Funding
Resilience
The growing fund balance in Georgetown County has now been explained. Sort of anyway. Planning for disaster is a good thing.
It is great to know the county is banking funds for the next disaster that we know will strike us at some point. It is also good to have the great team at Georgetown County Emergency Service Division, who are among the best in the state.
With the explanation by the Administrator behind us, it is a good idea to take a look at two key words - “responsible governance”. I don’t think anyone can argue that being good stewards of taxpayers dollars is what we can all applaud. What remains unclear is what has been done to improve Murrells Inlet water quality and how much it is going to cost taxpayers to remedy the situation.
It is also a good time to ask, what actions have been taken by the county to advance the goals in the Resiliency Element of the Comp Plan that was adopted by county council in 2023. Three years have passed so lets take a few minutes to review the goals and track the progress.
Because Murrells Inlet was rated as least resilient in the county, we are seeing this number 1 issue and the number 1 action item has NOT been realized. When by its own announcement to explain building up funds in case of disasters, why has the number 1 recommendation not been addressed by county leaders?
Several other recommendations notable to the need to build community resilience and help avoid costly disaster spending include -
Several announcements have been made about tracts of land being preserved, which is great for protecting nature. What isn’t happening is the top short term action item to enhance natural resilience and undeniably important for the Murrells Inlet estuary.
Responsible land use and responsible use of public funds go hand in hand. It’s been 3 years since the Resiliency Element was adopted, yet goals that can help our estuary and the great community in becoming more resilient remain words on paper.
Taxpayers funded and participated in the development of the Comprehensive Plan and all the elements. So far the only short term goal of the county is to adopt new zoning from the updated land use plan, while ignoring meaningful action items that could truly help save taxpayers money.
Exactly when are we going to get to the part about responsible governance to goals of the Resilience Element, remains unclear. The future for building resilience for the estuary is passing us by.