Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / May 7, 1992, edition 1 / Page 5
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PHOTO BY Bill FAVtt WE IX)N'T MISS the song till the bird has flown! Don't You Think It Strange We Never Prize The Music? BY BILL FAVKR A poem in an old book reminded me of how we take so much of the beauty of our world for granted. We become so ac customed to what is around us we often fail to notice what is there. Someone has said that if spring came once a cen tury or once every decade rather than every year, we would put forth the grandest of celebrations. They probably are correct, because the familiarity with our surroundings helps make them commonplace to most of us. We sec cardinals and mockingbirds and bluebirds fairly regularly, and they don't excite us like some faver exotic species we might see in the process of migra tion. We arc so familiar with goldenrod and roadside asters that they sel dom give us reason to rejoice. Yet these arc some of our most spectacular birds and plants. The same is true with our butterflies and with squirrels, rabbits and even deer. Days do come, though, when we arc likely to prize these natural parts of our environmental. May Smith, in a poem titled // We Knew, wrote: Strange we never prize the music Till the sweet-voiced bird has flown; Strange that we should slight the violets Till the lovely flowers arc gone; Strange that summer skies and sunshine Never seem one half so fair As when winter's snowy pinions Shake their white down in the air! This is the lime of year when we can notice the "year's at the spring" and get out and enjoy our natural environment Take time to hear the birds and sec the flowers and watch the clouds and the marvelous sunshine in this special place along our coast. MORE LETTERS Proud To Live In Brunswick To the editor: I am proud to be a resident of Brunswick County. On Easter week end a local restaurant burned, leav ing the owner with a burned-out shell and no insurance. Immediately local business peo ple rallied around to help. Offers came in to clear the lot off, furnish material and wiring and plumbing for the cost of the material, with the labor furnished free. A local restaurant, which stood to profit by the loss of their competi tion, put out a jar for their patrons to fill with cash to help in the rebuild ing. You say things aren't the same here as they were up North where you came from? Well, I'm from "up North" and I know how little help a burned out restaurant would get up there. I am proud to be a Brunswick County resident. Marcia Warring Sunset Beach Prevention's A Better Choice To the editor: Every year in America, up to 15 million dogs and cats are killed sim ply because there are not enough good homes for them. They arc sentenced to death for the "crime" of being born. Thank heaven most shelters at least try to administer that sentence in the most merciful manner possible. But there is an alternative. Does n't it make infinitely more sense to prevent pet overpopulation through reproductive control than to try and "cure" it by killing these poor ani mals? Of course it does! Especially when you realize that two uncontrolled breeding cats, plus their kittens and all their kittens' kit tens if none are spayed and neute red, have the potential to multiply to more than SO millii.n raw during a 10-year breeding life. In addition to making sense from a humane perspective, it also makes sense from an economic perspective. Every dollar spent by a community today on spaying and neutering dogs and cats can save $18 in the next 10 years. Let's urge Brunswick County of ficials to act immediately to promote more aggressive spaying and neuter ing programs to stop this killing of innocent animals. Sincerely, Danny McLean J Some Choice Programs for Grange Members* North Carolina State Grange and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina are names you can trust. Send us this coupon, and our agent will contact you about special programs for Grange Members." ? Individual ? Family ? Medicare Supplemental Name Address City Stale Zip T otophone ?? Blue Cross Mail to: Coastal Insurance & Realty IfPwi Y*J!/ aue Sh,eld P.O. Box 1238 " Shallotte, NC 28459 754 4326 ' Nan rnamtw; may apply by m.ikiny application lor membership. ? 1'JHH Hhii? Cross and Blu#? Sh.Hd of Nonh Carolina County Tabs ^ ha riotte- Based Firm To Do 1 994 Revaluation BY TERRY POPE A Chariouc-bascd accounting firm will conduct the 1994 Bruns wick County property tax revalua tion. Tax Management Associates, hired last year to do audits of large companies with outlets in the county, sub ministrator Boyd Williamson. "The big reason is personnel," said Williamson. 'The project direc tor lives in Columbus County." With Commissioners Donald Shaw and Gene Pinkcrton absent, the board voted 3-0 to accept Wil liamson's recommendation. The firm has proposed a S834,9(X) deal to re value the county's estimated 90,(XX) parcels of land to determine their fair market values for tax purposes. Clegg will negotiate a contract with TMA to include a S60.000 computer software upgrade. He said the county tax office may use some existing employees to bring the price down to around S774,(XX). The board opted not to perform an in-housc revaluation. Using exist ing employees and hiring additional i milted the high est proposal of five firms but received the en dorsement of Brunswick County Tax Ad WILLIAMSON workers would cost a "large six-dig it figure before it ended," said Clcgg. "It's not cheaper to do them in housc than it is under contract," added Williamson. 'There's a mis conception that we have staff silling around wailing on a revaluation to occur." Other proposals were from Pear son's Appraisal Scrvicc of West Virginia, S7 12,500; Colt Systems of Raleigh, S7 13,000; Specialized Ap praisal Services of Delaware, 5735,000; and Colc-Laycr-Trumblc Company of Ohio, S826.700. Pearson had proposed using a project director who had never head ed a county revaluation process while Specialized Appraisal is only two years old with its largest job at around 20,000 parcels, said Wil liamson. Colc-Laycr-Trumblc had request ed an arbitration clause in its con tract against Clcgg's wishes and would be viewed as an outside firm by county property owners, Wil liamson noted. His department visit ed counties as far away as Ashcville to check on work performed by the companies. W.P. Ferris, which performed the 1978 and 1986 revaluations, sold out lo Cott Corp. several years ago. Six other firms declined to submit proposals. Ferris was also hired in 1982 to do a four -year horizontal revaluation, but protests prompted commissioners to throw those fig ures out after the firm had been paid SI 50.000. "The less expensive people wouldn't come here because the county is so big," said Clegg. who talked openly with the board about the revaluation proccss. "I've always had a horror of it be ing done m-house and then commis sioners not accepting it," he added. "In that case, we would have to do it again." The county has socked away money each fiscal year to prepare and currently has around S700.000 saved. The N.C. Property Tax Association estimates it costs a county around SI 0 to SI 2 per parcel to do a normal revaluation. "We're in good shape right now," said Clegg. 'This is not by any means your normal revaluation. Economic forces at play arc going to make it a volatile revaluation. We're dealing with residential property that is selling at way below market costs." TMA is paid a set fee to uncover "hidden" property taxes that arc due the county from large firms with lo cal outlets. The board accepted an other SI 19,820 in business property tax receipts Monday, said Finance Director Lithia Hahn, as a result of those audits. Other Business In other business Monday, com missioners: ? Heard a request from Brunswick Airport Commissioner Bob Miller to investigate claims that a former member of that board, Grover Gore of Southport, misused funds and was reimbursed for personal tele phone bills. The airport board voted 4-2 not to investigate, and county commissioners look no action. "I just can't sec that we're going to sweep it under the rug," said Miller. The airport authority has scram bled in recent weeks to pay for fuel, utility, maintenance and insurance bills after its fixed-base operator. Resort Aviation, pulled out unex pectedly. "We find it impossible to contin ue to operate in an atmosphere of continuous disruption, uncertainty and a feeling that our efforts are be ing undermined by commission members," wrote Douglas Carmody, president of Resort Aviation. ? Heard from Clegg that the 1992 93 county budget message will be presented to the board at the May 18 meeting. ? Approved two budget amend ments, adding S8,000 in federal drug seizure funds to the Brunswick County Sheriff's Department and S7.000 in slate funds for three programs at the Brunswick County Health Department Refinance Your Credit Card Balances With Us, Pay Half The Interest, And Make It Deductible. You've got a wallet hill of credit cards, and you're probably paying 18% a year on every unpaid balance. We've got a better idea. Yon don't have to throw away your cred it cards. Instead, just pay them oft in hill ever)' month, using your new lax Advantage Credit l.ine. You'll save some serious money. First off, your credit line will be at a much lower rate of interest, just 1 to 2% over prime* But the best part is, if you're a home owner, we'll show you how to deduct up to 100% of the interest on your loan. (See the example at the right.) And you know regular credit card interest SM Southern National lax Advantage Loans (=} hju.il Hutting Louie Member II >l( ( xmsuk your u\ advisor for >petifit iletaiL on deductibility ?/ mural. 'Hurl on the Wall Street fournal prime rate lined. 'Sating* art estimated based on a M% income ttix rate (28"o federal pint ~"u suite. le? 2"v federal l, a i oil /rmn decrease m slate income tax deduction) for homeowners who itemize their tax returns. Sat ing will mi y at different tax rain isn't deductible under the new tax laws. So give us a call. If you don't like what we've got to say, you just don't like saving money. How Much Do You Save? Regular Credit Card Based on borrowing S5, 000 over 48 months u 18% APR Amount Borrowed Total Interest Total Amount Paid Tax Savings Total lax Advantage Credit Line Based on borrowing $5,000 over 48 months [t8'/i% APR I (Prime' plus 2%.) S5.000 ! Amount Borrowed 2,050 | Total Interest S7.050 Total Amount Paid ^ Tax Savings t S7.050 Total Total Savings $1,436 For more information on Tax Advantage l oans, call 1-800 -497- LOAN.
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 7, 1992, edition 1
5
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