Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / Dec. 29, 1994, edition 1 / Page 10
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Change: A Tool For Progress BY JOE STANLEY, PRESIDENT South Brunswick Islands Chamber Of Commerce A belated Merry Christmas and a wonderful and prosperous New Year is my wish to you, the membership of the South Brunswick Islands Chamber of Commerce. The new year is upon us and we must change our calendars and our chamber leadership. Your membership and support have enabled us to have another suc cessful chamber year for the area we represent. We cannot say thank you enough for the numerous acts of support that you have shown this chamber and me as your president this year. A good chamber, like any good organization, to be successful depends on many people working to gether toward a common goal. Our chamber this year has done just that with you, our membership, providing your financial support as well as allowing your employees to serve as volunteers and attend chamber-sponsored functions. The board of directors has given of its time and talents to make this chamber the best that it could be throughout the year. Our vice presidents were committed to making our chamber the best and were always there for assistance and support when needed. Our staff has gone beyond the call of duty to ensure the success of the chamber and has been committed to the task at hand without day to-day supervision from an executive director. Our committees this year have worked long hours on chamber pro jects to assist us and assure their success. They also encouraged others to get involved as members and volunteers. It was this team working together that made for a successful year for our chamber. 1 am so grateful that 1 had the opportunity to work with the team mentioned above this year as your president of the chamber. It has en abled me to meet many new people and work with them for the good of our community. Looking back over the year I can truly say that this is an experience I will cherish for life. Our theme for this year was "A Necessary Tool for Progress." One of my favorite scriptures is Ecclesiastes 3:1 that reads as follows: "To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven." This scripture is simply expressing the promise of change of events from bad to good, etc. We can say to you that our theme was a good one be cause change is what we have tried to do to make the chamber more at tractive to the businesses and citizens of this area. It is time for another change at the South Brunswick Islands Cham ber of Commerce. In just a few weeks we will have our annual retreat to plan the 19?5 Program of Work for the chamber. We invite any input that you have to help make your chamber better in the year ahead. Remember that "Pessimists complain about the wind; Optimists expect it to change: Realists adjust the sail." Give us a call or stop by the chamber office with your input and help us set the sail for the year ahead. We will also say good-bye to seven current board members and wel come aboard seven new board members at the annual meeting to be held Feb. 3, 1995. At that time we will also install your new President Grant Kuhn. We are also hopeful that we might be able to announce the selec tion of an executive director at that time. We have had a great 1994 with your help and support. Help us make 1995 even better. I pledge my support to the new board and president. I trust that you, our membership, will do the same to help our chamber be come a stronger force in building a better business community for all the citizens of our area. We can then join hands and say out loud that we are proud to be a member of the South Brunswick Islands Chamber of Commerce. STANLEY Brunswick Jobless Rate 5th Highest In November N.C. Employment Security Com mission's preliminary figures for November indicated an 8.4 percent jobless rate for Brunswick County, fifth highest among the state's 100 counties. Sixty-four counties had rates of 5 percent or below. Employment Se curity Commission analysts say they regard 5 percent as a "near full-em ployment situation." Topping the jobless list was Tyr rell County with a rate of 12.8 per cent, followed by Transylvania at 12.1, Hyde at 10.6 and Anson at 8.9. The state's lowest rate was Orange County with 1 .8 percent. Brunswick County's rate is based on 2,370 persons looking for work in a labor force of 28,140 people with 25,770 working. Unemployment rates rose in 14 counties and fell in 86. Brunswick's rate for October was 9.6 percent. November jobless rates in other coastal counties included Pender, Local Tobacco Growers Vote On Quotas. Price Suoooris Brunswick County flue-cured to bacco growers can vote Jan. 9-12 in a mail referendum to decide whether acreage poundage quotas and price supports will continue for flue-cured tobacco for the next three years. Quotas and price supports will re main in effect for 1995 through 1997 if two-thirds or more of the farmers vote "yes". For the ballots to be counted, farmers must return the ballots in person or by mail to their local Consolidated Farm Service Agency (formerly the ASCS county office) at the Brunswick County Govern ment Center in Bolivia no later than Thursday, Jan. 12. County officer director Richard Toler said notices showing the 1995 crop quotas and allotments for indi vidual flue-cured tobacco farmers will be mailed prior to the referen dum. ACCIDENT REPORT Injury Liy'ni in Von Wreck a Winston-Salem man received only minor injuries last Thursday af ternoon when the van he was dri ving ran off the Whiteville Road and hit a culvert. Sanfod Ixiuis lx?ve Sr., 63, and his wife, Betty, were traveling to ward Shallotte on N.C. 130 near Ash when their 1986 Chevy van ran off the right shoulder, came back on the roadway, crossed the center line and ran off the left shoulder and struck a culvert. Trooper R.V. West of the N.C. Wad! Wait! fludiii 48! 12.-27*6 im, ' VUUH bluSLOM. r~**77T <md all 4f04*n matuf. puendi Highway Patrol charged Mr. Love with driving left of center. Mr. Love sustained only minor in juries and was not transported. Betty Love was uninjured. Damage to the van was estimated at $6,000. MONEY MANAGEMENT ' Nanny Tax ' Changes May Benefit You , Your Employees If you hire someone to care for your children, clean your home or maintain your yard, you may have just gotten a tax break from Uncle Sam. Congress recently changed the "nanny tax" rules. The new law requires fewer people to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on behalf of their household employees, and simplifies the fil ing procedures for these taxes. Threshold Increased Previously, people who paid child-carc workers and other domestic employees at least $50 in wages during any calendar quarter were required to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on their earnings. In theory, this meant that if you paid a babysitter $150 a quarter (or $12.50 week ly) so you and your husband could go out to din ner and a movie once a week, you were responsi ble for paying Social Security and Medicare taxes of 15.3 percent on your babysitter's earnings (or paying 7.65 percent and withholding the other half from your babysitter's pay). Under the new law, you needn't pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on the earnings of any domestic employee, including a domestic farm employee, unless that pay totals at least $1,000 annually. As a result, many people who hire occasional babysitters, handymen or house cleaners no longer need to worcy about the "nan ny tax." The $1,000 threshold will be indexed after 1995 for increases in average wages, but it will rise only in $100 increments. The new wage threshold is retroactive to Jan. I, 1994. Consequently, if your domestic employee earns less than $1,000 for 1994, and both of you have been paying Social Security and Medicare taxes all year, both of you are entitled to a refund of those taxes. The new tax law ensures that employees who receive Social Security tax refunds in 1994 wiii not lose their Social Security wage credits for the year. The new law also eliminates the need to pay taxes on earnings of domestic employees who arc under age 18, unless they work full time as house hold help. This aspect of the law goes into effect in 1995. Reporting Requirements Despite these changes, many people who retain full-time child-care providers or other domestic help are likely to Find that they arc still responsi ble for paying the "nanny tax." However, the rules affecting how and when you pay that tax have been changed to simplify procedures and minimize paperwork. For example, you no longer need to make quar terly tax filings. Instead, for the 1995 through 1997 tax years, you can report and pay your em ployees' taxes ? including Social Security, and Medicare and Federal Unemployment Tax (FU TA) ? on your own Form 1040. However, if your domestic employee earns at least $ 1 ,000 for the 1994 tax year, you must make your last quarterly tax payment by filing Form 942, Employer's Quarterly Tax Return for Household Employees. Beginning in 1998, employers can either in crease their quarterly estimated tax payments or increase the taxes withheld from their own wages to cover their share of domestic employee Social Security tax. Mors Responsibilities Although you are not required to withhold in come tax from your domestic employees' wages, you can do so at his or her request. If you do de cide to withhold, you must obtain Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, from your employee. As an employer, you also must give your do mestic employees who earn at least $1,000 annu ally a Form W-2 by Feb. 1,1995. Among other in formation, this form shows how much you paid them during the year and the amount of federal income taxes withheld. Finally, when you hire someone to work in your home, you need an employer identifica tion (ID) number. If this is the first time you've hired domestic help, don't worry about your em ployer ID. The IRS is developing procedures to assign one to you automatically the first time you file a required employer tax form. Money Management is a weekly column on per sonal finance prepared and distributed by the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants. 'Electronic Town Meeting' On Goals Is Set UINL- Wilmington will be the southeastern North Carolina site for a Jan. 5 statewide "electronic town meeting" to help set goals the state should meet by the year 2015 in ed ucation, economic growth, public safety, environmental protection and overall quality of life. The town meeting is from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. and also will take place in Raleigh, Manteo, Greenville, Greensboro, Charlotte, Asheville and Boone. Gov. Jim Hunt will ad dress the estimated 1,000 partici pants at 9 a.m. and will engage in a live conversation with them until 10:30 a.m. At each town meeting, representa lives of state agencies, local govern ments, businesses, schools, nonprof it agencies, civic organizations and churches will use a workbook to identify and discuss the goals they consider top priorities and the best ways to reach those goals. Hunt appointed 4() business, in dustry, education, civic and nonprof it leaders to the Commission for a Competitive North Carolina in February. He asked them to develop a "report card" for North Carolina that lays out "clear, measurable goals," or "benchmarks" that the state must meet by certain dates, such as a lower rate of teenage preg nancy. a higher number of business es served by telecommunications or a greater percentage of high school graduates enrolling in foor-year col leges Hunt says he wants the legislature to incorporate the benchmarks into the state's budgeting and appropria tions process to ensure that resources go to the highest-priority areas. Oregon was the first state in the country to adopt benchmarks and use them to hold government ac countable. In Oregon, state agencies that meet their benchmarks get bud get increases, while agencies that don't, have their budgets reduced. The Wilmington session will take place in Westside Hall Randall Hall March 31 Deadline To Apply For Pavments Producers who suffered crop loss es during 1994 due to weather-relat ed conditions may apply for disaster payments through March 31 at the Brunswick County Consolidated Service Agency (CFSA) at Bolivia. The CFSA is the new agency cre ated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that combines the com modity and main conservation func tions of the former Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, farm lending programs of the former Fanners Home Admin istration and the entire Federal Crop Insurance Corp. Producers should be aware of sev eral changes in this year's disaster relief program. The changes are de signed to improve accuracy and oversight and reduce the risk of po tential abuse of the program. Producers will be required to pro vide more complete information at the time they apply on the disaster condition affecting the crops and their production practices prior to the disaster. Records of current or historical actual production and pro duction costs will be needed for "nonprogram" crops except for to bacco, peanuts, soybeans, minor oilseeds and hay. When the county office is autho rized to sell multiperil crop insur ance, producers also will be required to provide proof of insurance. State and local CFSA committees have been given more authority and responsibility this year in areas that include upfront checks of gross in come limitations. Setting payments based on crop development, apply ing a "reasonableness" factor to nonprogram crop yields on any giv en farm, and ability to gather addi tional data from producers when needed to make accurate determina tions. Local committees may reduce Prepare for Tax Timej Federal & All State Returns Electronic Filing Open All Year - Starting Rate $25 Fastest Refunds Possible Refund Anticipation Loans and Bonuf Checks Starting at a cost of $56 Expenses automatically taken out of check 2 LOCATIONS 280 HoWen Beach Rd 9923 Beach Dr. (1/2 mile from Wal-Mart) (500 ft. east of stoplight) Shallotte (910)754-8979 Calabash (910)579-8485 Bring this ad Iri for a $5 discount. DIANA'S INCOME TAX SERVICE Preparing Taxes in Brunswick County since 1961. ?ISM THE BRUNSWICK BEACON payment yields il production evi dence is not complete, or deny dis aster applications if they question the accuracy of producers' docu mentation "The CFSA believes thai farm programs work best when decisions arc made as close to producers as possible," said Sam J. Coley, agency acting state executive director. at UNC-Wilmington. For more in formation. call Annette Anderson at (910)395-3547. Completes GRI Work Jana Martin, sales executive with ERA Callihan, Teal. Skelley & Associates, re cently attended a course in Res ton. Va. to complete her Graduate Real Estate Instit ution profes sional designa tion. Martin also holds the Certified Residential Specialist designation and is a licensed broker in North Carolina. South Carolina and Virginia. Sales executive Murray Willitts recently attended a two-day Relo cation Specialist Retreat at Ocean Creek Resort in Myrtle Beach Cellular Bag Phones* (While In Stock Supplies Last) Also *Free 1st Month Service! *Free Activation! Now Thru Dec. 31, 1994 ami mamma. ? _ Vtf7 UELLULAH The best call you ever made! See Strawberry today at our locaUon on Business H?vy. 17 N (formerly Sears) Shallotte Authorized Agent ?Some restrictions apply f Adaptive Computer Seruices, Inc. "Adapting tomorrow's technology to your business needs of today" "Our specialty & computer technology" ^ On site computer repairs Ijj Remote data backup and storage services gj Custom Network Installations Point of Sale Systems (sales and service) id Voice Mail Systems Application Specific Computer Programming Seruing Shallotte, Whiteville, N. Myrtle Beach and Southport areas with over 12 years technical computer experience! ACS OFFERS A COMPLETE RANGE OF TECHNICAL SERVICES. If YOU HAVE A SPECIAL REQUIREMENT, PLEASE CONTACT US. Office Number: (910)579-4332 ^ Pager Numbers: (910)754-0802 457-1375 640-4250 HMTHHWUMfrWOKMOOO*
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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Dec. 29, 1994, edition 1
10
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