Duplin plans hearing on sales tax hike KENANSVILLE ? A public hearing on the question of adopting the newly authorized one-half cent local option ?alee tax for Duplin County will be held at 8 p.m. Aug. 23 in the county oourt houae here. County Attorney Ruaeell Lanier told the county commissioners Monday he be lieve* 96 of the state'a 100 counties will adopt the additional sales tax, autho rised by the state Legislature last month. Forty-percent of the half-cent tax would go to schools, Lanier said. He add ed 30 percent would go to municipalities for water and sewer improvements. Since the original one-cent local option sales tax was adopted, he said, "Rural counties have been getting the short end of the stick because the money has been returned to the counties where it was collected." The half-cent tax will be distributed to counties on basis of population. That will aid rural counties because many rural residents do their shopping in larger cities in other counties. County Administrator Ralph Cottle told the board the county received $250,971 in local sales tax income for the first three months of 1983. Of that total the county retained $193,810. The re mainder was divided among the 10 mu nicipalities of the county on basis of pop ulation. Board Chairman W.J Cos tin said he believes all the county's share of the half cent additional tax should go to schools for construction, repairs and other cap ital investments. "The schools have been marking time for the last three or four years on capital outlay," he added. "This new tax may not meet all the needs." School Supt. L.S. Guy last week said needed school roof repairs would cost about $1 million. Lanier told the board he didn't think Mecklenburg and Durham counties would adopt the new half-cent tax be cause the method of distribution was less favorable to them than the point-of-ori gin method for the one-cent local tax. In other business, the board autho rized Cottle and Finance Officer Russell Tucker to obtain specifications and call for bids on repair of 12,000 square feet of Duplin General Hospital roof. Prelimi nary cost estimates range from $20,000 to $50,000. ? The board agreed to guarantee Wal lace could use a portion of the C.W. Dob bins building in Wallace as the site for a nutrition for the aged meals program. That offer is good for at least two years if the town pays for rewiring the area so only the nutrition area will be serviced with electricity, heat and water The re mainder of the former school building is not being used. Wallace Mayor Melvin Cording told the board the town plana to raiae $2,500 for the work. About 60 meala a day have been aerved at the aite, he aaid. The Duplin-Sampaon Mental Health Department haa been uaing the building for varioua projects but due to a tighten ing of ita budget, haa abandoned the atructure. Duplin County will buy an ambulance from Emergency Vehicle Services of Winterville for $22,699. It will be used for out-of-county transfer service and kept at hospita1 ' he board supplied Beu laville with tu mbulance on a tempo rary basis ur.t ' a state-county funded ambulance be- >mes available. In fur nishing the town's quad with a county ambulance it . J the county contribution to the s>r irom $450 to $300 per month. Beule k* has been us ing its own ambulance out the vehicle quit running Turn Sewing Skills Into Moneymaker Business Sewing Skills If you have special sewing skills, you might turn them into a moneymaker. But, you will need to make business decisions such as the amount of time you want to spend at the job. the amount of money you want to make and what you need to do to make that amount. List your potential ex penses. They may include business cards, advertising, cost of supplies, and per haps, liability insurance. And. there are phone calls and travel expenses. Add the total annual ex penses to the amount of profit you want. Make your calculations as realistic as possible. Income from your business must be reported on tax forms as income from self employment. If your profit is more than $400. Social Se curity taxes will have to be paid. Sewing can be fun and profitable. College Costs It looks as though college costs will continue to go up. but the number of federally backed loans may go down. So, if you have the chance, you may do well to salt away a little extra money for your child's college expenses. You might think about putting this money in your child's name. You will probably save on taxes and the fund will collect interest in your child's lower tax bracket. You can make this con tribution in the form of a gift. Under new tax laws, you can give each child as much as $10,000 a year without incur ring any tax on the gift. Or you can go as high as $20,00 on a joint gift with your spouse. The gift doesn't have to be in cash. You can give your child stocks, bonds and other assets. There is one draw back. Gifts are irrevocable. You can't take the money back in an emergency. Need Good Records If you have a home busi ness and you are interested in profits, you will need to be serious about your record keeping. Those financial records will begin with bits and pieces of paper including sales slips, checks, casli register tapes, receipts, in voices and bank statements. To make sense out of them, you will need to keep simple daily records. For example, you will need to keep a carefully labeled daily list of all money that comes into your business ? every thing from the sale of a $10 item to a bank loan of $5,000. Then keep a daily listing of business expenses, such as phone calls, transportation costs and supplies. Pay all expenses with checks drawn on the business account and support each check with an invoice, bill or other docu mentation. You may do well to draw up an income statement that shows your business's in come, expenses and profit or loss. Depending on the size of your home business, you may prepare income state ments only once a year for tax purposes. Or, since income statements are useful in monitoring the health of your business, you may wish to make them more often. A cash flow statement is an estimate of how much money will come in and go out each month. The secret to operating a successful business is controlling cash flow. If your chart shows that June brings in lots of cash and July brings in lots of bills, plan accordingly. A monthly balance sheet will show what your business is worth. It lists assets ? what is owned ->- and liabili ties ? what it owed. The difference between what your business owns and owes is your equity ? or the amount of the business that really belongs to you. If you are serious about your home business, you will want to know if it is increasing in value. A balance sheet can tell you this. FESTIVE GRAPE AND HAM SALAD 1 cup red, green or blue/black grapes, halved and seeded if necessary 1 cup cooked ham strips 2 cups shredded head lettuce 2 cups torn leaf lettuce 1/2 cup thinly sliced onion 1 medium ripe avocado Dressi ng Combine all ingredients except avocado and Dressing; lightly toss Just before serving, add Dressing and toss. Peel and slice avocado; use for garnish. Makes 4 servings. Dressing: Combine 1/3 cup oil, 3 tablespoons vinegar, 2 or 3 teaspoons prepared horseradish, 1/2 teaspoon each salt and Worcestershire sauce, 1/8 teaspoon pepper and dash cayenne. PEPPtREU |?I I CARPETS^ LEI I ? Direct from the Mill Prices I ? We Carry Our Own Accounts I ? No Waiting I ? Over 300 Rolls of Vinyl & I Carpet in Stock I i ? Our Own Professional I Installation I ? Lowest Prices I We're Bigger Than We Look Displaying B ^ 28,000 Sq. Ft. of Furniture & Carpet in a 14,000 Sq. Ft. Store. I -"One of the best things we hove is our price." 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