An update to Georgetown County’s website will allow the public access to property data without having to go in person to the county Assessor’s office.

Todd Bergren of qPublic, the company that will maintain the Assessor’s site, gave a presentation to County Council at its regular meeting on Tuesday.

The new site now uses digital mapping and has links to Google Earth for up-to-date photos.

There is also an updated search engine, which allows users to search property records and recent transactions.

The old website was updated about once a year. The new one will be updated weekly.

The county will pay qPublic $7,000 a year to update and maintain the website.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story indicated a monthly fee. We apologize for that error.

In other business:

• The county moved closer to selling up to $26 million in bonds to pay for capital projects.

Council gave second reading to the ordinance after a public hearing, during which nobody spoke.

• Council approved using $41,969 in Landbank and Bike the Neck funds to help pay for Phase 5 of the Waccamaw Neck Bikeway on Kings River Road from Willbrook Boulevard to All Saints Church.

Phase 5 was originally budgeted at $556,646. After the final design work was completed, the budget increased to $848,215. The Grand Strand Transportation Study provided an additional $249,600, which required a $41,969 match from the county.

• South Carolina Skydiving will soon be offering lessons at Andrews Airport.

Jump operations are expected to begin around March 16. S.C. Skydiving will lease a hangar at the airport and offer lessons five days a week. As many as 18 flights a day could be scheduled on weekends.

The company is required to have liability insurance that also covers the county and the agreement that was approved by Council will have to be renewed annually.

• Six people were reappointed to boards and commissions: Whitney Hills to the Assessment Appeals Board; Ann Palmer to the Disabilities and Special Needs Board; Bill Hills to the Economic Development Commission; Mark Hoeweler to the Parks and Recreation Commission; and Kay Benton and Willie Shelley to the Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire Board.

All seven County Council members were in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting.

By Chris Sokoloski

csokoloski@gtowntimes.com