COASTAL OBSERVER

When it only cost $10 to get a golf cart permit from the town of Pawleys Island, 667 were issued. Last year, the town issued 850 at $25 each.

Town Council stopped short of raising the permit fee to $50 this week, not because officials thought it was a bad idea, but because it wasn’t included on the agenda as required by the state’s Freedom of Information Act.

The town once banned golf carts, but a change in state law in 2012 prevented local governments from restricting the vehicles. In 2017, the town required that the carts be registered so that police can identify the owners if they issue a parking ticket for a cart. Although they must be registered with the state, the Department of Motor Vehicles doesn’t provide police with registration information for golf carts the way it does for cars and trucks.

Without a town permit, police would have to wait for the owner to return to write a ticket for a golf cart.

The town raised the permit fee to $25 in 2023 following a council budget retreat. Officials said the $10 fee didn’t cover the administrative costs.

After hearing this week that the town has already issued 400 permits, Council Member Sarah Zimmerman said it was time to raise the fee again.

She proposed $100, as she did in 2023, but said she would settle for $50.

That was during the administrator’s financial report.

Zimmerman circled back to the issue at the close of the meeting, a time set aside for comments from council members.

She moved to raise the fee to $50 starting May 1. Council Member Guerry Green provided the second.

“It would be better to do it at the start of the season,” Police Chief Mike Fanning said.

“Like June 1?” Zimmerman asked.

Jan. 1, Fanning replied, pointing out that the permits all expire Dec. 31.

Although most of the permits are now issued online, “there are some people who still comment on the $25,” Town Clerk Corey Higdon said.

The town took in over $12,000 in permit fees in the first three months. It had budgeted $13,500 for the year.

“If we’re going to get another 500, that’s money,” Council Member Rocky Holliday said, adding “is it really our intention to encourage more golf carts on the island?”

Most of the permits are issued to people who live outside the town. Five rental companies bought bulk permits, Higdon said, including Pawleys Island Golf, which bought 125.

Mayor Brian Henry agreed with a $50 fee, but said “I don’t like the perception of unfairness” from raising the fee after some permits were issued at the lower price.

Green said the proposed fee works out to a little over $4 a month. “It cost me more than that to throw my dad gum ball in the ocean for my dog,” he said, referring to a ticket he got for a leash law violation.

Henry said he also had a concern that voting to raise the fee May 1 would amount to taking final action without giving proper notice, something the state law only allows in the case of emergencies.

“How about we just do a straw poll?” he asked.

Only Council Member Ashley Carter was opposed. “I just don’t think we should increase it,” he said.

Zimmerman agreed to withdraw the motion. Henry said he would put the issue on the agenda for May’s meeting.

Green also suggested the town make the permits effective for a year from the date they are issued.

Fanning said that would make enforcement more difficult since the permits are color coded for the year.

“We’ve been able to simplify the golf cart permit,” Administrator Dan Newquist said.