SOUTHPORT, N.C
VOLUME 66/ NUMBER 24
50 CENTS
t3£$c'
South Brunswick girls win,
boys lose in home contests
with West Columbus — 1C
Oak Island ma: \ object
to state report on impact of
coastal ‘disasters’ — Page 2
School
bonds
County asked
to place issue
on next ballot
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Faced with more than $50 million
in school facility needs, the
Brunswick County Board of Educa
tion will ask county commissioners
to authorize a bond referendum that
would fund all construction needs for
the next ten to 20 years.
Although a dollar amount has not
[>een established, a system-wide sur
vey of facility needs conducted by the
state last year concluded the school
system needs $51.4 million during the
next decade.
“If we’re going to go for a bond
referendum, let’s look at our facility
needs for the next ten to 20 years and
develop a plan to meet those needs
over a long period of time,” board
member Billy Carter said during a
special meeting Friday afternoon. “I
think a bond referendum is a good
way to include the community in
planning for the future.”
Board members acknowledged
they would have to decide what they
would spend the bond money on be
fore asking the community to support
a referendum.,
“We need to do a lot of work and
decide exactly what we need before
we hold a bond referendum,” Carter
said.
If county commissioners agree to
place a bond referendum on the bal
lot in November, school board mem
bers said they would try to determine
how much money they need and what
they would use it for by August.
“If you show people that you’ve got
a need and you’re going to be respon
sible for what you’re doing, they will
support you,” Carter said. “This
county’s been very supportive of
bonds when the need is shown, and I
think the last bonds issued for school
construction were in 1977.”
The school board decided last
month to use most, if not all, of the
$7.9 million in state bond money it
will receive to construct a new el
ementary school.
On Friday, the board voted unani
mously to hire a construction man
ager and an architect for the new
school and directed school adminis
trators to obtain at least five propos
als from construction management
companies and architects to present
for board consideration at a special
meeting later this month.
See Bonds, page 9
Forecast
The extended forecast calls for a
chance of showers on Thursday &
Friday with highs mid 50's to mid
60's. Saturday will be fair and cooler
with highs in the 40's to mid 50's.
TOP STORIES ON THE INTERNET www.southport.net
Photo by Jim Harper
A tricolor heron wades slowly and stabs at whatever seems like food in the Southport yacht basin these days.
Soon he and other wading birds who wintered here will be joined by migrating cousins in the springtime rite
of selecting a nesting spot on Battery Island.
'Look at where we're going1
Schools' Report Card
includes 'no surprise'
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
The 1996 Report Card released last
week by the state Department of Pub
lic Instruction holds no surprises,
Brunswick County school officials
say.
It shows student achievement in
Brunswick County lagging behind the
state average in each category, and
student attendance in the county
among the lowest in the state.
School officials say, however, they
have been aware of school system
problems for quite some time and pre
fer now to concentrate on resolving
them.
“The Report Card doesn't tell us
anything we didn’t already know,”
said assistant superintendent of in
struction Mary McDuffie. “We know
we have a lot of work to do. But rather
than look at where we’ve been, I think
it’s more advantageous to look at
where we are and where we’re go
ing.”
While performance of Brunswick
County students in grades three
1996 REPORT CARD
.... h«hh
Boopiy,-.. autoum
35.3%
63.1%
(Grade* 3-8)
66.9%
Wiling
(Grades 3-8)
55%
926
Drop-Out
Rate
2.97%
42.3%
68%
69.6%
59.7%
950
3.45%
% reflect percentage of students who are proficient
or at grade level in these areas.
through eight is somewhat below state
average, the Report Card indicates
that Brunswick County high school
students scored well below state av
erage in the core courses: Algebra I;
Biology; Economics, Legal and Po
litical (ELP); English 1; U. S. History.
Physical Science is no longer in
cluded as a core course.
While 42.3 percent of students
statewide were proficient in these
courses, 35.3 percent of Brunswick
County high school students were
proficient.
The Report Card also showed that
63.1 percent of Brunswick County
students in grades three through eight
scored at grade level in reading, com
pared to 68 percent statewide, and
66.9 percent scored at grade level in
math compared to 69.6 percent state
wide.
Fifty-five percent of Brunswick
County seventh graders scored at
grade level in writing, compared to
59.7 percent statewide, and 42.2 per
cent of fourth graders scored at grade
level in writing, compared to 51.8
percent statewide.
Brunswick County school board
chairman Glenda Browning said the
Report Card shows the school system
“isn’t where it needs to be,” but said
she is optimistic about the future be
cause of the new administrative team
— superintendent Marion Wise, assis
tant superintendent of operations
Clarehce Willie and McDuffie.
“We’ve worked hard to put people
See Report card, page 6
Occupancy
tax doesn't
have ceiling
...but Redwine sees
'diminishing return'
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
No town or city needs to sacrifice
my present or future portion of mu
nicipal occupancy tax revenues if a
:ountywide occupancy tax for travel
and tourism development is adopted,
Rep. E. David Redwine said this
week.
“There is no cap. Nothing says any
portion of the occupancy tax has to
go to anything,” Redwine said. . •
T\vo weeks ago Redwine met with
municipal leaders and representatives
of the two county chambers of com
merce to discuss a chamber-initiated
proposal for establishment of a one
percent countywide occupancy tax to
fund travel and tourism marketing
efforts. The anticipated $450,000 the
one-percent tax would generate
would be collected by Brunswick
County, but passed to Ttavel Pack, a
joint marketing and promotion ven
ture of the Southport-Oak Islam
chamber and the South Brunswic
Islands chamber. Chamber member
say Brunswick County is unable t
compete for tourist dollars with sui
‘This committee has
to work within the
law of diminishing
returns. You can
raise the occupancy
tax so high people
won’t come here.’
Rep. David Redwine
rounding resort areas with a budget
of only $70,000 annually provided by
Brunswick County.
Municipal leaders have been labor
ing under the misconception that a
six-percent cap governs all accommo
I dations taxes. Some have said if the
c one-percent county occupancy tax
5 were enacted, municipal interests
j could only impose a five-percent tax.
See Occupancy, page 6
Yaupon weighs
six-percent fee
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Yaupon Beach will likely be the first municipality in the area to act in
what may become a flurry of adjustments to local accommodation taxes
this year.
Monday night, Yaupon Beach commissioners are scheduled to debate a
resolution asking the N. C. General Assembly to raise the tax on short-term
rentals in that town to six percent. Currently, a three-percent tax on hotel,
motel and cottage rentals is charged in Yaupon Beach.
Long Beach, Caswell Beach and Southport also charge a three-percent
accommodations, or occupancy, tax. Bald Head Island levies a six-percent
accommodations tax.
A proposed resolution to come before Yaupon Beach commissioners
Monday notes the town’s three-percent “room occupancy and tourism
development tax” was authorized by the General Assembly in 1992. The
town generates about $20,000 annually from the three-percent tax, most of
which is used to riiaintain public beach accessways.
See Yaupon, page 6
i w : -1
r”
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Brunswick County isn’t ready just yet to release its control
over zoning enforcement in the northern portion of the South
east Brunswick Sanitary District, but it will do so soon.
The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners adopted a
resolution Monday to release zoning and planning controls to
die SBSD once the district has taken the proper legal steps fo s
regain its authority. County attorney Huey Marshall said the dis
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no
tice process, winch will require advertising and a public hearing
to determine if any serious objections or legal impediments stand
in the way.
“We will coordinate this with the district for whenever they
See Zoning, page 6
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