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EDENTON NC 27932-1854
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Wednesday, November 20, 2013
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County manager: Fiscal crisis is over
■ Fund balance now at
31 percent
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
With its reserves now
surpassing 30 percent of
its annual budget, Chowan
County can consider its
fiscal crisis a thing of the
past, County Manager Zee
Lamb said this week.
Lamb
i , . ' ' ; .
leaving
for Nash
County
■ Leaving for‘the greater
challenge of a larger county’
i
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
(
l
i?
Zee Lamb thrives in chal
lenging circumstances.
Chowan County’s county
manager,
who will
take the
county
m a n -
ager post
in Nash
County
Jan. 1, said
this week
that he was very much in
his comfort zone in Chowan
LAMB
County and would gladly
have remained here until his
retirement
“At the same time, I felt
that I needed to accept the
greater challenge of a larger
county, and I look forward
to that challenge,” Lamb
said.
Lamb has been Chowan’s
county manager for two
years. He came to Chowan
County after more than a
decade as county manager
in neighboring Bertie Coun
ty.
When Lamb began his
service as county manager
in Bertie County, Bertie had
the lowest tax collection
rate in the state and a very
low fund balance. During
Lamb’s tenure there, the tax
collection rate rose and the
fund balance was rebuilt
Lamb arrived in Chowan
County two years ago after
Chowan’s county commis
sioners had begun to dig
out of the pit the county
had found itself in when it
was discovered in 2008 that
the county had depleted
its reserves and was out of
money.
The county has contin
ued to rebuild its financial
position since Lamb has
been here.
The county’s tax collec
tion rate has improved and
the fund balance has risen
from the teens to more than
30 percent
“Andl look forward to the
new challenge,” Lamb said.
That new challenge will
take him to Nash County.
Lamb explained last
See LAMB, 4A
0
©2009 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Lamb said county of
ficials of course should
continue to be frugal and
look for savings and elimi
nate waste anywhere it’s
found.
“But in the eyes of the
state, in the eyes of the
Local Government Com
mission, and in the eyes
of the public, the crisis of
2008 is now behind Chow
an County,” Lamb said.
In 2008, Chowan Coun
Business construction in slight upturn
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
Dirt is moving and buildings are
being erected around Edenton as
existing businesses expand and new
establishments come to town.
Cases in point:
•Dollar General is erecting a new,
larger store on a site across North
Broad Street from the shopping cen
ter where Food Lion and an existing
Dollar General Store are located.
•AutoZone is building a store on
an outparcel at the Chowan Crossing
shopping center on Virginia Road, at
the site where Kathie’s Steakhouse
was located previously.
•Davita Dialysis is building a new
office on Medical Arts Drive.
•Although no new building plans
have been announced for the site,
the underground storage tanks were
dug up last week at the former Etna
station at 200 N. Broad St.
Tbwn officials say that both the
Dollar General and AutoZone stores
will be very nice buildings because
they will comply with design stan
dards established by the town.
John Mehler of Chattanooga,
Commissioners to revisit bike path decision
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
County Commission Chair Keith
Nixon said during a work session
Tuesday morning that the county
commissioners would revisit their
decision for the county not to par
ticipate in the Albemarle Regional
Bike Path Plan.
“Well work on this some more,”
Nixon said in response to a request
from Steve Lane and Bill Miller of
Edenton during the public com
ment portion of the meeting. Both
spoke in support of the plan and
ty was broke, having de
pleting its reserves. Since
then, county officials have
implemented a number of
austerity measures and
budget constraints in or
der to restore the county’s
fiscal soundness.
Audited financial state
ments recently received
from the county’s auditors
indicate a fund balance
— the amount of money
available to the county for
unexpected expenses—of
$5.1 million, or 31 percent
of the county’s budget.
The comity commis
sioners had established
a policy that called for a
fund balance of at least
25 percent, and Lamb said
the county nearly hit that
mark at the end of fiscal
year 2011-12.
“That has been a goal, to
get it to 25 percent,” Lamb
said. “Now they’re well
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Workers finish up the construction of the AutoZone building on Virginia
Road.
Tenn.-based Berry Construction,
which is the contractor for the Au
toZone project, said the building
should be finished by the end of this
month.
After that, Mehler said, the Au
toZone folks will start bringing in
their equipment and inventory.
“We’ll be done by Christmas,” Me
hler said. “They should be open by
Christmas.”
; Mehler said Berry Construction
builds AutoZone facilities all over
the countiy.
urged the com
missioners to re
consider and sup
port it too.
Nixon said
that the commis
sioners had also
heard from other
citizens following NIXON
their initial deci
sion and wanted to be sensitive to
the concerns expressed.
He added, however, that he still
had concerns about the county get
ting involved without additional in
formation such as how much par
over that threshold.”
Because the fund bal
ance is now beyond 25 per
cent, the county has been
able to free up $100,000 for
needed capital improve
ments, Lamb said.
In addition, the county
might have a little but of
a cushion for the tax rate
if property values in ag
gregate show a decrease
with the 2014 revaluation,
he said.
“I’ve been on AutoZones now for
the last 17 years,” Mehler said.
Mehler said AutoZone uses four
basic floor plans for its stores. The
four plans use different exterior
looks depending on a number of fac
tors, including the requirements of a
particular town.
The construction crews on the
AutoZone project have been in town
two months. Mehler said he has
eqjoyed Edenton and will hate to
See CONSTRUCTION, 4A
ticipating would cost citizens.
“I (haven’t seen) any numbers on
this plan, what it’s going to cost the
citizens,” Nixon said. “I don’t think
we’re being short-sighted (in seek
ing additional information).”
Nixon added that the commis
sioners are already concerned
about the change in the formula
used by DOT to allocate road and
ferry funds — a formula that will
require the Albemarle region to
compete with urban areas for avail
able funding. Adding the creation
of a bike path to the mix certainly
raises some concerns, he said.
Lamb said it has been
the county’s expectation
that property values over
all — some will decrease
while others will increase
— will decrease.
For that reason, a tax
increase likely would
be required, next year to
maintain a “revenue neu1
tral” status, he said. -
“It’s excellent,” Lamb
said of the 31 percent fund
balance.
Second
arrest
made in
shooting
■ Seeking public’s help
in home invasion robbery
From staff reports
The Edenton Police De
partment has made a second
arrest in connection with
a Nov. 2 shooting incident
that wounded two peoples
at a convenience store in
town.
WHITE
Thomas
Edward
White Jr.,
27, of the
300 block
of Boswell
Street, had
turned
himself in
to police
previously.
Police
now also
have arrest
ed Dominic
Duron Gay,
23, of 112
Alexan
der Road,
Edenton,
Chief Jay Fortenbery said
Monday. ' -
Both White and Gay are
charged with attempted
murder, assault with a dead
ly weapon with intent to kill
inflicting serious injury and
assault with a deadly weap
on inflicting serious ir\juiy,
according to police. \
. The arrests stemmed
from shootings on the after
noon of Nov. 2 at the Crown
Food Mart that wounded
both Maurice Mabine and
Trenita Jackson, according
to police.
Police have recovered the
9mm firearm that was used
in the shootings, Fortenbery
said.
Mabine, 36, and Jack
son, 29, both of Edenton,
were both treated at Vidant
See FOLLOW-UPS, 4A :
County Manager Zee Land)
agreed.
“The new formula will mean less
dollars disproportionately for the
northeast,” Lamb said.
But Lane and Miller also urged
the commissioners to look at the
benefits the bike path could bring
to the area
Lane, who said he rides a bicycle
on a regular basis due to heart-re
lated health issues he has experi
enced, has racked up 37,000 miles
See PATH, 4A
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