Incorporation
Study group makes its case to homeowners
A group that is promoting a plan to create a new town on the Waccamaw Neck is on track toward its goal of collecting the necessary signatures this summer to trigger a referendum.
The Pawleys Island Litchfield Municipal Study Group held five meetings this month with property owners groups that it said drew over 400 people.
“We’re over halfway to our goal,” said Jim Register, the member of the study group who created a financial plan for the town. The group wants to collect 2,500 signatures to submit to the S.C. Secretary of State’s Office along with its plan to provide services for the town. That will be reviewed by a joint legislative committee before the secretary of state calls for an election.
The town will cover the 29585 ZIP code from the south side of Brookgreen Gardens to the north side of DeBordieu, an area with a population of 16,400.
“We’re only looking to take over one municipal service,” Register said.
That’s planning and zoning.
He said there were “audible gasps” from the audiences last week when the group showed visuals of the development it says will be possible under the county’s future land use plan. The meetings were not open to the press.
The group announced its goal of bringing the issue to a vote last summer after Georgetown County Council approved an update to the land use element of the county comprehensive plan over the objections of 150 residents who turned out for a public hearing. They said it would lead to increased development on the Waccamaw Neck.
It wasn’t until May that the study group, which started looking at forming a town two years earlier, made its first public presentation. Before that it had communicated only through email and social media.
At the annual meeting of the Litchfield Beaches Property Owners Association in May, which a reporter attended, several members asked how quickly a new town could be formed.
Register said that question also came up at the recent meetings.
His role is key because the study group proposes to fund the new town without a municipal property tax. It estimates annual revenue of $2.08 million with $1.3 million coming from a tax on insurance premiums that is distributed through the S.C. Municipal Association. Other revenue will come from state aide to subdivisions and miscellaneous fees.
It will cost $874,140 to operate the town the first year, the group says. That includes $130,000 for a town manager and $120,000 for planning and zoning.
That would leave the town with a surplus of $1.2 million.
“It’s very doable economically from existing revenue sources,” Register said.
Ed Quillian was in the audience at a presentation over the weekend to Litchfield Country Club residents. He is a past president of the property owners association.
“I was kind of on the fence,” he said, even “somewhat skeptical.”
Quillian thought the study group did a good job breaking down the issues and the steps toward incorporation. He was particularly interested in the finances.
“One of my concerns was would they have sufficient funding,” he said.
Quillian said he came away convinced that they would. He signed the petition on his way out.
Law enforcement was another common question, Register said.
“The point we’re making about all county services is this: we’re continuing to pay our county taxes,” he said. “The day after incorporation, we’re not expecting a reduction in our county taxes. I’m also not expecting a reduction in services.”
Quillian was among those with a concern about policing. The state law requires those wanting to form a town to have a plan for “a minimum level of law enforcement.”
“There seems to be solutions for that that have worked out in other communities,” Quillian said.
There are municipalities around the state that receive law enforcement service from their county, Register said, citing several in Charleston County.
Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said this week no one from the study group has talked with him about law enforcement since they started making public presentations. But he has had calls from residents.
“The single consistent question is, ‘has anyone from this group met with you to formulate a plan?’” Weaver said. “The answer is no.”
It is the study group that needs to plan for law enforcement within the new town, in order to comply with the incorporation statute, he noted.
“They’re spending time coming up with a narrative rather than substantive information,” Weaver said. “They have no idea what we do.”
As an example, he said his office is looking at water safety initiatives in the wake of recent drownings in the town of Pawleys Island. Those would impact the county beaches that could become municipal beaches if the Litchfield area incorporates.
“I don’t care if they incorporate or not. I just want factual information out there,” Weaver said.
The study group’s focus on land use will also affect law enforcement in the proposed town, Weaver said.
“They’re telling these voters it’s just going to stay the same,” Weaver said. “That’s not true.”
