Maid Head
SILT
meets
goal
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
Bald Head Island property owners
were on the verge Monday of attain
ing their million-dollar goal to help
preserve developable dune and wood
land at Cape Fear.
Smith Island Land Ihist chairman
Nancy Maguire said that $961,000 in
donations and pledges had been ac
cumulated by mid-afternoon, and that
telephoning volunteers would be
working New Year’s Eve to gather the
most possible donations by the year
end deadline.
A million-dollar-by-December 31
requirement had been set by the
island’s developer for continued life
of the project, which a year ago few
had envisioned and which even weeks
ago seemed liable to fail. 4
With a million dollars in pledges
and funds, Maguire said, the devel
oper will extend the SILT option by
two years, and has also agreed to sell
the block of developable land at Cape
Fear in increments, with the first such
increment priced at $1.5 million.
“The donations have been coming
in so fast I can’t put them in my com
puter,” Maguire said Monday. “The
closer we get to the deadline, the more
See Goal, page 11
The year
in quotes
By Terry Pope
County Editor
It was a year of near disasters, of
attempts to solve government crises.
T\vo hurricanes and two tropical
storms visited our coast, but when all
was said and done Brunswick was
spared the worst from Arthur, Bertha,
Fran and Josephine.
Government officials both opened
the new year and ended th& holiday
season with visions of garbage, wa
ter and sewer dancing in their heads.
Rapid growth continued, as in pre
vious years, and the struggle to man
age it produced our most notable
quotes from 1996:
January 10 — “1 think the future
looks bright. Most people in
Brunswick County right now are talk
ing, in some fashion, about sewer. ”
Former county public utilities di
rector Robert "Bicker on regional
See Quotes, nape 7
Photo by Jim Harper
Unseasonably warm weather over the weekend brought unseasonably short views for waterfront visitors
in Southport. Fog rising from chilled waters for several days gave an aspect of early spring to the scene, but
December is a little soon for that hope to blossom.
BrunswicK
Taxpayer
deadline
Monday
By Tferry Pope
County Editor
Monday is the last day to pay
county taxes without penalty for be
ing late.
Business after the Christmas holi
days usually picks up steadily at the
tax office at the Brunswick County
Government Center near Bolivia as
people rush to pay at the last minute.
“We had three trays of mail arrive
this morning,” said Brunswick
County tax collector Nancy Moore on
Friday. “It’s always pretty hectic this
time of year.”
Since the normal due date of Janu
ary 5 falls on a Sunday this year, prop
erty owners will have until Monday,
See Taxpayer page 6
The ten
Carolina Power & Light
Dupont
N.C. Eastern Municipal Power Agency
Archer Daniels .MlcTand C
Brunswick Electric Membership
Bald Head Island Ltd.
Odell Williamson
See Trail Corporation
Cogentrix of N.C. Inc
Federal Paper Board
Totals
biggest
Values Taxes
*881,734,734 $ 6,386,751.81
280,868,699 1,923,950.53
231,916,833 1,681,395.59
133.052,€>37 1,000.88**. .63
47,733,767 329,013.28
39,738,927 282,742.38
40,142,310 281,789.10
28,189,952 193,835.43
25,792,789 186,997.72
24,870,207 170,374.57
S 1,739,040,655 $ 12,437,732.04
turns
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Free public Internet access, an automated card catalog and a
computerized system that matches readers’ interests with works
of fiction are among improvements coming to the Brunswick
County library system in 1997.
Access to the Internet is available to the public at the G.V. Barbee
Sr. branch on Oak Island, and will be available at the Southport branch
sometime in January, said library director Reecie Tate. Brunswick
Computers will provide free Internet access to Southport-Oak Island
do
See Library, page 7
___
m
——...
County makes move
to list mobile homes
By Terry Pope
County Editor
There are hundreds of mobile homes that slip through
the system and avoid county taxes each year.
But 1997 is the year of the crackdown as special em
phasis has been placed on finding the singlewide units
that are not listed on tax scrolls.
“All we want is for people to pay taxes on what they
own,” said Brunswick County tax supervisor Boyd
Williamson. “Mobile home owners are citizens of the
county, and they utilize the services of the county, so they
need to list their property and pay taxes like everybody
elsp.”
See Mobile homes, page 9
‘Mobile home'owners are
citizens of the county, and they
utilize the services of the
county, so they need to list
their property and pay taxes
like everybody else.’
Boyd Williamson
Tax supervisor
LOOKING AHEAD TO '97
Southport weathered
storms in good shape
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
The dawn of 1997 finds the City of Southport in a
mid-budget year transition from dealing with the re
percussions of an unprecedented six months of natural
disaster to a renewed commitment to exg^llence in city
services and infrastructure.
As the municipal fiscal year begins in July, the cal
endar New Year is actually mid-year for local govern
ments - a good time to look back on the year’s begin
ning and to plan for its successful conclusion.
By all accounts 1996, with its two hurricanes and
one devastating tropical storm, was among the most
challenging Southport ever has faced.
“This is by far the most challenging year 1 have ever
spent as a city manager,” Rob Gandy said at his City
Hall office Monday. “I look back on it now and it is all
like a blur. Little did I know when I attended a hurri
cane conference in May that I would have to put into
action what I had learned so soon.”
Hurricane Bertha struck Southport-Oak Island early
in the Atlantic tropical storm season on July 12. The
city had just completed its successful N. C. Fourth of
July Festival a week earlier and Gandy was forced to
See Southport, page 8
Long Beach decision
is to build concensus
ny Kichard Nubel
Municipal Editor
New Year 1997 marks the beginning of what may
become known as the year of the big decisions for Long
Beach.
Though some work was slowed by two 1996 hurri
canes and one tropical storm in rapid succession, pub
lic improvement projects continued throughout the year
at seemingly break-neck speed. Sidewalks were poured
on Oak Island Drive from 46th Street to Schuster Park.
The new fire station was completed and a new water
storage tank was erected. Mini-parks were developed
anu lnipruveu anu cxpcuniciuai or axwaters were in
stalled at points along the Intracof ‘al Waterway.
But Long Beach is oiily halfwax through its current
fiscal year now. The first half of that year saw the town
challenged by nature, but Long Beach was only blown
slightly off course. ,
“In terms of looking at the year, the budget is
council’s blueprint,” mayor Joan Altman said Mon
day. “The storms, and recuperating from them, has put
us behind schedule on getting some of those things
addressed in the budget. Looking at that blueprint, I
guess we’re about halfway finished.”
See Long Beach, page 8
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