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June 14,1995
The State Port
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| VOLUME 64/NUMBER 42
SOUTHPORT, N.C.
Neighbors
South Brunswick got a
look at coach’s wide-open
offense this week — 1C
Our Town
50 CENTS |
Yaupon may have found
alternative that suits town
need to a tee — Page 2
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Graduation exercises for all Brunswick County seniors were held
Saturday in the Odell Williamson Auditorium on the campus of
I’hoto by Kd Harper
Brunswick Community College. North Brunswick graduated first at
11 a.m., followed by South in the afternoon and West that evening.
Trailers, too?
County missing
boat on taxes?
By Terry Pope
County Editor
When it comes to collecting prop
erly taxes, Brunswick County may
literally be missing the boat.
And the mobile homes.
County lax administrator Boyd
Williamson said his department is
working on a way to find those own
ers who dodge listing their taxes each
year. There are a number of mobile
home and boat owners who do not
comply with state laws for listing
property on time.
"You may have to spend a dollar to
get two dollars," said Williamson. "It's
a labor-intensive issue. But there's a
fairness issue here, too. Everybody
has got to be chipping in their fair
share."
The public is more ready to pay
higher taxes if there is a sense that
everyone is paying his share. The pro
posed county budget for 1995-96 in
cludes a 12-cent tax hike, from 58.5
cents per SI00 of property value to
70.5 cents.
A 6.1 -percent growth in the county
tax base will add another $1.-8 mil
lion in property tax revenues for the
1995-96 fiscal year. But there are
mobile homes and boats that enter the
county each year which slip through
the cracks in the system.
Williamson says of an estimated
14,000 mobile homes in the county -
- according to the latest U. S. Census
figures — about 12,000 are listed with
the tax department. That means 2,(X)0
mobile home owners are not paying
county taxes on their units parked on
county land. The department can me
ticulously trace down those units
based on occupancy stickers that the
See taxes, page 5
Solid waste fees
back in budget
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
A monthly residential solid waste collection fee is back in the bud
get plan for the Town of Long Beach in the year to begin July 1, but if
no further expenditures are approved at subsequent budget workshops
there will likely be.no property tax increase this year.
Town manager Jerry Walters said council Thursday reversed its de
cision of earlier this month and voted to continue operating its solid
waste collection effort outside the town's general fund.
That means monthly refuse collection fees, not general fund rev
enues, will fund garbage collection efforts. Waiters said the vote to
reverse council's earlier determination to fund solid waste collection
with general fund monies was 4-2. In the last week of May, mayor
Joan Altman broke a tie vote of commissioners to move the garbage
collection effort back to the general fund.
The effect of that decision was to necessitate the equivalent of a six
cent tax increase to support solid waste collection. In subsequent meet
ings last week, however, council trimmed the equivalent of three cents
on the town’s tax rate from the general fund budget.
On May 1, Walters submitted a budget proposal which called for no
See Waste fees, page 5
City keeps
the 'bugs'
in system
Wastewater treatment cost,
maintenance are historic
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
It is hard to pinpoint exactly at what
time in its history the City of
Southport got into the sewer business,
but it's been a long time.
The idea of collecting wastewater
— and then doing something with it -
- may be a new or completely alien
concept to those living on local bar
rier islands, but wastewater manage
ment has been a service provided by
this city for decades. That doesn't
mean the city has always handled its
wastewater problems well.
"The first treatment Was started in
1967," Southport public services di
rector Ed Honeycutt said while con
ducting a tour of the city's wastewa
ter treatment plants — that's right,
plants, plural — Friday. "Before that
it was just collected and discharged
out into the river. The Bay Street
pump station used to go straight out
into the river. It was just straight piped
out."
Wastewater management is a ser
vice the residents of Southport have
come to rely upon. Few septic tanks
remained in the city after 1987 when
bond financing of a treatment plant
expansion required mandatory tap-on
to assure repayment.
Just as Southport residents have
come to rely upon the city for their
wastewater disposal needs, they have
also become accustomed to paying for
that service. In years past, when an
electric system flush with money sup
ported most municipal needs, waste
water management was a minor pinch
in the municipal pocketbook. Since
the late 1980s, however, as electric
costs skyrocketed and state account
ing practices dictated self-sustaining
government enterprise funds, the cost
of wastewater management paid by
Southport residents has become a
greater concern of city life.
If aldermen adopt the budget pro
posal submitted by the city's budget
committee last week, city residents on
July 1 will see yet another substan
tial increase in wastewater manage
ment costs. Fees for each 1,000 gal
lons of water used will jump 64 cents,
leaving the average 6,000-gallon-per
month user a monthly bill some $3.84
higher.
"I know it costs and we all have to
CP&L petitions to reduce charges
Nuclear plant success may reduce bills
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
Carolina Power and Light Co. has petitioned to reduce North
Carolina electricity bills due to a lowering of company fuel
costs, and Brunswick Nuclear Plant vice-president Roy Ander
son says that a major factor is the increasingly better perfor
mance of the local plant after an extended shutdown for main
tenance and repairs.
Power companies are permitted to factor fuel-cost increases
or decreases into their customer billing, Anderson explained
here Monday, and when the cost of power production goes down
throughout the CP&L system the company can pass that ben
efit along to customers.
"We're generating more power for less cost here at
Brunswick,” Anderson said, "and since Brunswick is generat
'You preach to people that "this is
important." Well, this is a coming
to fruition of what we said would
happen if we did our jobs.'
Roy Anderson
Brunswick vice-president
ing about 25 percent of the electricity for the entire CP&L sys
tem the cost of electricity goes down.
"This is a direct result of those two big blue units doing bet
ter." ■ ■ . ' v . •
Thus in August the N. C. Utilities Commission is to hold
hearings on a CP&L proposal that would drop the 1000-kilo
watt-hour residential rate from $82.86 to $80.85 beginning
September 15.
By CP&L figuring, that will reduce the average household
electric bill $24.12 per year.
Not only is this sort of performance good news for the house
hold consumer, Anderson said, but keeping rates constant or
falling can be a major recruiting factor for outside industry.
Household rates for CP&L customers have varied over the
previous five years in this order - $85.25, $84.93, $85.06,
$85.04 and $82.86.
"Brunswick started coming back into power production in
1993 and the rates started down," Anderson pointed out. "the
See Success, page 15
say for it," city manager Rob Gandy
said this week. "But, that's the cost of
protecting our environment."
So, how does the City of Southport
serve its environment by providing
wastewater management service?
And, what contributes to the cost city
customers bear each month when that
utility bill comes in the mail?
Actually, the city operates two
wastewater treatment plants today,
Honeycutt explained. The city has
aperated an activated sludge treat
ment process since 1967 — the older
Df the two plants. This plant, which
See System, page 8
SBSD
Plan called
'workable',
'approvable'
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary
District commissioners were
told Tuesday that spray disposal
of treated wastewater is possible
in a 142-acre site west of the Sea
Pines community, and the dis
trict engineer said that final
plans for such a facility would
be finished and submitted on
time.
Engineer Finley Boney is on
notice from the board to produce
such a disposal plan by June 26
or lose his contract.The ultima
tum in May grew out of board
frustration with lack of progress
over the district's five-and-a
half-year existence.
At this time the challenges
facing the commissioners are
See plan, page 7
Forecast
Partly cloudy skies will prevail for
the period of Thursday through Sat
urday with highs in the 80's and lows
in the 70's.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, JUNE 15
10:38 a.m. 4:30 a.m.
11:10 p.m. 4:38 p.m.
FRIDAY, JUNE 16
11:34 a.m. 5:22 a.m.
-p.m. 5:32 p.m.
SATURDAY, JUNE 17
12:03 a.m. 6:13 a.m.
12:31p.m. 6:28 p.m.
SUNDAY, JUNE 18
12:56 a.m. 7:05 a.m.
1:27p.m. 7:25 p.m.
MONDAY, JUNE 19
1:49 a.m. 7:58 a.m.
2:23 p.m. 8:24 p.m.
TUESDAY, JUNE 20
2:43 a.m. 8:50 a.m.
3:18 p.m. 9:24 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21
3:37 a.m. 9:43 a.m.
4:12 a.m. 10:22 p.m.
The following adjusunents should be made:
Raid Head Island, high -10, low -7; Caswell
Beach, high -5, low -1; Southport, high +7, low
+15; Lockwood Folly, high -22, low -8.