Tax Schedule
BY TERRY POPE
A schedule of county property values approved by
the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners Tuesday
nioM ? !J ' 'J *
uvu nuv piuviuc LuuiiLV resioenis wiui true values
of their property.
Instead, county residents must wait until November
before learning what the true value of their reassessed
property may be under the 1986 tax revaluation.
The model list of land and home values approved by
the board Tuesday will, however, give revaluators a
guide to prepare for November's countywide mailing of
reassessed property values. But the base prices listed in
the schedule must be adjusted for each individual parcel
or home.
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Volume 23, Num^_
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Jeremy Cox began kindergarten with a generous goodbye
kiss for his mom, Virki Cox, before turning his attention
Tuesday morning to crayons and lunch. He's
Property Owners Take h
BY TERRY POPE ni-r ?-ith Hnlrien I
Members of the Holden Beach Pro- Inc , owners of tin
perty Owners Association will take Last month, th
no official stance on the closing of the the west end to pr
west end of the beach by local their guests only.'
developers to property owners only. the Shallotte Inle
The HBPOA Board of Directors the pavement of
voted Saturday to delete a discussion West ends, tow
of the west end barricade from its of- acknowledged,
ficial agenda. However, after the "The situation o
meeting was adjourned, the more not been discussc
than 130 members present that said Jim Foumiei
crowded the town hall stayed for a the HBPOA. "I'm
discussion on the west end barricade myself to say thi
with Jim Griffin Jr., principal part- has no desire to 1
August Was
If invited to a "bull shooting" session. James Carson
Hopkins' favorite yarn might begin. "In August
198S, it was so hot they billed us 16.736 for just cooling
our mobile home."
And he wouldn't be telling a tall tale.
When their August 28 bill arrived from Brunswick
Electric Membership Corp.. James and Helen Hopkins
of Hurricane Haven subdivision knew it mniAn't
right A typical summer bill for cooling their 14-foot by
70-foot mobile home runs between $90 and $114 each
month. Hopkins said.
After opening the bill, without saying a word, he
slipped it across the dining roam table to Helen. She had
agreed earner to pay the August bill from her checking
account One look at the total?M.Tfi.gS including
1196 90 in tax alone?and she changed her mind
The bill indicated the Hopkuses had consumed
90.473 kilowatt hours of eJeetnefly?far above their
usual 1?6 to 1.400? at an average coat of $217.67 over a
30-day service period.
While their meter had been read accurately, the
outvie learned Tuesday in a visit to the BEMC office in
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s Do Not Provid
Brent Weisner, revaluation project director, said the
schedule will be on file for 30 days for public inspection at
the Brunswick County Tax Office, but warned that
residents cannot learn what their individual parcels may
be worth by reading the schedules.
"We have already had a few phone calls like that,"
Weisner told the commissioners Tuesday night "We will
not have final value on anyone's property until the final
sales ratio study is complete Wp will not vive out
anyone's value over the phone."
Weisner said residents will be notified of their
reassessed property values through the November mailings
only, which are due sometime near the first of the
month.
m iw$W
Thursday, Septe
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*TAM PHOTO BT SUVAN UVK* ,
3>reat Start
one of 42 kindergarteners enrolled at Waccamaw
Elementary School this year. More back-to-school
coverage Is Inside this issue.
Jo Stance On Holden Be<
Beach Enterprises form to discuss that situation as
: west end tract. such."
e company closed When rumors began to spread
operty owners and Saturday morning that mainland
["he road leading to residents were planning to attend the
1 is private where HBPOA meeting to protest the cloaOcean
Boulevard ing of the west end, those entering the
n r?ff irinlc hauo ?nnm Kt?n ?- ??i-+? ?
"/n? >?u ihu uj ivgiaicr ay name
and address, and a sign was placed at
>n the west end has the door stating, "HBPOA Members
;d by the board," Only."
\ vice-chairman of Last week, 29 persons, including
going to take it on four island residents, were charged
at this association with trespassing after they protested
function as a plat- the closing of the west end by driving
So Hot . . .
ShaUotte, the astronomical figures resulted from an error
made when data was entered into the computer for
billing.
"It's a rare thing, very seldom does it happen,"
Bobbie Diilard. manager of office services, said of the
tailing error. "We bill more than 30.000 accounts. There
might be one every two months or something. "
Before mailing them, staff members routinely
check hilts for tvicsihle errces die added "1 hale ihi?
one went out"
A corrected bill?more in keeping with the
twosome'? typical summer charges?is on its way
"We're always happy to correct them (errors) any
time." said Judy Gore, personnel specialist.
Meanwhile Hopkins was smiling and making the
most at an unusual piece of mail. BEMC agreed to let
him retain the original tall as a keepsake, proof of what
had occurred.
"You hear tell of mistakes like that being made, but
they never happen to yon?you read about them." said
Hopkins, displaying the biU. "1 thought that somebody
might appreciate this if they thought their electric tail
was high."
I
e Value O
The schedule of property values approved by the i
board Tuesday divides the county into 15 districts and 1
provides market values of land based on a two-year study I
of land sales and the county real estate market. By using t
the schedules, a person can "get an idea what the value of
land is in an area," Weisner said, but cannot learn what
individual parcels are worth. i
For example, property values for rural areas, par- t
ticularly the sections north of U.S. 17 and N.C. 211, range t
anywhere from $1,100 an acre for high land to as low as
$100 per acre for swampland with no access, Weisner t
said. t
The values of homes are also adjusted based on addi- i
tions and improvements beyond base rates. Base rates
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smber d, Woo 25c Psr Copy
Sunset Beach
Immediate A
Real ace Or lr
BY SUSAN USHER meeting of the Sui
Sunset Beach will seek the payers Association,
'replacement or improvement" of The motion was of
the pontoon bridge that serves its native to an earlier i
island community. against a proposed
Town council members voted Several speakers s
unanimously last Thursday night in want the high-t
favor of a resolution for the state to something needed t
work as "expeditiously as possible" the existing bridge,
toward that goal. Council members "Do we have to vi
Ed Gore, Donald Safrit, George or no)?" asked one
Foster?and with a sigh. Kathy "I'm not against
Hill?voted in favor of the measure, that's the only soli
Mary Katherine Griffith did not vote. run. I'd like to see s
which is counted as a "yes" under tion other than the 1
the board's procedural rules, making Before the alten
the count unanimous. proposed by A1
The resolution reads in part, "That members called fo
In the Interest of providing safe and category. "undue-Id
uepenaaoie access across Uie In- The town's gove
tracoastal Waterway at Sunset divided in its supp
Beach (or the residents, the many bridge resolution in
I visitors, and the emergency vehicles, reflecting a divlsio
it is clear than an improved method parent among prop
of crossing to and from the island is residents,
needed." Opponents of the
Commenting after the meeting, spokesmen for the S
Mayor Pro Tern Ed Gore told The payers' Associatioi
Beacon, "They're (DOTofficials) not that condominiun
going to improve that type of density developme
bridge." Gore has been a continuing natural outcome if I
supporter of the proposed high-rise in mile Island is imprc
both his town role and as chairman of 'Overk
the county planning board.
Saturday morning, a motion calling
for "improvement" of the existing
bridge received a "virtually
unanimous" vote of support by the
more than 140 members attending a
uch West Closing
past the barricade. Many of those -flfl
organizing the protest were
I mainland residents.
I Kournipr the ttRPTlA RnarH of
Directors was "not prepared to take
a stand on it" and had not been "ask
ed to address the problem and take
any action on it"
I In response to the questions raised . _ -' ? wff
by the audience. Griffin told the j ' ' r*
HBPOA members that the company s .
will turn the road over to the Holden J
Beach West Property Owners when it
Is paved and that it will be up to the
property c^nsrs ofi the eryj if
they want to open it back up to the
public. 9 5
"Once we get it signed up to them,
it'll be their decision. I look forward V jBre
to that day." Griffin said. "We can't
make that decision for them."
He added that even if the road was
opened again to the public and made
part of Ocean Boulevard West, there flyfr '
would still be no parking on the west end
because of the towr's new ordinance
against parking on the JFA
shoulder of Ocean Boulevard The no
parking ordinance will take effect
within weeks. JjH ;
"We made the decision back in the MM
early 1960s that it was going to be a
private subdivision down there," "2|
Griffin said. "The road was built by
the Holder Beach Realty Corporation
The Saturday afternoon before
we put the gate up, there were over
200 cars down there. They have
destroyed the dunes. It hurts the good
as well as the bad. The numbers just NORMA SWARTS
got overwhelming" AsaoelattoB wttb tX
Mayor Kenner Amos, who chaired tag. Roman ipres
the rtiimiwam on the west end utua- cioaiag at the west
< See HBPOA. Page >-A) were allowed tasid
dual Parcels
ire determined by points, whereas for a certain structure
100 points might be considered average for a threejedroom
home while any additions (such as Fireplaces,
idded garage, etc.) would increase the point value.
Building Program
Commissioners tabled a discussion Tuesday on
vhether the county should enter into a contract with the
owns of Belville and Bolivia to provide building inspections
as needed.
County Planning Director John Harvey said the
owns have verbally requested a contract agreement due
o their "unique circumstances in being so small and havng
so little building activity."
fSee BUILDING, Page2-A)
ICON
26 Pages
r
\ Will Seek
action To
rip rove Span
iset Beach Tax- Saturday, members forwarded
new arguments against the high-rise,
fered as an alter- "Let's take it out of Brunswick
call to vote for or County and Sunset Beach," sughigh-rise
bridge, gested Joe Majette of Charlotte as a
eid they did not way of bringing pressure to bear on
ise, but that the state to drop its proposal for a
o be done about high-rise.
"It doesn't make sense from a
ate this way (yes financial standpoint," he argued, for
property owner, taxpayers from across the country,
the high rise if not just North Carolina, to pay for a
ition in the long bridge to serve traffic to and from
oine logical solu- thi* islAiui "Wf?v? nil ar\i
ugh rise." pay for it."
ate motion was Ann Hammond, also of Charlotte,
Wells, several said that the proposed span eonr
a third voting stitutes "overkill."
isdL** ..
rning board had She was concerned that concurrent
tort of a similar plans would not be made by the state
itroduced in 1982, to handle the added congestion inn
of opinion ap- creased traffic to and from the island
erty owners and would create in the outlying area,
such as Georgetown Boad. Unpavcd,
bridge, including the old post road runs parallel to N .C.
unset Beach Tax- 179 from Ocean Isle Beach to
s, have argued Calabash and could, she said, relieve
is and higher- much of the traffic now contained on
nt would be a N.C. 904 and N.C. 179.
access to the six- Other residents questioned how
ived. parking and a projected increase In
ill?' (See ACCESS, Page 2-A)
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