Picture two new homes going up on the same Carolina Forest street, built by the same builder in the same month. Does the county charge them the same fee? Until this summer it did. Since Monday, July 20, 2026, it doesn't, and the gap between them can now run to more than a thousand dollars, depending only on how much house sits on each lot.
Horry County Council unanimously approved the new schedule in July. It replaces the single flat charge the county had applied to every new single-family home since impact fees began in October 2021. The county's study defines the fee's service areas as unincorporated Horry County, and Carolina Forest is one of the places where buyers are most likely to be choosing between floor plans on new construction. The useful question for a buyer is less "how much is the fee" and more "what does my floor plan choice now trigger, and what is that money buying."
The fee now follows the floor plan
Under the old system, every new single-family home paid $1,236 per dwelling unit and every multifamily unit paid $1,031. The schedule adopted in July 2026 splits single-family homes into seven size tiers. The right-hand column compares each tier with the $1,236 flat fee it replaced.
| Home size | 2026 county fee | Compared with the old flat $1,236 |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft or less | $995 | $241 lower |
| 1,001 to 1,500 sq ft | $1,615 | $379 higher |
| 1,501 to 2,000 sq ft | $2,050 | $814 higher |
| 2,001 to 2,500 sq ft | $2,392 | $1,156 higher |
| 2,501 to 3,000 sq ft | $2,668 | $1,432 higher |
| 3,001 to 3,500 sq ft | $2,902 | $1,666 higher |
| 3,501 sq ft and up | $3,104 | $1,868 higher |
Only the smallest tier pays less than before. Anything over 1,000 square feet pays more, and the increase widens as the house gets bigger. WPDE summed up the council's message in its July 14 report as "the bigger the home built, the higher the fee will be."
Here is what that looks like in Carolina Forest. Mungo Homes announced North Cove, off River Oaks Drive, in July 2026 as a late-summer opening, with plans running from 1,693 square feet to more than 3,200. The builder's current community page lists a narrower range, 1,693 to 2,808 square feet, and still showed "Coming Soon" in early October. Using the current page, that one community spans three tiers, from $2,050 for its smallest plan to $2,668 for its largest. If the larger plans from the announcement return, the top of the range would move into the $2,902 tier. Confirm with the builder which plans are actually available and when. North Cove isn't the only active project, either. The county's August 18, 2026 council agenda included road and drainage dedications for six phases of The Parks of Carolina Forest.
The jumps between tiers are modest compared with the price of a new home. What matters is the direction. Square footage now shows up on a public fee schedule, and the step between neighboring tiers is a few hundred dollars each time.
How a feared $11,000 became $3,104 at most
The numbers above are much smaller than the ones being discussed in the spring. When the item first reached council in May 2026, the Horry Georgetown Home Builders Association objected to the consultant's study behind it. Stanley Haines, the association's director of operations, said the study used mortgage rates from 2022 and counted tourism at peak levels. He estimated the fee structure could add about $11,000 to the cost of a home. Council pulled the item and moved the discussion to July.
The study was prepared by TischlerBise and dated February 26, 2026, and it includes a housing affordability analysis. According to WPDE, council had passed over several earlier recommendations to raise the fees since 2021 before settling on a size-based scale this year. Treat the published tiers as the enacted fee. The study's broader figures are a consultant's analysis and don't reflect what a buyer's builder is actually charged.
The schedule isn't permanent, either. Council said it is willing to adjust the structure and already does so when it enters development agreements. Council Chairman Johnny Gardner noted that the county must update the impact fee study at least once every five years and can change the fee scale.
Where a $2,392 fee goes
MyHorryNews published the breakdown for a home of 2,000 to 2,500 square feet, a common size for new construction around Carolina Forest.
- Parks and recreation: $1,687
- Solid waste: $336
- Fire and rescue: $274
- Police: $90
Those four lines add up to $2,387, which is $5 less than the published $2,392 total. The report doesn't explain the difference. The county's own explainer also lists an Emergency Operations Center account among the places impact fees go, which may account for it.
Parks and recreation makes up roughly 70 percent of that bill, by simple division of the reported figures. The ordinance itself limits the updated fees to three categories of facilities: parks and recreation, public safety, and solid waste.
So far the money has gone into visible projects. Since October 2021, WPDE reported, the county had collected roughly $37.6 million from the fees, which had grown to $40.3 million with interest, and $15.9 million had gone into capital improvements such as new fire stations, beach bathrooms and playgrounds. The county's own June 2026 explainer puts total collections at more than $45 million over the same stretch. The two sources were published at different points and don't break down the difference, so the total depends on which count you use. The ordinance also requires the county to publish an annual report on how much was collected and how it was spent, and that report is the document to check.
The roads run on a separate ledger
Transportation doesn't appear on the list of facilities this fee funds. Traffic is the topic Carolina Forest buyers raise most often, so this matters. The corridor's big road projects are tracked through Horry County's roads program instead. One example is the US 501 widening from SC 31 to SC 544, which covers six lanes and signal work on a $41 million budget. The county's project page, last updated in April 2025, estimated completion in fall 2026. That page is old enough that the current status needs to be confirmed. The proposed I-73 connector is listed at $450 million in local match, with no money spent and work not yet started. Its funding depends on a commitment to complete I-73 to I-95.
For a buyer, this means the fee on a new Carolina Forest home helps pay for playgrounds, fire stations and solid waste capacity. Whether the drive down US 501 gets easier is decided somewhere else.
Who actually pays it
The county describes impact fees as one-time charges paid by developers when new homes or buildings are built. Few people in the debate expected the cost to stop with the developer. Haines told council that about a third of the price of a new home is regulatory cost, and that 15 percent of that goes to fees and taxes paid to government. He also stressed that the association isn't against the fee. "Our association believes that growth should pay for growth," he said.
District 3 Council Vice Chair Dennis DiSabato voted for the ordinance but said there "might have been a better plan" for lower-priced homes. The tiered design addresses part of that concern. A home under 1,000 square feet now pays less than it did under the flat fee, and the largest homes pay the most.
New construction in Carolina Forest carries plenty of line items besides the county fee. Grand Strand Water & Sewer Authority's board approved switching from double-service to single-service connections at its June 22, 2026 meeting. Staff estimated the change would add $225 per lot, and no rollout date was given. Each change is small, but the costs add up on the builder's side of the ledger. When you're comparing two contracts, ask the builder which plan sizes were priced before July 20 and which after.
A few direct questions
Does the new fee apply to a resale home in Carolina Forest? No. Impact fees are one-time charges on new construction.
Does it apply inside Myrtle Beach or North Myrtle Beach city limits? The county study's service areas are unincorporated Horry County. Cities set their own charges. North Myrtle Beach, for example, lists separate city water and sewer impact fees for fiscal year 2027. Because those fees cover different services, comparing them directly with the county fee would be misleading.
Could the tiers change again? Yes. Council has said the schedule can be adjusted, and the underlying study must be updated at least every five years.
If you're weighing two floor plans in a new Carolina Forest community and want to know how fees like these affect the contract you're about to sign, Kristen Lundy can help you go through the line items with the builder before you commit. Let's Connect.
