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Surfside Beach leaders approved the first reading of the town鈥檚 $24 million budget for the fiscal year 2025-2026, but not without proposed amendments and hours of discussion.

Council member LaVerne Kreklau made six motions to amend the budget, only one of which passed.

Town council passed Kreklau's motion to remove $3,900 from the Planning, Building, and Zoning budget that was meant to reclassify the position of permit technician to permit specialist. The motion passed 4-3 with William Kinken, Chris Stamey and Skip Walz voting no.

Kreklau also made motions to remove the $70,000 executive fire assistant position, lower the cost-of-living increase from 3% to 2%, remove the pay study, remove the $6,888 reclassification of fire captain to senior captain and remove $2000 for employee of the quarter and year accolades 鈥� all of which failed.

All council members except Kreklau are in favor of a pay study. Mayor Robert Krouse said he is not in favor of having a cost-of-living increase to staff salaries and hopes a pay study will assist with the planning.

鈥淭hrowing COLA raises every year without a plan, I don鈥檛 think that is the way to go,鈥� Krouse said.

Walz motioned to take the 3% planned COLA, find the monetary dollar amount and allocate that, divided evenly, to all the town鈥檚 employees. However, Walz said not to do what was done last year where the administration lost more money than if they had just increased the COLA percentage.

Finance director Melanie Gruber said this is possible, but will be a grueling and time-consuming process. Krouse said this solution does not seem fair to employees considering the varying salaries.

Council also passed Krouse鈥檚 motion to increase funding for Champion Autism Network from $5,000 to $10,000.

Krouse added, at Gruber鈥檚 direction, council will have to find $5,000 to offset this re-allocation at the second reading of the budget.

Other town business

Other business matters the town discussed at the May 27 meeting include job descriptions, roadway safety improvements, pier plaques, the tree ordinance and a surfing event this fall.

The town's stormwater committee has worked on a tree ordinance for the preservation of trees in Surfside for about three years. The ordinance is taken out of a chapter in the town's ordinance book that is under the jurisdiction of the planning commission. The planning commission at its May 6 meeting needed guidance from council on their responsibility with this ordinance.

鈥淚t is clear to me and state law that this fully resides in the planning commission鈥檚 boundaries,鈥� Krouse said.

Council determined it is the planning commission鈥檚 responsibility to recommend the town council adopt stormwater鈥檚 ordinance in its entirety and replace the current ordinance, recommend a modified ordinance, or reject the ordinance.

The guidance for the planning commission was approved 5-2. Council members William Kinken and Chris Stamey voted against the guidance.

The pier committee recommended pier plaque merchandise to generate revenue and add character to the pier. The pier committee recommended 4鈥� by 6鈥� polystone plaques that cost $40 and will retail for $250.

Council member Harry Kohlmann said the $250 cost is unreasonable considering the purchase is usually made out of sentimental intentions.

The pier committee said the price is reasonable compared to what other piers charge and the novelty value when accounting for available space is also a factor. Council passed the pier plaque merchandise 6-1, with Kohlmann voting no.

The town approved a variance in the dates unrestricted surfing is allowed, after Sept. 15, to account for a Pro/Am surfing event Sept. 4-7. They also approved to temporarily close Ocean Boulevard from the entrance of the Surfside Beach Oceanfront Hotel southward to 1st Avenue South for food vendors and other festivities. The council approved the requests 6-1, with Kinken voting against.

鈥淚 have no problem using the beach for surfing, that's great, I just have a problem with closing Ocean Boulevard,鈥� Kinken said.

Safety improvements are down the line for the intersection of U.S. 17 Business and Melody Lane, near Food Lion. The intersection was identified as a high crash area, with 72 crashes in a five year period, by Grand Strand Area Transportation Study.

The town needs to commit to providing a 20% match, about $55,000, of the total cost in order for the necessary safety improvements to be a part of the next implementation grant.

The safety improvements include high visibility crosswalks and positive offsets for existing left-turn lanes. The improvements will not be implemented for about 18-24 months and funds are not needed until implementation.