July 8, 1998
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net Volume 67, Number 46
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Brunswick
rescinds fire
district vote
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Faced with a special legislative bill left dying
in committee in Raleigh, the Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners Monday rescinded its
earlier 3-2 vote that asked for permission to
establish a countywide fee for fire and rescue
funding.
State Rep. David Redwine (D-Ocean Isle
Beach) and Rep. Dewey Hill (D-Lake
Waccamaw) both told commissioners they
could not introduce a bill when there wasn’t
unanimous support at the county level. Last
month, commissioners split on a vote that asks
the N. C. General Assembly for permission to
establish a five-member countywide tax author
ity that would manage fire and rescue funds. A
flat fee would be charged on tax bills for
homes, businesses and vacant lots.
“After that vote, some information came to
light that made me reconsider my vote,” said
District 3 commissioner Leslie Collier of Long
Beach. “We felt there was a time factor
involved. I think it kind of rushed our judg
ment.”
Instead, commissioners will hold another
workshop at 3 p.m. Monday, July 27, and with
county staff involved decide on the best way to
generate funds for fire and rescue departments.
The burning question last month was whether
property owners should pay by account number
or by parcel.
The backtracking Monday also sparked anoth
er heated debate between board members, par
ticularly between Ms. Collier and District 2
commissioner David Sandifer, an original com
mittee member who has worked vigorously to
see a method adopted to better fund fire and
rescue volunteers. However, he and District 5
commissioner Bill Sue of Leland voted against
last month’s motion to charge flat fees on tax
accounts.
“Of all the ways you could have done it, that
was the least equitable way in Brunswick
County,” said Sandifer.
Property owners or developers can consoli
date all of their land holdings into one account
per township 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.
Most tax bills have been consolidated by the
tax department for easier handling, with one tax
account for each business, since commercial
accounts cannot be consolidated into one
billing. The motion last month called for flat
fees but did not indicate what those fees would
be. It can be decided later if the board agrees
on a method and a non-controversial bill is
passed by legislators.
County attorney Huey Marshall said Redwine
and Hill have not been given instructions to
withdraw the bill from committee. If the board
can unanimously agree on a funding method in
two weeks, it will still have time to make the
state House deadline.
“They will be there, I bet, until late August,”
said Marshall.
Ms. Collier said there are still three schools of
See Fire District, page 8
CITIZENSHIP
I’hoto by Jim Harper
Warm congratulations were exchanged between new Americans and old ones at
last Wednesday’s naturalization ceremony. The ceremony on th £4rrison. which
has become a regular part of our independence Day celebratiou, bestowed citizen
ship on 39 applicants from 25 countries as the opening event of the 1998 N. C.
Fourth of July Festival.
End-of-grade tests
Schools earn high marks
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
The word “exemplary” is becoming a com
mon term around Brunswick County schools.
After preliminary results from state end-of
grade tests were evaluated, eight of ten ele
mentary and middle schools were labeled
“exemplary” and one school, South Brunswick
Middle, was labeled a school of distinction,
said Mary McDuffie, assistant superintendent
for curriculum, when she presented results to
the Brunswick County Board of Education
Monday night.
“We still have a lot of work to do and a lot of
room to grow, but we’re very pleased with the
results,” she said.
Achievement is measured by assessing how
many students scored a three or four on the
end-of-grade tests, which means that, accord
ing to state standards, they are proficient in
that subject.
The exemplar} title is given a school where
achievement is ten percent greater than expect
ed. In a school of distinction, 80 percent of stu
dents at the school scored “proficient” on the
tests.
Test results from all school districts in south
eastern North Carolina reveal that most stu
dents, including those in Brunswick County
schools, showed dramatic improvement in
reading and math for the 1997-98 school year.
The test scores are used in the state ABC's of
Public Education school reform pldn to assess
whether or not a school met its goals for the
year.
Last year only three Brunswick County
schools — Waccamaw Elementary. South
Brunswick Middle and Shallotte Middle —
were exemplary.
“It’s a big improvement,” McDuffie said.
See Schools, page 8
Oak Island project
‘Dismay’ over
state agencies’
bridge review
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
A second bridge to Oak Island with
a roadway corridor from Middleton
Street to Midway Road at N. C. 211
continues to enjoy the nearly unqual
ified support of Oak Islanders, local
government officials say.
Moreover, Oak Islanders expressed
outrage to their local elected officials
this week at the revelation N. C.
Department of Transportation is
being pressured to study an alterna
tive route which would place a bridge
at the end of West Oak Island Drive to
connect with Sunset Harbor Road on
the mainland.
Last week, Long Beach mayor Joan
Altman secured from DOT officials a
stack of responses from agencies
charged with environmental review
of DOT’s bridge and corridor selec
tion study. Eight of ten agencies
responding blasted a DOT
Environmental Assessment for reject
ing western corridor alternatives and
urged study of the route through
Sunset Harbor.
Mayor Altman said that review
could delay bridge construction up to
two years. A bridge connecting to a
roadway through Sunset Harbor
would not serve the transportation
interests of Oak Island, she said.
Other Oak Island officials agree.
‘I think it’s sad that
a whole county lists
that bridge as its
number-one trans
portation improve
ment and we get
thrown on the back
burner. People are
downright mad.’
Kevin Bell
Long Beach councilor
“I think I can say without fear of
contradiction the citizens of Caswell
Beach support a second bridge at
Middleton Street,” Caswell Beach
mayor Joe O’Brien said.
O’Brien said citizens of Caswell
Beach crave an easing of traffic at the
crowded intersection of Country Club
Drive and Yaupon Drive near the
entrance to their town. He said travel
See Bridge, page 12
The other side
Sunset Harbor can
see positive impact
• • . . ; ' r v- ' ; • . ■ ■ • • ■
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
Opinions about the location of a second bridge to Oak Island vary
depending on where you ask.
Though most Oak Island residents rally behind the originally proposed
route for the bridge, from Middleton Street on the island to Midway on
the mainland, some Sunset Harbor residents are hoping for an alternative
route that would involve a bridge on the west end of the island that uti
lizes the already existing Sunset Harbor Road.
Linda Lambert, who lives along the alternative Sunset Harbor route, is
in favor of the road coming her way.
“I think it would be wonderful. It would help our economy a lot,” she •
See Sunset, page 12
Southport
quiet again
after Fourth
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
Monday morning in Southport was
quiet.
Plastic flags were being removed from
their fluttering positions above the
streets, traffic moved smoothly and
sidewalks were dotted with just a hand
ful of pedestrians.
Only the few remaining vendors’ tents
and the abandoned rows of portable toi
lets waiting to be removed indicated that
the town had just hosted one of the
biggest parties in North Carolina.
The N. C. Fourth of July Festival,,
which began last Wednesday and ended
Sunday, included a parade, arts and
See Fourth, page 11
Festival activities kept everybody
hopping all last week.
First-time levy 30 cents
County won’t collect SBSD tax
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District
won’t get any help from Brunswick County in
collecting a 30-cent property tax assessment
the district board approved in its budget last
month.
A request by SBSD chairman James
(Bubba) Smith asked the Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners to direct county tax
collector Nancy Moore to collect the tax, set
at 30 cents per $100 of property valuation.
But the request died Monday when county
commissioners voted 4-1 to table the matter,
apparently with no intention of revisiting it
anytime soon.
“I, for one, am not for collecting inside san
itary districts,” said commission chairman
JoAnn Bellamy Simmons.
District 3 commissioner Leslie Collier of
Long Beach voted against District 5 commis
sioner Bill Sue’s motion to table the SBSD
request, but she voiced her dismay at the dis
trict's reason for calling on the county for
help.
“Part of the reason they said they needed a
tax is that the county is not fulfilling its con
tractual agreement in issuing permits,” said
Ms. Collier. “I’m confused as to why we
would do a better job of collecting taxes than
we would with our contractual agreement to
issue their permits.”
The district approved a $912,000 budget for
1998-99 that includes, for the first time, an ad
valorem tax for residents and businesses
along the Long Beach Road corridor.
The tax would come in addition to the coun
ty property tax of 68.5 cents per $100
See SBSD tax, page II
‘I’m confused as to
why we would do a bet
ter job of collecting -
taxes than we would
with our contractual
agreement to issue their
permits.’
Leslie Collier
District 3 commissioner
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