USA: Georgetown, North Myrtle Beach Dredging Projects in Doubt

After Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed a bill 4033, a long-sought dredging projects in Georgetown and North Myrtle Beach were thrown into doubt.

According to myrtlebeachonline.com, Haley refused to approve Bill 4033, which would allow North Myrtle Beach to set up a special municipal tax assessment district to help pay for dredging the Cherry Grove canals, and also would have allowed port or other channel dredging to be included in capital projects sales tax measures.

North Myrtle Beach has been working on plans to dredge the silted-in Cherry Grove canals for eight years, and was blocked part of that time by a lawsuit claiming the city did not own the canals and could not dredge them. The state Supreme Court ruled in April that the canals are waters of the state, meaning the city could have jurisdiction over them.

Haley’s veto message did not mention the port or channel dredging provisions for capital projects sales tax spending. Instead, her concern was with the special tax assessment for canal dredging.

“I am vetoing this bill because it gives improvement districts the ability to tax more homeowners who have not given their consent,” her message to lawmakers said.

[mappress]

Dredging Today Staff, June 13, 2012; Image: mymanatee.org