A South Brunswick junior captured two first places in state 3A track competition The State Port U .JM? VOLUME 64/ NUMBER 39 SOUTHPORT, N.C. 50 CENTS C-COM often is the lifeline for Brunswick residents in need of emergency services Our Town Proposed mobile home park rule changes would cost the owner, critics say mm Preparations for the upcoming holiday weekend were foremost in everyone’s mind at the beaches this week. Workers were busy even in Photo hv Jim Harper last Friday’s gathering storm putting finishing touches on the new St. James Plantation beach club at Long Beach. Many costs are fixed County faces 12-cent hike to meet expenses By Terry Pope County Editor How did county commissioners accept news of an impending 12-cent tax hike for the 1995-96 budget? "With a deep breath," District 3 commissioner Leslie Collier of Long Beach said following the meeting. "I'm a little surprised. I wasn't ex pecting quite that much, but I hope we'll be able to do some work to per haps trim it. I'm sure we're going to be looking at it with that in mind." Commissioners were forewarned to expect a tax hike, but most feared a six- to eight-cent jump. Interim county manager Charles McGinnis gave them a draft Monday that will raise the property tax rate from 58.5 cents to 70.5 cents per $100 valua tion. For the owner of a $50,000 home the increase will result in a $60 jump on the tax bill, from $292 to $352. On a $100,000 home, it will result in a $120 increase. "I think we have our work cut out for us in reviewing that budget," said |—-— the community and the citizens ex pect up to provide a service to them, and it takes dollars. I don 9t like to pay any more in taxes than anyone else.9 Jerry Jones Commission chairman board chairman Jerry Jones of Dis trict 2. "I hope we can find two or three cents that we can adjust." Much of the increase is a given, said Jones. The lawsuit settlement that will increase funding to the schools amounts to a five-cent hike. Closing the county landfill will cost $1.08 million this year, and more to follow, as the county moves towards an in cineration contract with Vedco En ergy Corp.’s plant in Bladen County, a deal that starts in January. Five new road deputies to keep the sheriff’s department open 24 hours, and seven new shift responders for the emergency medical services crew, all add up. "I don't really know what we can do, other than to look at the numbers," said Jones. "But the community and the citizens expect up to provide a service to them, and it takes dollars. I don't like to pay any more in taxes than anyone else." McGinnis accepted more than $76.6 million in requests from depart ments that would have been an 86.6 cent tax rate. The budget is based on a county valuation of $5.75 billion, or a six-percent increase over last year. It will net an additional $1.85 million in property taxes. McGinnis said he took that into consideration with $5.9 million See County, page 6 zoning By Terry Pope County Editor Although some residents pre fer a conservation zone, a plan to tab the Military Ocean Ter minal Sunny Point ammuni tions depot near Southport as a military installation (M-I) has avoided fire. Others want to leave it free of zoning controls. "It describes the property for what it is," said resident Sabrina Puckett, "but it has no bearing on the military facility. They're going to do what they want to do with that property." County commissioners Will decide June S what to do about the Sunny Point terminal, an 8,500-acre site on the Cape Fear River currently zoned for heavy manufacturing. It is operated by the U. S. Army and serves as the nation's largest ammunitions depot. A zoning proposal that went to public hearing Monday See Zoning, page 9 Budget proposal Long Beach: same tax rate, fees expected By Richard Nuhel Municipal bditor The cost of living in Long Beach apparently will not go up next year. Town manager Jerry Walters has submitted a $5.095-million fiscal year 1995-96 budget proposal calling for no increase in the town's tax rate of 36 cents per $ 100 property valuation, no increase in water rates and no in crease in solid waste collection fees. "The recommended FY 1995-96 budget can be characterized as a con- * servative budget which still addresses a variety of community service deliv ery needs," Walters wrote in his bud get message to the public. "Overall funding levels are essentially compa rable to those of the FY 1994-95 bud get." Water cost could only rise if Brunswick County — the town's sup plier of treated water — raises its rates. Historically, the county has notified its customers of rate increases as late as September. The budget built ‘upon works in progress and a phi losophy aimed at enhancing the posi tive quality of life enjoyed by citizen and visitor alike.9 Similarly, Brunswick County has entered into a long-term contract with VEDCO, a solid-waste-to-encrgy company, beginning January l.This could impact the cost of solid waste disposal in Long Beach if the county passes its anticipated cost increases to the town. If those costs rise, cost to the Long Beach consumer could Sec Long Beach, page 8 Spent fuel rod shipment topic of debate here By Terry Pope County Editor So far, the U. S. Department of Energy has failed to address pos sible sinkhole activity on railroads leading from the Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point facility north of Southport. Concerns raised by some local residents Tuesday may change that. The Army ammunitions depot is one of ten ports considered for the acceptance of more than 27,000 spent nuclear fuel rods from over seas research reactors. That railroad was used to ship several containers last fall to a hold ing facility at Aiken, SC, before a judge in South Carolina halted the process. There were no incidents in SBSD engineer is given ultimatum Board frustrated as deadlines near By Richard Nubel Municipal Editor Faced with a July 1 deadline to present engineering plans to state officials, a frustrated Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District board last week said it would give consulting engineer Finley Boney 30 days to finalize a redesign of a wastewater disposal system or would terminate his contract. Commissioners also acknowledged the district will > miss a June 1 deadline to apply for heeded federal fi nancing, but hopes to pick up money in mid-August When unused funds awarded in this financing cycle ‘I’ve been disappointed in the time frame. It seems we’ve been sent down a road that doesn’t take us home., Gene Pinkerton Long Beach Road businessman and former county commissioner are returned to the federal agency. Boney, president of Boney and Associates of Raleigh, the firm that designed the initial SBSD rapid-infiltra tion system, will design a spray irrigation disposal sys tem whereby treated wastewater will be spread on some 150 acres of wooded land south of Georgetown Road. The redesign for the woodland irrigation will cost the district nothing beyond Boney's contractually guar anteed "basic engineering fee", but Boney hedged at doing the work until he is paid some $20,000 he said he billed the district after plans to dispose treated ef fluent in a rapid-infiltration basin were scrapped in February and the district turned its attention towards spray disposal on a St James Plantation golf course. The agreement now calls for Boney to be paid half that $20,000 fee on June 1 and half on July 1 - if the new woodland irrigation design is completed. Boney's standard contract with the district calls for him to be paid 6.2 percent of 70 percent of die estimated project cost as a basic engineering fee for the disposal design. Under terms of the agreement, the district will pro Sec Engineer, page 6 Brunswick County. How a proposed Martin Marietta mine adjacent to Sunny Point could affect the government railroad was a main point stressed at a DOE hear ing in Southport Tuesday. DOE offi cials say they will study that con cern. "I am sure what will happen now is we will address what the danger is to the rail line," said Jon Wolfsthal, foreign affairs specialist for DOE’s office of arms control and See Fuel rods, page 8 non Forecast The extended forecast calls for a chance of showers of thunderstorms for the period of Thursday through Saturday with highs in the 80's and lows in the 60's. Tide table HIGH THURSDAY, MAY 25 LOW FRIDAY, MAY 26 SATURDAY, MAY 27 SUNDAY, MAY 28 MONDAY, MAY 29 TUESDAY, MAY 30 11:57 a.m. -p.m. 5:57 a.m. 6:24 p.m. 6:44 a.m. 7:08 p.m. 7:28 a.m. 7:50 p.m. 8:10 a.m. 8:29 p.m. 8:49 a.m. 9:06 p.m. 9:27 a.m. 9:42 p.m. WEDNESDAY, MAY 31 10:03 a.m. 4:02 a.m. 10:16 pm. 4:02 p.m. The following adjustments should be made: Bald Head Island, high -10, low -7; Caswell Beach, high -5. low -1; Southpoit. high +7, low +15; Lockwood Folly, high -22, low -8. 12:37 a.m. 12:42 p.m. 1:22 a.m. 1:24 p.m. 2:04 a.m. 2:05 p.m. 2:45 a.m. 2:45 p.m. 3:24 a.m. 3:24 p.m.

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view