The problem is many think both taxes are doomed because the County Council and school board insist on putting them on the November ballot in the same year.

Neither board appears willing to back down.

While the boards wrangle over which tax should be up for a vote, development is creeping in west of the beach to sleepy farm communities like Mount Vernon. In that town, residents fear new homes will create deadly traffic accidents and over-crowded schools.

“If we don’t scale back (development) somewhat, at least until we get our facilities in a decent state, we are going to be in trouble,” said Jody Prince, who banded together with about 40 other Mount Vernon residents concerned about a proposed 75-home development on Red Bluff Road.

Traffic in the area increased “100 percent” in the past couple years with the construction of S.C. 22, Prince said.

All Loris schools, which Mount Vernon children attend, are at or near capacity, according to Horry County. New development proposals could mean a couple hundred homes in the area, Prince said.

Residents in Mount Vernon and elsewhere say the county should block development if there’s no space in schools or on roads, not just enact new sales taxes.

Supporters of an adequate public facilities ordinance, which would require developers to show roads and schools can handle growth before building, are planning a big showing before County Council during a meeting in Conway tonight.

“I think it is going to be a matter of what is going to be the priority” — educating the county’s future leaders or paying for roads that are the responsibility of the state and federal government, school board chairman Will Garland said.

Schools have to prepare for exploding demand — 15,000 to 21,000 additional students will be coming to Horry County classrooms in the next decade, creating $350 million to $500 million in new needs, Garland said.

“My question is, where do I come up with the money for that?” Garland said. County Council members “keep saying they don’t have any other source of income. The last time I looked, the council has the ability to raise taxes.”

The school board’s insistence on putting its sales tax to a vote has infuriated some in the county.

“It kills both of us. We will both fail,” meaning a year’s worth of county work down the drain, $150 million in possible matching state road funds lost and no new road money in sight, County Council chairwoman Liz Gilland said.

Without the sales tax money for roads, a recent study showed, traffic at the back gate of the old air base in Myrtle Beach will be backed up to U.S. 501 during peak traffic times, she said.

Hurricane evacuation, quality of life, tourism and economic development will all suffer a blow, Gilland said.

The county has no plans to yield to the competing sales tax.

“It’s up to the school board. They could put it on again in two years,” Gilland said.

Meanwhile, the adequate public facilities ordinance is gaining momentum and could affect the sales tax efforts.

County Council and staff response to the ordinance has ranged from rejection last winter to a reluctant agreement in the past week to explore the idea.

Pam Creech, who is organizing the push for the law, said development is quickly moving across the Intracoastal Waterway into the S.C. 90 area — about 8,000 new homes have been approved for development in the past six months.

She said the taxpayers should not be tapped to pay for the roads, schools and public safety services the homes will require. The adequate facilities law would ensure no development rezonings occur anywhere in Horry County until the schools and roads can handle more homes, Creech said.

“If (County Council) would do that and I could see a light at the end of the tunnel ... I would probably pay one cent for the next seven years to get these roads built,” she said.

Travis Tritten is a reporter for The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News, a McClatchy Newspaper.