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NC
Fire tax
district
sought
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Should property owners pay by
tax account number or by parcel?
It’s the burning question that divid
ed the Brunswick County Board of
Commissioners Monday over estab
lishment of a special fire and rescue
district by special legislation.
The board voted 3-2, with com
missioners Bill Sue of District 5 and
David Sandifer of District 2 voting
against the motion, to proceed with
asking state legislators for a special
bill to establish a five-member
county wide tax authority which
would manage fire and rescue
funds. A flat fee would be charged
on tax bills for homes, businesses
and vacant lots.
“When you do it on an account
basis,” said Sue, “it may be simple.
It may be quick. But it’s not fair.”
Property owners or developers
can consolidate all of their land
holdings into one account per town
ship at the tax department. It means
such property owners would have to
pay just one fee per township and
not a fee for every home or lot
owned in that township.
jviosi tax Dills nave been consoli
dated by the department for easier
handling, with one tax account for
each business, since commercial
accounts cannot be consolidated
into one billing. Commission chair
man JoAnn Bellamy Simmons’
motion calls for a flat fee per home,
business or lot but does not indicate
what those fees would be. It can be
decided later if the bill passes the
short session of the 1998 N. C.
General Assembly.
“There’s no fair way, but if you
can, you should come up with a way
to say everyone is going to pay for
services,” said Ms. Simmons. “We
have delayed in the past of being
prepared. Let’s realize that
Brunswick County is going to fill
up in the county, that areas are
going to be developed that are not
already. It does say, ‘I’m doing
something. I’m trying.”’
Sandifer was the most supportive
commissioner of fire and rescue
fees but could not vote on a plan
that would limit charges by tax
accounts. Prior to the vote, Ocean
Isle Beach businessman, volunteer
fireman and town commissioner
Ken Proctor warned that unless the
special fees are set up to handle 100
percent of the fire department’s cap
ital needs, the volunteer units would
hurt from a lack of donations.
“We’ve got to look at this a little
more closely,” said Proctor. “I think
if we approve this situation, we
See Fire tax, page 11
SHOWTIME
Scenes for “Holy Joe,” starring John Ritter as
die pastor of a church in a small southern town, {
^ Photo by Jim Harper
were filmed in Southport on Monday.
Flaying the role
Movie extras have time to read all about it
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
After only an hour as a movie extra, I thought I
had it made.
I was lounging under a shady tent in the back of
Taylor Field, chatting with some of the other 20 or
so extras who were chosen to be in scenes of
“Holy Joe,” a CBS movie-of-the-week for which
several scenes were shot in Southport on Monday,
and getting paid for it.
After arriving at 7 a.m., we had eaten a big
breakfast, had our clothes approved by the woman
in charge of wardrobe and waited to be called for a
scene.
The crowd under the tent was a diverse mix of
people. Two school teachers, a preacher’s wife and
son, a young, good-looking couple, several very
experienced extras and a handful of people who,
like me, had never been an extra before and didn’t
know what to expect.
It was easy to tell who had done it before.
Experienced extras brought lawn chairs, books and
See Movie, page 6
Long Beach
No objections
to 3-cent hike
Rescue squad
paid positions
part of reason
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Long Beach taxpayers will pay
three cents more for each $100
worth of property they own in the
year to begin July 1.
But, if property owners are con
cerned about that tax increase, they
didn't let town council know it
Tuesday night. Not one person
offered comment on the nearly $7
million spending proposal for fiscal
year 1998-99 at a state-mandated
public hearing on the budget.
"I don’t think we’ve ever done that
before," mayor Joan Altman said
when no one rose to comment.
The mayor theorized ■ the public
was well-informed on the content of
the budget document — adopted
unanimously by council — through
newspaper reports. The budget also
calls for a $\37 monthly hike in
solid waste fees which will pay for a
curbside recycling program and
curbside collection of yard debris,
services residents demanded in a
series of confrontations with council
last year.
During a break in the meeting,
several councilors said most Long
Beach residents realized the tax
increase in the coming year would
support a higher level of service by
the town’s rescue squad. The town’s
portion of the rescue squad budget
will swell to nearly $200,000 as the
squad takes on four professional
emergency medical technicians who
See Long Beach, page 7
What for is unclear
SBSD imposes
30-cent tax rate
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
All agree with plans to build a
sewer system, but municipal-like
services should stop there.
That was the message several
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary
District residents gave their com
missioners Monday at a public hear
ing on a proposed $912,000 district
budget for 1998-99. The budget pro
posal — which was adopted by com
missioners after the public hearing -
- enacts a first-time property tax for
residents of the Long Beach Road
corridor. For the first time next year,
residents of SBSD will pay a district
property tax of 30 cents pier $100
assessed valuation. That tax comes
in addition to the county property
tax of 68.5 cents per $100 assessed
valuation.
According to the proposed budget,
the 30-cent district tax rate is
expected to generate $162,000
based on a total district property val
uation of $54 million.
Many of those attending
‘The manager pro
vides the budget. I
cannot explain
everything on there
because the manag
er does the budget. ’
James W. Smith -
SBSD chairman
Monday’s hearing questioned what
the $162,000 would buy. Several of
those questioning the $ 162,000 rev
enue source left frustrated when dis
trict chairman James R. (Bubba)
Smith read from a lengthy bond
order and from statutes giving the
district the authority to tax. Smith
claimed he had no specific knowl
edge of how the $162,000 would be
See SBSD, page 9
Yaupon Beach
Rescue call
for funding
unanswered
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
With plans to adopt a 1998-99 budget on
Thursday, Yaupon Beach commissioners have
still not decided whether that town will con
tract to receive emergency medical services
from neighboring Long Beach.
Commissioners Monday did, however,
decide to short Yaupon Beach’s payment to
Long Beach for rescue service in the current
fiscal year. Commissioners said Long Beach
Volunteer Rescue Squad had only responded
See Rescue, page 7
Southport board leaves
plat review to planners
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Apparently dismissing the advice of counsel,
Southport aldermen Thursday said they will not hear
appeals of preliminary subdivision plat decisions made
by the city planning board.
In an unrelated land use matter, aldermen agreed to
allocate 2,500 gallons of sewer flow daily to Bald
Head Island’s proposed new ferry and barge landing at
Deep Point.
City attorney Mike Isenberg in March told aldermen
they could amend the city’s subdivision ordinance to
hear appeals from property owners who wished to con
test planning board rejection of preliminary subdivi
sion plats. The only recourse for a property owner now
is to seek relief from the Superior Court.
Isenberg said the board could elect to set itself up as
‘The whole idea is, if you
guys are not going to review
anything, then the planning
board decision is final.’
Mike Isenberg
City attorney
one last avenue of administrative relief before the city
were sued over a planning board preliminary develop
See Review, page 11 V
— NEWS on the NET: www.southport.net
Students at Bolivia Elementary School celebrated Super
Kids Day, along with Accelerated Reading Recognition,
with games and races, and top accelerated readers — sec
ond grader Daniel Brown (pictured) and fifth grader
Amanda Hughes -- won a chance to throw pie at principal
Jim McAdams. Brown’s pie found its mark.