Horry County Council: Members, Meetings, Zoning, and Budget

The Horry County Council is the 12-member elected body that sets policy, passes ordinances, adopts the annual budget, and controls zoning for South Carolina’s largest county by land area. It meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in Conway, and state law gives residents defined ways to speak, submit comments at public hearings, and request records.

Who Sits on the Council

The council has a chairman elected countywide and 11 members elected from single-member districts, for 12 seats total.¹ Terms run four years and are staggered, so roughly half the seats are on the ballot every two years. New terms begin in January after the general election.

To find your district, the county hosts an interactive voting-district map on its website that lets you search by address.¹ The same page lists each member’s term expiration, which is the fastest way to check whether your seat is up next cycle.

Horry County uses the council form of government designated for it by S.C. Code Ann. § 4-9-10, which places both policy-making and administrative oversight with the council itself.²³ Most detailed work moves through four standing committees before a full vote: Administration, Infrastructure and Regulation, Public Safety, and Transportation.¹ Committee meetings are open, and each allows up to five minutes of public comment at the start.⁴

When and Where the Council Meets

Regular meetings are the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in the council chambers at the Horry County Government and Justice Center, 1301 Second Avenue in Conway.¹ Special meetings can be called when needed.

South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act requires the agenda to be posted at least 24 hours ahead on a public bulletin board and the council’s website. Once posted, adding new items requires another 24-hour notice. After the meeting starts, adding an item takes a two-thirds vote, and if the council could take final action without prior public comment, it must also find that an emergency or urgent circumstance justifies the addition.⁵ Past meetings are archived through the county’s Granicus streaming media page.

How to Speak at a Meeting

To take the podium during public comment, contact the Clerk to Council at least three hours before the meeting starts and provide your name, phone number, and the topic you plan to raise. Spots go on a first-come, first-served basis.⁶

Each speaker gets up to five minutes, and the full public comment period is capped at 30 minutes. One rule surprises people: if you already addressed the council in the past 60 days, you generally shouldn’t expect a second slot. You can ask the clerk to put you on an alternate list, but you’ll only be called if regular speakers don’t fill the block.⁶

Public hearings on specific ordinances are separate. Those have their own comment opportunities, and the 60-day repeat restriction does not apply to them.⁶ If you care about a specific rezoning or the annual budget, the public hearing is where the record captures your position.

What the Council Decides

The council’s main job is legislative. Every ordinance must be introduced by a council member and read at three separate public meetings, with at least seven days between the second and third readings. Emergency ordinances can move faster with a two-thirds vote, but they expire automatically after 60 days.⁷

Certain actions require a public hearing with newspaper notice at least 15 days in advance: adopting the annual budget, levying taxes, approving zoning changes, and selling county property.⁷

Budget and Property Taxes

The council must adopt both an operating budget and a capital improvement budget before the fiscal year starts on July 1. The budget has to identify every revenue source, including the property tax levy needed to close any gap.⁸

For 2025, county operations millage was 43.90 mills, with smaller levies for recreation, higher education, senior services, and capital planning bringing the county-only millage to about 52.1 mills.⁹ Separate millage from schools, fire districts, and watershed districts stacks on top. The council controls only the county share.

Zoning

Zoning gets more attention than almost anything else, given how fast the county is growing. A rezoning application goes to the planning commission for a recommendation first, then to the council. The 15-day public hearing notice rule applies before any final zoning action.⁷ If you see a rezoning sign go up nearby, that notice window is your chance to speak on the record.

The Hospitality Fee

The county also collects a local hospitality fee on tourism spending. Outside city limits, businesses pay 2.5% on food and beverage sales, 3% on short-term accommodations, and 2.5% on paid admissions and amusements. Inside city limits, the rate is 1.5% on most categories.¹⁰ The revenue supports public safety and infrastructure, easing pressure on the property tax side.

Where Council Authority Stops: The Administrator

Day-to-day operations run through an appointed County Administrator, who serves as the chief administrative officer. State law tasks the administrator with executing council policy, directing departments, preparing the budget for council review, supervising spending, and managing personnel.¹¹

There’s a hard statutory line between council members and staff. Under S.C. Code Ann. § 4-9-660, the council and its individual members may not give orders to county employees who report to the administrator. Outside formal inquiries or investigations, all communication with those employees goes through the administrator.¹² For residents, this matters practically: if you bring a complaint about a specific department to your council member, they can raise it with the administrator, but they cannot direct the department head themselves.

Elections

Council seats are decided during the regular election cycle. South Carolina’s 2026 primary is June 9, with a runoff June 23 if no candidate wins a majority. The general election is November 3, 2026. Because terms are staggered, only some seats appear on any given ballot; the council page shows which. Candidates must be qualified electors of the county, and district candidates must live in the district they seek to represent.¹ South Carolina also requires candidates for county office to file a Statement of Economic Interests.

Requesting Records

Meeting minutes, voting records, contracts, budget documents, and agendas are public. Under state law, public bodies must respond to written records requests within 15 days, and the Clerk to Council maintains the council’s minutes for public inspection at the clerk’s office.¹³ If you’re tracking a specific vote or ordinance, the clerk is the office to contact.

1
Horry County SC.Gov. County Council
2
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 4 Chapter 9 Section 4-9-10
3
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 4 Chapter 9 – Section 4-9-310
4
South Carolina Association of Counties. Horry County Code of Ordinances – Division 2 Rules of Procedure – Section 2-27
5
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 30 Chapter 4 – Section 30-4-80
6
South Carolina Association of Counties. Horry County Code of Ordinances – Division 2 Rules of Procedure – Section 2-23
7
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 4 Chapter 9 – Section 4-9-130
8
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 4 Chapter 9 – Section 4-9-140
9
South Carolina Association of Counties. Property Tax Rates by County 2025
10
Horry County SC.Gov. Hospitality Fee
11
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 4 Chapter 9 Section 4-9-630
12
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 4 Chapter 9 – Section 4-9-660
13
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 4 Chapter 9 – Section 4-9-120