Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / April 5, 2005, edition 1 / Page 4
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4 TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2005 Town, Legion agree to land deal BY BRANDON REED STAFF WRITER Members of the American Legion fought to keep the United States’ soil free from intrusion. Now, local officials have fought for a compromise so that the group’s area chapter can keep its land. The Chapel Hill Town Council tonight will remove the American Legion site on Legion Road from a list of potential city schools loca tions designated under Chapel Hill’s Land-Use Management Ordinance in the fall. In exchange, the town council will receive a right of first refusal on the land. “If they were to con sider selling the property to some one else, we would first have the opportunity to buy it,” said Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos. Steve Scroggs, assistant super intendent for support services for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said the right of first refusal is the only thing the district was seeking from the Legion and other poten tial school-site owners. Four sites remain on the city schools’ list of potential school locations. The list now includes higher LSAT score guaranteed or your money back LSAT Classes Start Soon: 4/13~Mon/Wed @ 6 PM 5/3~TufTh/Sat @ 6 PM World Leader in Test Prep “LSAT -s a rogjaiered trader-;)* oi the Low Scnooi AdmiMton Coureß and Admissions 'Attend ell featured classes o> makeup sessions. (.ranolete all scheduled tests, and do your Homework. It your score doesn’t improve on test day from your M’MJ ■ll ttaptan d.agncstrc or a poor official rest score, you mlfllH V 'll B cun choose to repeat our program tor free or get a full refund of your tuition. To be eligible for the offer. you must be enrolled in Kaplan’s full classroom. - an n uan -- - _ tuioring, or online courses. In addition, you must I *oUU"RAP*TEST present an official copy of your score report and , , .. submit your course materials within 90 days. K3pi©Si.-COITI/ I3W CONGRATULATIONS! Student Stores salutes the North Carolina Tar Heels 2005 NCAA National Champion Men's Basketball Team ' \ 1 r \ / —*— mi MEKI§ WAS ON i FRANKLIN * 2005 NCAA •STREET!* *l#®*™** SB. aISmS CHAMPIONS j ■ . - v - Shop Student Stores for a wide variety of National Championship Apparel and Novelty Items: T-shirts, Fleece, Polos, Caps, Youth Clothing, Mugs, license plates, etc. Just arriving this morning, over 6,000 National Championship T-shirts! The official Locker Room T-shirt & Cap" will also be available. ft UNC ■ a =— STUDENT STORES Our Earnings go to Scholarships two sites on Eubanks Road, one cm Obeys Creek Road and one on Weaver Dairy Road. “As sites become more and more difficult to find, it’s going to be harder and harder to release people from the list,” Scroggs said. “After that, we’re back to scratch ing and clawing for sites.” Scroggs said that because of town ordinances, there are not many locations on which the dis trict is able to place a school. The district is constantly look ing for sites with a lot of open land and for sites near schools that are already open, he said. “Soon, there’s just not going to be property big enough to put a school on.” Scroggs said the district also offered to remove the Legion site in return for the right of first refusal in its compromise with the group. Schools officials met with Legion members several times in the fall after members voiced public oppo sition to the schools’ move. “Clearly, the American Legion would rather deal with the town,” Scroggs said. But the town-authorized con tract is not legally binding for future councils, Karpinos said. It s a pledge of this council’s commitment that wouldn’t be binding on future councils,” he said, adding thatjie hopes that future councils will take this year’s agreement into consideration. “The parties here are pledging something in good faith,” Karpinos said. The council still could have blocked future development of the site without the agreement. If the Legionnaires or other future owners wanted to develop the site, the city school board could freeze this action for 18 months, during which it would have to decide whether it would purchase the property or allow the develop ment to occur, Karpinos said. After 18 months, schools could seize the property through emi nent domain, but any move by the Legion or an outside party would have to go before the council. Legion Post Commander A1 Hackney declined to comment Monday because he thinks that the matter is not completely settled. Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu. 102 Raven Lane Rat- -Jr-m**. $ 1,200/mo 3 Bdrms - 2 Baths 1,140 sq ft • Ample parking • Large yard • Great floor plan • Washer & dryer • Convenient location • Avail June 1, 2005 Renting to students for over IS yrsl www.TarHeelßentals.com News Budget group considers keeping garbage pickup Groups might start paying fees BY JAKE POTTER STAFF WRITER Area residents charged with reviewing Chapel Hill’s budget outlook are closing in on recom mendations that could minimize the impact of a projected multi million dollar shortfall for next fiscal year. The budget review advisory committee discussed Monday sev eral recommendations including a resolution for a community-wide debate on the town’s commercial trash hauling that it will make next week to the Chapel Hill Town Council. Several members showed inter est in a recommendation that would retain the town’s commer cial trash collection program but assign charges to all commercial trash bins including residen tial rental locations, tax-exempt nonprofit groups, fraternities and sororities none of which are required to pay the SBOI monthly commercial rate now. The proposal is an alternative to the original recommendation from budget consultant Maximus Inc. to privatize the town’s entire commer cial trash system. The idea of eliminating commer cial trash services lost clout when it was revealed in Maximus’ final report Thursday that dropping services would only save the town up to $300,000 each year not $600,000, as the firm originally predicted. Maximus Vice President Kenneth Murray said Monday that the new option still could reap ben efits for the town. “It’s still a substantial savings,” he said. “We think it’s a strategy that can still be pursued.” But that drop in potential sav ings, committee members say, is a deciding factor in why they now favor retaining trash services. Dropping the town’s commercial services also might put the town in direct conflict with a 1999 county interlocal garbage agreement. BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS Maximus 1 0 budget recommendations as outlined in their final report to the town budget review advisoiy committee: 2. Conduct a full revenue study in order to ensure that the town levy exact fees for its services. 3. Eliminate the internal services superintendent position within Public Works Department. 4. Eliminate both the fleet supervisor position in Public Works and maintenance superintendent position in the Transportation Department; consolidate the two parts manager positions into one. 5. Either reassign the traffic engineering function to Public Works or install a more sophisticated maintenance management system. 6. Eliminate weekly payroll and expand electronic direct deposit. 7. Review customer-intensive activities against industry standards for efficient service. 8. Begin planning system to identify future technology needs. 9. Make police department's starting salaries and educational opportunities competitive with other markets. 10. Dispatch both fire department first responders and a county paramedic unit to all emergency medical calls. SOURCE: MAXIMUS INC. Committee members have cited worries over private trash-collec tion companies ballooning costs for commercial properties as another reason to retain services. “I’ve got concerns that BFI and Waste Industries would come in and raise the rates and pay workers less,” said committee member Alan Rimer. “If, in fact, we were to turn this over, would commercial (cus tomers) get a break? Probably not” Maximus’ final report indicates that overall revenue could rise by up to $389,000 if all locations had to pay the monthly fee. Committee members also debat ed whether raising pickup rates to break even would push customers to private companies. “We’ll find out very soon what the competition will be,” said com mittee member and former town Mayor Joe Capowski. This year’s budget development process has come under height ened scrutiny after a projected $5 million shortfall triggered predic tions that the property tax rate would jump 10 cents. Committee action could put a dent in the shortfall, but town pri orities such as funding for police department incentives still could raise overall costs. Town Manager Cal Horton said the town would act to increase staffing and pay in the police department while reducing over time hours. £tip Sattg alar Hrrl DTH/MARY JANE KATZ New Chapel Hill police officers start at a base salary of $30,755, contrasting with the $33,030 base salary that Durham’s police department provides and the state Highway Patrol’s starting salary of $32,069. Out of the 137-person staff, 100 work overtime, Murray said. “A lot of these staffing issues are about community objectives rather than numbers,” Horton said. The department now has 10 vacancies. Maximus’ final report also rec ommends that Chapel Hill provide educational incentives to not only new recruits, but also to current staff. Maximus also presented a pro posal, to be brought before the council tonight, that the firm con duct a revenue enhancement and fee study by mid-June. The study’s findings, if com pleted by the proposal’s target date, also might affect next fiscal year’s budget. Maximus is asking for $38,155 to complete the study, which will examine cost allocation plans and land development and regulation fees. A subcommittee will meet again Thursday morning and possibly once more Saturday to draft final recommendations for the council. Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 5, 2005, edition 1
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