Terminal a Challenge for Myrtle Beach, S.C. Residents

Can our communities raise enough money - public and private - to upgrade Myrtle Beach International Airport? That's the question Horry County Council effectively raised this week by suspending work toward a new 14-gate terminal until members know:

How much, exactly, the terminal is going to cost.

Where, exactly, the money is going to come from.

The first problem probably will be less difficult to solve than the second. The original $180 million terminal cost estimate has burgeoned to $254 million, due to the rising cost of concrete, steel and other building materials. At some point - soon, we hope - the price rises will level off and it should be possible to negotiate a fixed price from the contractor.

The larger problem is lining up commitments to pay for the terminal. It's easy to understand why County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland and some members feel as though they're dealing with this problem strictly on their own.

Their overtures to the Federal Aviation Administration for construction money have been unsuccessful. Given the magnitude of annual federal deficits and the growing congressional interest in getting spending under control, it's not realistic to expect much help, if any, from the FAA.

Neither is it realistic - or fair - to expect County Council to handle the challenge itself. True, the county owns the airport and has primary responsibility for keeping it up to date. But council members also face myriad other growth-related challenges, such as beefing up the police department and improving firefighting. Raising property taxes to fix these problems, as is about to happen, probably won't cost members politically. Voters will see that these added expenditures benefit them directly.

Raising taxes to finance the airport is more difficult. The many voters who don't use the airport would see little benefit to themselves - only to a bunch of outsiders who come here to play golf.

The council probably should devote some new property-tax money to the terminal. But other local governments, especially the councils in neighboring counties, should step up, too. Their residents use the airport, and their businesses and attractions benefit from its presence.

As well, other Horry County governments, especially the tourism-rich venues east of the Waccamaw River, also should contribute to the effort. The commercial sectors in these municipalities stand to benefit most from the growth in tourist visits that an upgraded terminal would spawn over time.

Private tourism- and hospitality-related businesses also should contribute to the terminal project - individually or through their associations. True, as they surely would argue, they're already helping the airport by paying their taxes. Moreover, the air travelers they attract already contribute, too, via the portions of their plane tickets that go for airport fees.

Our communities can't afford, however, to let petty disputes over who should pay what toward the terminal bog down the debate on this issue. Tourism could bring a lot more money into our communities than it does now. Expanding air travel to the beach is the best hope for capturing this money.

If we build it, they will come - and that would benefit everyone who lives here. Our communities can make this project happen if their leaders focus their minds on how.