Horry County administration committee hears midyear financials, approves auditor extension

The Horry County Administration Committee on Dec. 2025 reviewed midyear financial results and voted to exercise the first one-year option on its external audit contract.

Miss Norman, presenting the financial update, said countywide revenues across all funds were "almost $244,000,000," noting the general fund had $162,800,000 in revenues, or 56.4% of the annual budget, and expenditures of $127,200,000, or 43% of budget. She said property-tax receipts were running higher than expected, with 65.5% of the budget collected in December.

The committee also received staff detail on special revenue funds. Miss Norman reported net changes in fund balances including about $9.9 million in the fire fund, $5.4 million in road maintenance, $5.7 million in beach renourishment (with $10 million encumbered in December), $7.6 million in stormwater, $2.0 million in recreation and $6.9 million in waste-management/recycling.

On the audit review, staff said the administration committee serves as the county's audit committee and presented an auditor performance questionnaire. The external audit firm is named in the meeting packet as Maudman Jenkins; the transcript contains variant spellings of the firm's name. Staff recommended exercising the first one-year extension of the audit contract to retain the firm for the FY26 audit, and the committee approved the extension by voice vote.

Staff also reported an annual review of the audit charter found no new industry guidance, and recommended no changes. Finance staff additionally announced that the county received GFOA recognition, including the Triple Crown award.

Next steps: staff will proceed with the auditor contract extension and continue regular financial reporting to the committee.