County aims for efficient airport
Horry official explains study advice, action
Horry County has implemented most of the 16 recommendations in a 2006 study aimed at increasing the efficiency of its airport operations, County Administrator Danny Knight told a state airport panel Wednesday.
The panel, led by state Sen. Luke Rankin and Rep. Alan Clemmons, is investigating whether the county’s four airports, which are run as a county department, could be better managed by an airport authority.
Rankin and Clemmons supported failed state legislation earlier this year to create an authority, which would have been made up of unelected appointees from various governments. The panel, comprising local political and business representatives, must submit a report on their findings to the state legislature next year.
Streamlining the chain of command at the airport department was a key recommendation of the $100,000 report, conducted by The Louis Berger Group, a consulting firm. Knight said the county’s airport director used to have 10 people reporting directly to him; now he has five.
The county has also eliminated several committees that used to have some oversight of the county’s airports operations. Now, the county’s airport advisory board and Horry County Council are the main bodies that oversee the airport department.
Knight said the county is also interviewing candidates for a new marketing and public relations position at the airport and the county hopes to make a hire in the next few weeks. Creating such a position is another recommendation of the report.
Despite some organizational problems, the report said, the airports department was generally well-run. The problems, it said, could be fixed over time.
“Some of the County Council had heard a lot of talk in the community about the airport, and what we weren’t doing,” Knight told the panel. “The study was basically put out to see how the management was operating.”
Supporters of an airport authority say it would run the county’s airports, including Myrtle Beach International Airport, more efficiently. They also say it would remove politics from airport governance, although others say it would take control of the airport away from county taxpayers.
The council initially voted unanimously against the authority idea, although some council members have since said they would consider creating an authority at the local level instead of at the state level.
The Myrtle Beach airport has caused friction between the county and Myrtle Beach. The city’s Community Appearance Board rejected a plan to build new passenger terminal on the west side of the airport last year, and the county is now trying to expand the current passenger terminal on the east side of the airport.
At the meeting, Rankin questioned whether efforts to attract new airlines have been hindered by local politics. But Bill Golden, the president of Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday, a marketing group, said airlines’ primary concern is profitability.
The county lowered landing fees in a bid to attract airlines earlier this year. Golden said local business groups have also helped airlines market their routes elsewhere in the country. Both marketing and low fees are important to attract new air service, some officials said.
“If you’ve got a zero landing fee, and your destination is Timbuktu, and nobody wants to go there, they aren’t going to Timbuktu,” said Horry County Councilman Howard Barnard.
Although the county’s landing fee reduction has yet to yield any results, Golden said he hoped some new air service could be obtained for next year’s tourist season.
The panel met for the first time last week, where airport officials told the group the airports’ budget yields a surplus and no local property taxes are used.
These first two meetings, Rankin said, were meant to allow the county to express its point of view.
The next meeting, tentatively scheduled for Oct. 16, will offer a counterpoint to the county’s views. Rankin said representatives from other airports would hopefully attend the meeting to discuss different governance structures with the committee.
By Mike Cherney
The Sun News
October 2, 2008