on Ocean Boulevard. So, staff's recommendation is to remove the pilot language from the program. Again, we're we're years on from the second year of a pilot program to raise the food truck permit cap to 50. we've already exceeded the number of permit requests um that we're allowed to give out every year, but and then deny the changes as part of the requested text amendment as this use is being examined by Kimley Horn as part of the zoning rewrite. We don't want to make any changes to the actual text of how mobile food trucks operate right now because we're going through the zoning rewrite. Planning Commission voted unanimously 50 to recommend denial of the requested text amendment, but also recommended removing the pilot program language and uh the cap of 20 mobile food units and increasing that. Planning Commission did not put a number on uh the cap for the mobile food units. They they left that open. SAF's recommendation is 50. And then just some considerations, all permanent food units have to comply with ICC building code. Uh currently we look at permanent food units as stationary structures. They're not mobile. Um, they're concreted to the ground. They have to have things like strapping and foundations. We also have the protected zone in the A area which defines protected zone in the oceanfront area restricting, soliciting, and deeming improper use of private property as a public nuisance. And third and final, we are going through the zoning rewrite as it stands right now. Um, we've asked Kimley Horn to review our food truck regulations as well as the uh feasibility of food truck parks as a permitted use in the city of Myrtle Beach. and they're still doing their due diligence on that and getting that back to us. So, that's all I have for y'all this morning. Happy to answer any questions and take any feedback.

So, we're not talking about food trucks. We're talking about food trailer. Yes. So, in this case, it's a converted trailer that would be left on a property. So, a food truck moves. Correct. A food trailer will actually be permanent to some extent based on what you just read about straps. tough what known as a tie down.

So that's where this one gets complex. It is supposed to be permanent and not movable. Their request is to allow it to still be movable and removed from the site. We have one permanent food unit in the city right now out at Shine down the market common area. It's concreted to the ground. It's not moving. It's plumbed into the ground. The request here is to keep the tires on the thing and still let it be moved but governed like it's a permanent food unit.

A lot of manufactured homes and mobile home parks are the same thing. and they still got the tires on. Now, now here's here's my point with a food truck. To me, that's one thing. Food truck comes in for the day, food truck leaves, whatever. You're talking about now a structure in place that could be permanent or it could be temporary. So to me, what that's doing is just coming around the elbow to get to a place the same way instead of bricks and mortar. Now, in my opinion, of course, that's just Mike's opinion. Now, what we're doing there is doing a little something different that could have an impact on a bricks and mortar place and to have this established, especially in entertainment district and some of the other areas. In in that case where folks have spent a lot of money on a bricks and mortar building, they're paying taxes. They're paying business license, insurance, and whatever else all that's involved there. And they are established there. They're staying there. And we're going to allow something to come in here and and not have to follow through the same process. To me, I'm I'm I'm struggling with that a little bit. I' I've never had a real big problem with if if somebody a a place of business wanted a food truck to come and set up in their their parking lot or whatever for the day or multiple days. But this is a little troubling to me.

You know, you mentioned uh and I'll just like one place they were talking about family kingdom, right? Uh have those entertainment areas. Have they had any uh uh input into you? Did they say, "Hey, we'd really love this." Or did they say, "Forget about it. We don't want it." Or uh we had the request from the applicant themselves in conjunction with one business down in the oceanfront area, but Family Kingdom have not heard from them specifically. Okay. So,

I I agree with uh Mr. louder that uh you know, we've got folks down there that have invested a lot of money. They've been there for a long time um than to bring something in uh that could be permanent but temporary. You know, bring it in for the 100 days of summer and then move it out. Uh I'm struggling with that myself. So, you're the planning commission voted this down. Correct. recommended unanimous denial for that, but then recommended we remove the pilot program language in the cap for the total number of permits.

I mean, I do love some Mr. Softy, but if someone had that parked at their house, I would be there every day. But I agree with Mr. Louder. I'd be opposed to this. Yes. Just a quick clarification. Would you be okay with removing the cap for the number of permits in the pilot program or you want it just to remain as is? What I'm saying I'm opposed to is the the food truck the food trailers, not food truck trailer, food trailers. Yes, sir.

I'm I'm fine with the taking that whatever we call temporary language out. I'm also fine uh you know if uh planning commission is recommending that hey we need to raise the cap then I think we should listen to them. Yeah. Ken,

laying off of y'all's followup from what I've heard here today, one of the other requests that they had was to add the amusement zone to the list of permitted areas. That's right in the heart of our downtown. That's in our no solicitation zone. With us moving forward with Kimley Horn, I'm kind of taking from y'all the direction that we want to kind of leave that area like it is right now and not go down there with the food trucks and things along those lines. And one other point of clarify, we view a food truck and a food trailer basically the same way. If you're it'd be no different than that man hooking that trailer up behind his truck and pulling it everywhere just like a regular food truck. So we're not just concentrating solely on trailers. That was just her ask. But if this would have passed, it would have included trailers and trucks. But the biggest thing is y'all want us to take the Kimley horn that we want to leave the amusement zones alone and allow them to continue to operate as is. Um, I guess one of our questions would be from a if it got to the point of a food truck park, would a food truck park even be something that you would want to be considered in the amusement zone

or is that something we just need to come back to y'all later with a with with some greater detail? I'd like to see it come back later. Okay. I know there's a there's a lot of that going on in other cities and stuff. I'm not real clear on how it works and everything else. So, I'd like some more clarification. So, we can just we can just bring that back as part of of the zoning rewrite with some possible options in regard to the placement of food truck parks and things along those lines. And that would be if it fits in with our overall plan of what Yeah. things need to be looking like downtown. And I want to hear from the businesses, too. All right. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you.

Excellent. All right. Next will be our tophi discussion. Good morning or good morning.

Last week, I think it was um you passed on first reading a change to the uh fees for towing for uh regular vehicles, I'll call them in heavy duty vehicles. And as part of that, one of the things you asked us to do was look at uh the other fees that are associated with towing. So, we're going to go through that this morning. Um I think it's important that we talk about the definition so you understand what we're talking about. Um there's really three other fees related to towing. The first is storage, which is I think pretty self-explanatory. Um once a vehicle has been towed, if it's there more than 20 uh 12 hours, then the storage fee kicks in. Um you also have the decoupling fee. Um that's the definition from the ordinance. Um essentially what it is, record shows up to tow a vehicle, it's not completely hooked up, hasn't left the scene yet to get them to drop your vehicle, sometimes referred to as a drop fee. That's the decoupling fee. And then the no tow fee. Um, let me back up. Decoupling is it's completely hooked up, has not left the property. No tow fee means they've shown up. They have not hooked it up completely, not ready to leave the property, but they've already started the process. And so that's the no tow fee. And so you have to then at that point pay.

Josh, there's a question right there just to make sure I'm clear about this. Property calls the tow truck and tow truck shows up. people show up and there's no the driver hadn't hooked up anything. He's there at at the vehicle. Now, this no to fee include includes that. Correct. They don't actually even do anything, but they did show up to tow the vehicle once you're in the parking lot. That's when the no tow fee starts. Okay. Just wanted to make sure. Yep. Okay. Thank you.

So, just comparison, and I guess this is where we need some direction. Um, so when we come back to you, we can we can bring it to you. These are the comparisons. As you'll uh notice, um we're at $25 for a a standard vehicle on storage and $30 for a a heavy toe. And then the others uh the other jurisdictions um all follow the South Carolina Highway Patrol. Um the city of North Myrtle Beach just recently passed an ordinance. Um I don't have it in front of me, but it essentially says that they recognize that the highway patrol does comps every year and at the beginning of the year um the council has the authority to adopt the high to keep it easy and so everybody's the same. And so just that's why all the fees are the same here

um is because all the rest of them are following the highway patrols. And so, um, the the only other thing to note, we uh brought fees up last week to 225. Um, and I believe Highway Patrol's tow fee is 272 for a regular tow. Um, so I don't know if that's I don't want to complicate this, but um, if that's a direction we want to go as far as following the highway patrol, understand that we could follow it on some, we could follow it on all, we could follow it on none. Um, but as far as just directions on that, clearly the storage fee needs to go up to be in line. It's just where do y'all want to take it?

I remember last week when we were discussing this uh looking I think it was Colombia uh that actually had a fee uh for the heavy the overweight vehicles uh that was by the hour and it was substantial. Um I kind of lean that way. I don't know if their fee is exactly where I would be, but um it takes a lot of time and a lot of money on these large vehicles. Uh and you know, $76 does not come close to even bringing the chain out to try to do anything with it. Well, that's just the storage fee though on this.

This this is just storage. This is just storage. Y'all raised the heavy duty records uh last meeting to uh $500, right? um on that and then okay my my bad then and 225 on the regular toes and so this is just the storage um so everybody else is just following what the state does it's correct what control does yes I don't see why we don't just follow that as well I don't I agree okay I agree too so I'll bring that back with 47 for regular and 76 for heavy duty for storage

I'm hearing Okay, decoupling fees. This is the one where it's hooked up, ready to go, and you come out and say, "Wait, that's my car." as they're about to drive off. Um, and to get them to drop your vehicle. Um, there we currently charge $45 for regular, 120 for uh heavy duty tow. Um, the highway patrol, you get the whole, you get all of it. It's hooked up, ready to go. You have to pay just like they towed it away.

That would feel really bad. Be that person. I don't agree with that. What did you say, Mike? I I don't agree with that. I will tell you, I know some places do half. Um and you're going to see on the next one on the no tow fees, it's a half. Uh they charge half of the total amount. So, um, you could do half. You could do some other amount, but I'd feel better with half rather than the whole. It's pretty steep. Okay. You know, that's just my opinion. Yeah, that would feel awful in your And this is in there.

I kind of like the idea when you talked about North Myrtle Beach uh their new ordinance. So, makes it just makes it easy. you come in which means it if we followed that type of model uh if we do half you know next year we could look at it and say is we would learn by it is that the right way we could increase it we could decrease it is that do I understand is that how they do it or would do it so North Myrtle Beach yes they follow the highway patrol the only I say the problem is and it sounds like you all don't like it is the decoupling fee they charge all of it that's what the highway patrol that's there and So, the other jurisdictions have adopted the entire fee. Um,

we could go with half. And what you're going to see on the next slide, just kind of a preview, and I don't know if we want to do the same thing for both. Um, but if you look at the noto fee, which is to Councilman Lauder's point, once they pull up in the parking lot and it's anywhere in the process from pulling into the parking lot until the point that it's completely hooked up, um, that's what the no tow fee is. Um, and you see that many of them are charging half there. So, I don't know if that's you want to be half on both of ours on the decoupling and the no tow fee. Um that's where North Myrtle um has deviated at least currently from the uh highway patrol. Um so just

maybe doing half on both would make up the difference. That's what Jackie that's what you were talking about, right? Well, actually it was the decoupling the last slide that we were on. Um yeah, so half there. How do you feel about half on both? I'm fine with half on both. Both. Okay, Bill. That's fine. Bill, do you have opinion? Phil's car is not going to get half on both.

Okay. So, I'll bring it back to you with uh 47 um on the storage for regular vehicle, 76 on uh heavy duty, and then half for the other. Okay. And so the half, do you want it to be the half of the 225 or do you want it to be half of the state? I guess to clarify, 225. Half of 225. Okay. Let's not jump to too. And then half of 500 on the heavy duty. Yeah. Okay, perfect. It's all I need. Thank you. Thank you. You know that's taken a lot of time on this one.

Well, we hadn't done anything with it in so long. No, exactly. We had to really hopefully those folks will be happy when they see the request for proposals. Let's hope not only they're happy, but also they follow the rules. Yeah. Okay. Absolutely. So absolutely. Next, I think we have pedal power passenger vehicle franchise ordinance.

Yes, have that one as well. Kind of background. Um we've been at this about a year and a half now. Um back in October of 24 um was the first presentation to council at the time. Um some of the concerns that were raised were noise um alcohol or intoxicated folks on the pedal pub and then traffic um both from a safety point uh perspective and and impeding traffic. Um in February uh Mandy came and presented um from the pedal pub and addressed some of the concerns. And you may or may not know, um, she went to special events committee, um, in the fall and got a permit, a special events permit, um, from Black Friday, uh, through, I think it was the beginning or middle of January. Um, and then she went back and got another one in March that started mid-March, I believe. Um, it was supposed to end at the end of May. Um, but as we're working through this, um, she's asking for a 30-day extension to get to the end of June so that we can decide one way or another where we're going with this. Um, I will tell you there have been no significant issues, um, since it's been out there um, for the six weeksish at the end of the year and then the month and a half that it's been going now.

Can I ask the question right there? Previous I understand it was pre was any of this previous time uh during the summer month on the boulevard. No, it's just been it was spring break because it was in mid-March. So um during during spring break of this year, spring break of last year. Spring break of this year. Okay. Right. Thank you.

So kind of the process if we move forward just so everybody understands where we're at. Um, first I would bring you the ordinance which would govern these and then after that would bring you a franchise agreement if if that's the will of council. Franchise agreement would be for how long? Depends who you ask. Um, most I say that because most of our franchise agreements are a year. A year.

Um, I think um, in this one she was asking for three years. I think some of that has to do with the upfront cost of purchasing the pedal pub. Um, I know uh through conversations at this point she's renting or leasing the Pedal Pub um because she don't want to obviously until she has a franchise agreement actually buy it, but because of the the investment um I know she desires a three-year um franchise agreement, but that obviously is up to you all. Um and if there was a franchise agreement, obviously there would be outs on both ends. Um, so even if it was a three year, that doesn't mean that after one year or two years, whatever it is, that we couldn't opt out.

So we could have a 90-day notice. Put whatever in the Yeah. Whatever you want in the franchise agreement, we could. Yeah. So, how how many are actually uh running right now? What? Two, five, what? One. One, one right now. And that's one things I'm going to touch on in a minute in the ordinance is you all can set the number of them as well. So, um, Pedal Pub is a brand obviously there are other ones out there and so, you know, if this opens the door to it and, you know, 10 of them show up wanting obviously counsel just like we do with the the golf carts and the mopeds. Um, you can you can limit them. I would like to hear from

matter from Mandy. Well, I'd like to hear from the from the police department and the fire department. And as a matter of fact, what if there any concerns with them as to what this may create, especially in the Boulevard area? I've talked to Chief Smith and I will tell you his perspective and he can come up here and say it if you would like, but um from his perspective, as long as they are following what's in the ordinance um which is pretty much what they've been doing now um already um through the special event permit um they don't have any real concerns with it as long as they follow what's in the We haven't really seen what the effect may be in the summer.

Yeah. So, one of the um topics he brought up was the spring break and as you know, we had pretty significant volume of traffic and pedestrians during our spring break this past month. Um the pedal pub was operating during that time. I was on Ocean Boulevard during the evening hours, early evening hours and did watch specifically to see the operations and how it was maneuvering through traffic. Um during that period, I didn't see any significant concerns. Obviously, we brought concerns when this was originally developed and planned and presented to uh this body. Um and those concerns were just intoxicated uh individuals. Um obviously that's an area of concern. I didn't see that occurring during their operations from what I was able to observe. Um, but I I believe that the ordinance, we sat down and did discuss specific um verbiage and language in the ordinance that does cover in the event that we do need to uh take enforcement action uh of any kind. And so, you know, I it was kind of nice seeing people enjoy it. Uh I think it's new and adaptive. It is in some um other surrounding cities and towns that we've um gone through and and evaluated their specific ordinances. Um, and so I'm uh leerary from the enforcement side and obviously we want to um make sure safety is our priority, but at the same time I think it is a a good option in uh for tourism along Ocean Boulevard. in talking with um one of the restaurant owners where this um where the folks get off and visit, they were impressed because when it got a little tight downtown um with the crowds over spring break that they made the call without anyone telling them to stop and they let the restaurants know, hey, we're cutting it out. We're stopping early. We're, you

know, ending operations this evening. So that tells me that the owner operator is also being very responsive to safety and smart. That's correct. And that was one of the uh things that caught my attention uh just to observe the operations and how they were man maneuvering through the traffic uh safely and and again during that short time that I was able to observe it I didn't see any significant issues and it seems like they were responsibly operating along the ocean front. Chief, I would think there would be no better biopsy performatively than spring break. That's so I intend to support this fairly accurate. and we appreciate your opinion.

Thank you very much. Appreciate y'all. Thank you. Thank you. You should have a copy of the ordinance in front of you and I'll just walk through some of the highlights of it. One of the most challenging parts was trying to define what does this ordinance actually apply to. And so you'll see the definition of a of a pedal powered passenger vehicle. Has to carry four or more passengers. Um it also has to have a a motor to propel in case you get tired and decide you're done pedaling. Um, and we put in there that if it does not have a a motor to supplement the the human power, it can't be used. And so keep it moving and it's everybody just decide they're done pedaling and stop on the side of the road and it's so um that's we have the definition. Well, back up just one. Yes, sir.

We're going to get you on it, Councilman Louderder. My Here we go. A maximum height of 12 feet. Yes. That's that's that's higher than my fifth wheel camper. Correct. What that's hard to imagine that it's going to be 12 feet high. The actual pedal pub is 10 ft. This was taken out of some other ordinances. If you want to move it down to 11 feet or 10 five, we could do that. Um, but does it matter? Yeah. I'm just thinking about a a double-decker. Pretty close. Okay. Thank you.

Um, in the ordinance, it talks about the franchise application uh part, you obviously can't operate one unless you have a franchise agreement. Um, as part of the application, the hours that's going to be operated, and the big one, I think, um, for us is the map of where it's going. It can't change every day. They can't just willy-nilly move it around so we know where it's at and where it should be. Obviously, they have to have insurance. Um, as I mentioned, the ordinance also has in there that you all have the the authority to limit uh the number of franchises um that we issue or the number of of actual bikes that are out there. Um the last one that's on this slide that the franchisee must pay the city a franchise fee of 5% of the gross franchise revenue. Um one of the things that we don't necessarily have is consistent franchise fee. Um I I know um in talking to Mandy that was she's looked at the draft ordinance and her biggest concern is that and trying to make the numbers work um with the 5% that's in there. Um just for perspective um one of the things that she proposed was $1,000 for the first year um and $1,500 for subsequent years. Um, I know from the business license and Jeremy collects it. From his perspective, it is easier often times to have a flat fee because they don't get into the back and forth of of what the gross revenue actually is. Um, the Segway um operator down in Market Common pays 3%. Um, the Wreckers pay 5%. The golf carts, as you know, pay $10 a decal. That's capped at 2,000. Um, and the current uh boardwalk franchises um pay 1,500 a year, just for some perspective. But I know um in her looking at it um I think that's the section that gives her the most heartburn for what that's worth. And so um we really just kind of put that in there um as a placeholder. Um and we've been talking about records and so that's where the 5% came from. But obviously um you know we'll take direction from

council on on what you want to do with the franchise fee. And and what is her uh comfort level again or has she said her preference would be $1,000 the first year and then $1,500 in subsequent years. Okay. To me that seems that seems a little more in line uh especially since you know just coming out the gate. I think that's fair. Okay. Yeah. Anybody else? Because the investment they're going to make. Yeah. You know, these things are expensive and they would still be paying their business license. That's correct.

On top of that, it's correct. And would the business license be a flat fee, too? That would basically it's a percentage percentage of gross income. Had to ask Any other thoughts on the franchise fee? Franchise fee. No, that's good. That's good.

Uh the next slide. Um consumption possession of uh open containers is prohibited on it. Um can only be operated on the routes that are approved. It can't go on streets where the speed limit is more than 35 miles an hour. um cannot be operated on the sidewalk, pedestrian walkway, multi-use path, bicycle lane, or city- owned property or park unless it's allowed in the franchise agreement. Some of the operational requirements, whoever's they call them, the pilot has to have a a driver's license. Um they cannot impede the normal flow of traffic and if traffic's backing up behind them, um they should pull to the side and let cars get by them. And I know they they from the feedback that I've heard, they've they've been doing that. and they can't or uh load or unload passengers in the rideway. Um they cannot load or unload passengers in a in a moving lane of traffic. And the driver of the or the pilot of the uh the pedal pub is responsible for the conduct of the of the passengers that are on there. And I know they have pretty strict rules as far as uh at least the pedal pub organization does. Um and they all sign the waiver for what that's worth. then um they have the authority to to stop the the tour if it's getting out of control. Um operational requirements um they cannot violate the noise ordinance. I know that was some of the concerns that council's had in the past. Um the hours of operation um while they have to to uh tell us in the franchise agreement um what they plan or in the application what they plan on the hours, they cannot operate outside of these hours. So, they could narrow it down, but it cannot go um any more than this. And some of the equipment has to have a horn or a bell, rearview mirror, headlights, tail lights, turn signal, reflectors, fire extinguisher, and a first aid kit. Um the insurance requirements are up here. And then there is a process um under certain criteria to revoke suspend

um the franchise agreement, which is spelled out in the uh draft ordinance. And then we've covered these two already um as far as the police department's perspective and then Mandy's concerned with the franchisee which I think we've worked through. So any other feedback or Mandy's here if anybody wants to ask her anything? Just go back to the hours again. Yep. Now, when you say 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, that means be off the road by those time or heading to being off the road by those time. Be off the road at that time.

Reason I ask I mean, you know, you see golf carts supposed to be off the road certain time. They're heading that way, right? A lot of times. Where's it stored at, Commander? Campell Street. Campbell Street's where it's stored at. Yeah, I know where it is. Yeah. Okay. any good. Looking forward to it. All right, we'll bring it back for first reading. Thank you for being here today.

All right, so next on our agenda, we're going to hear from Michelle in regards to our budget and again a brief on our CIP. moving closer to refining this budget.

Yes. Yes. Thankfully, and um this is going to be brief. U you stop me at any point where you have more questions. The majority of the things that we have already gone over, I'm just going to sort of hit on those quickly and move along. But if you need to ask, please stop me. Okay, the uh total manager's recommended budget has changed just slightly. At this point, the governmental operations are 3.3%. That is down by $350,000 from our last iteration. And I'll explain that a little bit later in some more slides. The enterprise operations remain the same as do the capital projects and there is also a reduction in the transfers out also associated with the $350,000 change that we'll talk about very soon. I'll just go ahead for the public's sake and reiterate the fact that we have no property tax increase in this budget. We do have a rebalancing of the TDF which takes that credit from 67.45 to 53.4%. There's no proposed rate increase for recreation programs or for business license. There are some proposed increases for the cemetery fees, encroachment permits, and solid waste will have a 3 and a half% increase, while water and sewer will have a 6 and 9% increase, which I'll show you more about later on on the next few slides. The manager's recommended budget does include a 3% cost of living increase. We've had to adjust our insurance premiums and I've got a slide on that

where we'll get a little bit more in depth there. We have the continuation of the police take-home program, the increase in the education reimbursement budget. Um we are planning to manage housing rehab with the CDBG in conjunction with Habitat. Um, the $350,000 decrease I mentioned earlier uh is associated with the MBDA budget and we'll talk a little more in depth than that when we go along. Um, this budget now includes the roadway enhancement crew and the landscape enhancement crew. I recommended capital outlay when I came to you earlier. It was 1,189,000. Now, it is 1,781,000. That is a product of adding $200,000 back to the police take-home program and equipping both the landscape and the road maintenance crew that will be added into this budget. You asked that I would sort of break all the numbers down on how I thought this would work and what this would look like with regard to our fund balance. So this is it when we came to you initially our beginning fund balance was 50,271906 and we had a gain or excess or surplus of 1,68540 before we added those service change that that speak to or address council's priorities. So, we've managed to get those in the budget, and this is how it works out. We have the road maintenance crew and their equipment, the landscape scaping crew and the equipment, a benefits

coordinator, which we also spoke about in the last meeting, the increase in the take-home cars, and a health insurance subsidy. That's $521,000 to offset some of the cost, which I'm going to talk about more, and a few hundred,000 for the stop-loss increase that we've gotten in between. That brings that fund balance down to 49 49

49.8. We got to get those glasses changed. So what that means is we will use $416,000 of fund balance. However, when we look at our fund balance after the the different co commitments and uses, our fund balance still will end up at 22.8% 22.3% of our unassigned fund balance. Now the city's goal is for that to fall between 15 and 20%. So, we're still slightly over what that goal is. So, by adding in these crews and helping to offset some of the costs for our employees for health insurance, we still fall within our fund balance target. We went over the governmental funds last week. The only change on here is the reduction of $350,000. It is the same with the governmental fund expenditures reduction of $300,000. The general fund budget 143 to 951. And this is the one where we always like to point out what the major sources of revenue are. They they remain the same. Your property tax, tourism transfers in, and business license are the key revenue sources in the general fund. in your general fund expense budget.

74 and a 75.4% of that is personnel. We are a service organization that it is the people that we retain that do the work. And it's always important when we talk about cutting and changing and shifting. The bulk of what we spend money on are the people out here. the police, the firemen, the folks cutting the grass, the the folks picking up the trash. The operating budget is is actually pretty lean. And of that budget, 58.1% when you include capital is all public safety. So the largest component of this budget is public safety. This is the same graph I provided for you. Also, it just demonstrates where we estimate the tourism development fee revenue to go down more for FY27 and we'll keep our fingers crossed that it will look like it did the last few weekends. Pray for a good weather summer.

Yes, enterprise funds. You really don't see any change here from what I had presented last week. The 68.8 8 million is still the same number. Same with the expenditures and and of course the water and sewer fund is the fund where you're going to see that largest um investment. This is where we talked about the 6% water increase, 9% sewer, and the 3 and a half% solid waste with no increase in parking. Council also asked for a comparison of the fees and and charges in this budget. So when we look at our property tax without the credit, we still fall pretty low on this scale when we're compared to our in our our surrounding communities. When we factor in that credit, that 53.4% TDF credit, we are the lowest on this group. Water and sewer uh utility rates. You can see here that Myrtle Beach in the the orange box on the right is toward the boat. It's in the middle but a little bit lower than middle. So, we are still comparing very competitively with these other jurisdictions. Solid Waste is about the same. You see, we're there in the middle. And even if you look up at those that charge more than we do, they don't provide the same level of service. Um, I was looking at Conway and maybe North Myrtle Beach and wondering why why we're more expensive. I think a lot of that might have to do with the level of tourists and the level of trash that we pick up in those public

areas along the beach, along the boulevard, along our streets. Our folks are are constantly having to deal with something at a higher level than we think those other jurisdictions do.

Uh, storm water no rate change. We just thought that providing you that comparison would would be good. We still fall about in the middle of the range there too. And the proposed cemetery fees. Um Kurt Clipper was kind enough to go ahead and lay that all out right here. You can see we're actually considerably lower than some of our counterparts in most of these areas. And encroachment permits. I don't have anything here on encroachment permits because um when Ken and his team proposed that last year at the budget retreat, this was one of the particular fees that really don't have comparables in some of the other communities. Now, dental and health insurance. This is the slide that I showed you last week where I can detailed out what the increased premium cost would be to our employees, not subsidized, just the the straight up increase. If you combine the health and the dental, an employee who has employee and family coverage would end up paying another $197 a month or $9866 per paycheck. Now, we know there are a lot of folks that that that would be a very very painful um experience and and they probably have to make some choices about whether or not they continue to cover their family, whether it be dental or health. And that's really not what we want for our employees. I've also got for you a breakdown here of what makes up the cost of our health insurance

from the administrative costs for medical and dental, our medical claims, pharmacy claims, health clinic, um the dental claims, life insurance, behavioral and the OKMED clinic. And that all comes to about 18.5 million or a 19.3% increase over what we have budgeted for 26. Now some of that is just because our claims have been increasing. Some of it has to do with say our dental insurance. Back in 2025 we improved our dental coverage. We had put a max of 4,000 rather than 1,000 for orthodontic work. when we previously had the previous plan had all major work like if you had to go in and get a root canal or something like that it only covered 5050 on that and we all know how expenses that can be. So we had changed that program to to the 8020 and that's the same level that we cover when someone has to get a filling or minor work done and that's been successful because we originally estimated that we would increase our cost about 200,000. Will it increased it by over 400,000 which means that people are are taking advantage of our dental care which we want them to do but it's just another one of those things that has has driven up that cost. So what we do propose to do to help offset that burden to some degree is spread out the cost of the cost increase over three years. When spread out over three years, we will subsidize the actual premiums by about $521,000. But that will bring down that cost to the employee for the total package from the $192

or the 98.66 a month a pay period to only 32.89 a pay period for family. And I say family because that's the highest charge that we have. that that would be the most expensive at 30 32.89. Um, spreading it over two years really gives us u it's it's beneficial in two ways. So, first we help our employees and make sure they can still afford this coverage. The other way is that when we come up on claims, we're we're going to be doing a lot to hopefully um bring down the claims over the next year, but when we go to budget for next year, maybe we don't have to work on subsidizing that whole amount. So, it gives us some time to to work through our processes and what we can do to work on our claims level. I already mentioned to you um that we plan to increase the hospital deductible in emergency room deductible to $250 which will be waved if there's an admission. Um we are going to be looking at the the family max out of pocket max. Last year we increased the individual deductibles from 1,00 to500 but we did not increase the full family beyond the 3500. So there could be some possibility of of moving in that direction. Um we talked to some groups yesterday about stop loss and captives and things that that we're really not sure we're interested in. And we've also been talking to PEA. We'll see where that goes, but there are some issues with PEA and non-compete products that that might not work. But we're still having some back and forth to see where that will happen. We want to add this benefit coordinator and we want them to be working closely with our teams

working on programs to address issues like for those that we know hyper lipidmia, diabetes, those things. What what kind of programs what can we do to help them take care of themselves and lower the medical cost? So we have some plans and some hope that next year that those premiums won't continue to grow at the same rate. Now the MBDA budget request has changed. Initially um the the grant from the city for MDBDA which consisted of both the mid revenues and some hospitality offset was for 1.8 million. They have gone out and procured an additional $350,000 in funding. So, our contribution to them will drop down to 1.4 million. Um, the that was what the 350 change I mentioned when I gave you that first exhibit when we talked about that. So, we're actually going to be giving less to MBDA in this upcoming budget. Now, the capital plan, I'm not going to go through all of these again. I'm just going to provide a bit of a summary. All right. For the first year of the capital improvement plan, we've got $74,731,000 um allocated in that first year. Throughout the whole six year, five years of the plan, that total is 463,871. It's an ambitious program that that

contains a new law enforcement center, two new fire stations, not to mention pump stations and parks, and it's a lot. The one question you folks had asked and wanted to know about was the the long-term debt. So, I've got here the plan for which projects will be funded with long-term debt. Now, we will do our best to obtain grants, whether that be provesos from the state, private participation for some of the downtown projects. It's not written in stone that we'll issue debt for every dollar here because as we move through this, we are going to be uncovering everything that we can to offset any need for debt. And you know when we have savings in other projects we certainly will try to pay for cash for any component that we can as well. You know if we look at the next year or so and our hospitality tax and our tourism fees come in and it and it picks up really strong over the next few years that gives us more opportunity to pay cash for some of these as well. And here is our uh long-term debt profile. What I include here is simply the actual bonded debt. I don't include things like leases and adjustments for Gazsby 87 and Sabita adjustments because they are not technically debt. For example, the the government accounting standards board has required us to record um like software maintenance and software contracts as debt. It is not debt. a software contract but they've decided it is debt so you will see that on our debt schedules you will not see that here and I also just for the sake of transparency on the bottom wanted to

include the debt for the hotel corporation the 9inth Avenue improvements and performing arts uh loans as somebody reached out to me and said your principal on those three are the same all three years you have an error it's not uh the principal stays the same because what we will do is we anticipate a large infusion from tax credit funding that we will use to pay down that principal at about the 3 to 5 year mark. So that is why the principal stays as it is. We are not putting city funds or hospitality funds or whatever into paying that. We're going to wait for that tax credit to do that first hit. Michelle, on the software, are they specifically I mean, are they doing that with all long-term incumbrances or just with software?

Oh, no, ma'am. When you look at like your Axon contract for the police? So long-term incumbrances, like how many years? It's over a year is long term. Okay. You know, I this gives me great heartburn because it's Gazby's goal to make these statements more understandable for the average user. I think that does nothing but confuse. So, it's interesting.

Um, we were also asked how do we compare to other municipalities with our debt? So, what I've done here is I've given you the just a list of I've talked with our FA, the South Carolina communities, also some Georgia and North Carolina communities that are much like us and what their ratings are. You can see highlighted there, Myrtle Beach. We've got the big A, Little A, and then we've got double A. And when you go over to the chart and you look at Fitch and Moody's ratings, standard and poorest Fitch and Moody's ratings, we are very highra credit. It's just about as high as you can get. And honestly, when you look at our community and the susceptibility of our community to both natural disasters and economic disruptions, it is amazing that we are able to hold a credit rating this high. But we can hold a credit rating this high because of this council. You have allowed us to build up sufficient fund balances in these funds as well as you have shown a willingness to increase taxes when needed to manage this budget. Without that sound leadership, this would not be possible. Our credit rating would not be where it is. And if the creating agencies had some concern about the level of debt that we have, be it geo debt, revenue debt, hospitality debt, limited obligations, if there was any concern with that, it would be reflected in that rating. Every year that we issue a bond, um, I have to get on the phone with either Moody's or S&P and we talk through these bonds and they ask us, "Well, what are your top 10 rate payers

in some revenue?" None of them make up the top 10%. So, one won't kill us. I mean, they're they're looking at, "What is your fund balance? What are your plans? How did you build this fund balance?" They're looking at our capital projects plan and how we plan to pay for those over the years. They're very thorough, very thorough because, you know, their name is on the line, too. If they assign a rating to any government, business, whatever, they're going to be looked to if something goes wrong. So, this is something that this council and the previous councils before you can be extremely proud of. And on that note, what do we do? This is always what I tell you at the end. What do we do if the tourist season is slower than we expect? Well, we pull back on capital projects because we fund a lot of that. We can cut back on part-time. We can cut back on overtime. We will pull back on non-essential items. If the money comes in higher than what was expected, then we can bring any priorities to you. You bring priorities to us and there can be decisions made on how to allocate those or they can increase our fund balance further. And we increase our fund balance. It gives us more opportunity to pay cash for other projects just like we did this year with the radio upgrade, with the baseball stadium, with those things. We didn't have to issue debt. So, we have options and we have plans for those options if our budget projections vary too far one way or the other. Our next step, what we would like to be able

to do is bring this budget for first reading to you on the the second meeting in May. If you like what you've heard, then then that would be what we where we'll go with this. Any questions, comments? Michelle, could we go back to the uh the rating the next to last slide? Yes,

I know that you get this question. I get it a lot. Uh what is North Myrtle Beaches credit rating? Do we know? not on the list. Um I happen to know that for various reasons their last they have very little debt. I have barred their last debt was a um a bank loan. So you wouldn't see the same rating for them. They may get a rating. I think they're talking about having to borrow another $18 million for some improvements in the FY27 year, but don't know.

Is that in part because at some point in time the requirement to have the books audited didn't occur in a timely fashion. Right. That's helpful. Thank you. Welcome. Any other questions, comments?

I might just make a broad comment or two that will affect as we digest, as I digest this budget. There's some issues in the past I have some concern about. They just seem to hang over me. Uh, one is the TDF presently languishing in the House Ways and Means Committee in Colombia, which directly has affected our budgeting process. Now, that of course is beyond our control, but it's a factor that we all should be cognizant of as we move forward. Um, another issue was a past vote relieving the county of 30% of their obligation on our baseball renovation. I just uh I struggle with that vote and didn't have the privilege to participate. But that obligation forgiveness affects the way I view our present budget. And thirdly, um like the sort of damocles as our health care costs have been double digit three of the last four years. is just a a very pertinent part of our budget and that deliberation will affect how I vote on second reading of of of the budget. Now, the operating budget work y'all have done u I don't know that I would say masterful, but it's very good. I I can tell you guys have really put the effort in, but I think we as a body have to look beyond uh one year to see what our obligations are. And certainly $74 million of capex is uh is a big is a big number and I know there's some needs mostly needs are incorporated in that. So again, a tough tough scenario and again this is just my opinion and I certainly would like to hear what the other six have to say at some point but

uh that's that those items are of general concern to me and I certainly don't discount your operating budget work. This is not an easy job you folks have. I think that the the baseball stadium with the county divesting themselves as a future responsibility at least in the near term we did not lose the 6% or the 30% on the PDL and the SKA and the fact that we will be getting $850,000 a year from the baseball team um is actually more than we ever got from the county on an annual basis in a reimbursement. Hopefully other than capital projects

hopefully that in combination with what they were paying. Yes. In the original contract. And then on the the healthcare um um you say there are things that will weigh heavily on your decision or vote on the second reading. What more can we do or show to to assist you in that decision? What are you missing that you need for that deliberation? I just have to go over what what I've been told and digested the various options be they state health plan. Uh it's it's

you know an $18 million expenditure and $142ish million budget. That's just it should keep us all up at night as as council votes. Keep working is all I could say. Absolutely.

You know, the health care cost that makes me think of, you know, what a large percentage of our budget, but small businesses are, you know, really struggling with that, too. Um the I'd like to speak just briefly on um Councilman Render's comment on TDF. And I think that the um TDF bill not going anywhere is specifically because the legislature is waiting for our group from Myrtle Beach to come to them with next year with a proposal amendment to the TDF legislation at the state. Councilman Mccclure, Mayor Kua and I have been meeting and having very productive meetings with folks from the chamber and visit Myrtle Beach. And um we are having productive meetings and our goal is to be able to move forward with meetings with delegation members by the fall um with proposed changes to the TDF. that even at that point we're at least two years out of seeing the actual benefit of a change maybe even three because of the timing and collection etc.

That's right. Anyone else before I go back and put this in ordinance form? Good. Thank you. There'll also be the public hearing on the second meeting. Yes. I' I've got that ready to run in the paper for next Friday to meet the uh 14-day requirement for the public hearing. Very good. Thank you. Thank you, Michelle.

So, at this time, we have two items for an executive session. So, I'd like to have a motion to go in executive session to receive legal advice relating to zoning regulations applicable to buildings adjacent to Ocean Boulevard. And then another motion executive session to discuss an employment matter involving the assistant city manager. The following persons are invited to attend. Fox Simons, Will Brian, Brian Tucker, Josh Buger, Michelle Shumpert, Mara Bell, Meredith Dener, and Amy New Schaffer. Do I have a motion for both? For both. So move. Second. Right. So, we will,

just so I'm clear, we're going to talk about a a personnel issue with the our assistant city an assistant city manager. Okay. And will that person be in I think so. Yes. Okay. All right. So, I have a motion and a second. Um, will we stay in council chambers? All right. So, I want to thank everybody. Oh, we got a vote on that motion. Thank you, Mr. Louder. So, all in favor? I I Any opposed? All right. Thank you all for coming today. Can we take five before we

Yes, please. Thank you.