Sea Aire Estates Residents
Ask For Fairer Water Bills
BY TKRRY POPK
Residents of Sea Aire Estates near
Holdcn Bcach want Brunswick
County Commissioners to consider
a more fair method of assessing
property owners for water lines.
Each lot that makes up Special
Assessment District (SAD) 16
should be assessed the same cost for
running water lines into the neigh
borhood, said Opal Baughn, presi
dent of the Sea Aire Estates Property
Owners Association.
In a letter to commissioners Jan.
30, Ms. Baughn asks the board to re
consider the assessment method that
charges property owners based on
the square footage of their lots.
Under that method, some inland
residents in SAD 16 will pay more
than S2,(XX) in assessments while
smaller lots along the waterway wi!!
pay less. Most lots in the subdivi
sions are rectangular, some with
large portions of marshland.
"It is now clear in my mind that
the most fair (method) and also what
the majority of property owners
want is to be charged by the rate per
lot method," Ms. Baughn states.
fhcrc arc an estimated 455 lots in
Sea Aire Estates and Styron's
Landing off of N.C. 130 west
(Holden Beach Road) that make up
SAD 16. About 100 residents flood
ed the Brunswick County Utility
Operations Board meeting Jan. 21 to
protest after receiving their assess
ment bills.
The low bid for SAD 16 was
SI 74,628. If each lot is charged the
same, property owners would pay
approximately S392.42, said Ms.
Baughn.
"There may be one or two who
want to use other methods of assess
ment, but not one property owner
has told me so," said Ms. Baughn.
"Which is of greater importance,
more land or most benefits?"
SAD 16 residents have hired attor
ney Sandra Jelovsck of Johnson City,
Tenn., to represent them. In a letter
to the UOB board, Ms. Jelovsek said
most residents in the SAD were will
ing to support the water project at
r. ? . c uu
nidi iui a luuuiiduit itv.
She asked Sea Aire Estates resi
dents to come up with what they
r
thought was the fairest method of
assessing property owners for the
water lines and to ask the UOB to
reconsider the square footage
method.
Property owners in the last four
county SADs have been assessed
based on square footage of lots. That
is a change from the previous as
sessment method for the other 10
SADs, based on road frontage.
North Carolina law allows six
methods of assessment for water or
sewer projects, on the basis of:
?frontage abutting the project, at an
equal rate per foot;
?street frontage of the lots served,
or subject to being served, at an
equal rate per fool;
?the area of land served, or subject
I! ???; i
to being served, at an equal rate per
unit;
?the valuation of land served with
out improvements as shown on the
tax records of the county, at an equal
rate per dollar of valuation:
?the number of lots served, at an
equal rate per lot;
? a combination of two or more of
these.
The majority of homes in SAD 16
arc mobile homes or two and three
bedroom homes. Most did not need
or want water service but were will
ing to support the project at a rea
sonable cost so the smaller 58 canal
lots that need water the most could
benefit, said Ms. Jclovsek.
Ms. Baughn also gave commis
sioners copies of over 60 letters from
property owners who were unable to
attend the Jan. 21 UOB meeting but
who wanted to make their comments
part of the public record.
"I hope in all honesty you would
want to represent the people who
clcctcd you and work in the best in
terest of all people in Brunswick
County," Ms. Baughn's letter to
commissioners states.
The S392 cost per lot "will be
hard for most Sea Aire property
owners to pay, but they arc willing
to try to come up with the money in
order for Sea Aire Canal to have
good water," she noted.
"That meeting, and these letters,
should tell you something," the let
ter states, "and I sincerely hope you
will consider this matter with all
honesty and integrity."
Water's On Its Way
STAFF PMOTO BY TERRY POP?
Pipes for Brunswick County's water expansion project to Grissettown were delivered along U.S. 17 last
week. Brunswick County Schools plan to have county water senice to Union Primary School before
the start of the fall term. The school has had recurring problems with its existing well water supply
and treatment system.
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