Agencies to spend as much or more on events this year
By Phil Watson, The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, S.C.)
The bike rallies this month are expected to cost more than half a million dollars in overtime pay for public-safety workers.
Police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians from area departments don’t have many days off during May when the Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealers Association Myrtle Beach Rally and the Atlantic Beach Bikefest come to town. Most of them spend extra hours on the clock controlling crowds and working the wrecks during the two events, which bring about 600,000 people to the Grand Strand each year.
Most departments want more officers on the streets than usual during the events, so there will be enough personnel to respond to the multiple calls that can come in.
“We want maximum visibility. It slows them down, and that cuts down on speeding, accidents and noise,” said Clyde Merryman, Surfside Beach’s Public Safety director.
Even though law enforcement is brought in from other parts of the state to help out, local departments still have their hands full watching vendor areas, working wrecks and handling calls.
The bike rallies take two different tolls on public-safety workers. The most obvious is money. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide safety with so many people in such a small area. But it also puts a lot of stress on police officers, firefighters and emergency workers.
Myrtle BeachMyrtle Beach city workers will accumulate about 8,000 hours of overtime during the two rallies, city spokesman Mark Kruea said. About 7,000 of those hours will be worked by police officers. In previous years, the rallies have cost the city about $300,000 in overtime expenses. In 1999 and 2000, about $110,000 was spent on overtime for the Harley-Davidson rally and about $190,000 was spent for the Atlantic Beach rally.
Kruea said the dollar amount of overtime fluctuates from year to year.
Police officers in Myrtle Beach know that time off during the bike rallies is a rare thing.
“Everybody who works here, unless it’s their first year, knows that May is a busy month. They gear up for it,” Lt. Chuck Dunn said.
All 239 employees of the Myrtle Beach police department will be working during the rallies. They are told, “You’re going to get tired. Don’t let that govern you. Don’t let it aggravate you,” Dunn said.
Horry County
Overtime for public-safety workers and operations in Horry County during the two events is expected to top $250,000 this year. Last year, the two events cost the county $207,480. Much of the increase this year will be additional ambulance services, Horry County spokeswoman Lisa Bourcier said.
County police last year were dispatched to 5,851 calls in the two weekends surrounding the Harley rally and the weekend of the Atlantic Beach event, almost 2,000 more calls than usual. With the increased number of incidents, no county police officer gets a day off during the rallies, Lt. Dale Buchanan said.
Rookie officers are always stationed with more experienced officers during the two events, Buchanan said.
“Most of them have heard all the old timers’ war stories about the bike weeks, so they know what to expect,” Buchanan said.
Surfside Beach
Last year, Surfside Beach welcomed the Harley-Davidson rally into town for the first time when it allowed vendors to set up shop. Town Administrator Michael Kovacs said the Public Safety Department only paid $1,100 in overtime last year.
This year, all officers will work 12 hours a day, seven days a week during the bike rallies, Merryman said.
“My goal is to have all our police cars on the streets all seven days. If that turns out to be overkill, we can send some home,” Merryman said.
With the recent addition of vendors and an estimated higher turnout to both events this year, the town might need every officer it has on duty, along with outside help. Merryman said the department still is fine-tuning its bike rally enforcement.
He does not know how much overtime the department will pay this year, but he did say the week between the two events will be used to minimize overtime pay. Some workers will be given time off during that week to make up for the long hours worked during the bike rallies.
"[The week also] gives us a chance to regroup and assess what we’re doing and see if it works or not,” Merryman said.
North Myrtle Beach
North Myrtle Beach payed its Department of Public Safety workers about $40,000 in overtime from mid-May to mid-June last year. It also gave workers the equivalent of $20,000 in compensatory time off. This year, City Manager John Smithson said overtime pay to public-safety workers will be $40,000 to $60,000. The city expects to give about the same amount of compensatory time off, too.
Sgt. Randy Fisher said most North Myrtle Beach officers work for four or five days straight during the bike rallies, which is about normal.
“We try to balance it out because we don’t want our officers to work a long, extended stretch,” Fisher said.
Atlantic Beach
Atlantic Beach is the heart of the Atlantic Beach Bikefest, yet it spends less when it comes to policing the five-day event. Town Manager Carolyn Montgomery said last year the town did not pay any overtime to its police officers. They don’t expect to this year, either.
Montgomery said about 150 officers from the State Law Enforcement Division and the Department of Natural Resources were brought in last year to help the town, so its police officers worked their regular hours.
Although Atlantic Beach police officers won’t be racking up overtime pay during the bike rally, Sgt. Mike Bordner said they will work 12-hour shifts and will not have any days off.
Georgetown County
The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office spent about $20,000 in miscellaneous expenses on the bike rallies last year and it expects to spend about the same this year. Spokesman Bill Nichols said most of that money was not spent on overtime because the department brings in reserve officers, off-duty officers who volunteer their time and community policing teams to help during the two rallies. The money is spent mostly on fuel and vehicles, Nichols said.
Patrols for Georgetown County are heavily concentrated in Garden City Beach and Murrells Inlet. A command staff will monitor the crowds and move officers as needed, Nichols said.
“It’s basically going to be the same approach we’ve had in past years, but each year is a little different,” Nichols said.