Holden Beach Busy With New Budget
BY DOUG R UTTER
Holdcn Bcach officials dove into
the town's 1992-93 budget last
week, wading through Figures dur
ing two four-hour workshops held
last Friday and Tuesday morning.
Commissioners spent most of the
first two sessions reviewing the pro
posed expenses in each department.
The board will continue its rcccssed
meeting on Monday, May 18, at
8:3() a.m.
Town Manager Gary Parker has
drafted a SI. 2 million budget featur
ing a general fund of S832.969 and a
water fund of S362.400. Under his
proposal, the tax rate would stay at
18 ccnts per S1(K) of valuation.
Commissioners haven't decided
whether they will change the tax rate
one way or the other. It was in
creased from 14 cents to 18 cents by
a previous town board in 1990.
At that time, town officials said
three ccnts of the tax increase was
needed to replenish the fund balance
that was depleted by dune repairs af
ter Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
Commissioners promised to take
the 3 cents off the tax rate after two
years, which means the tax rale
should be cul in the upcoming bud
get
Based on his study of previous
budgets, Parker said the additional
tax money was never used to rebuild
the fund balance.
It was used for general operating
expenses, and about SI 25,000 was
taken from the occupancy lax fund
over the two years to replenish the
reserve fund.
Town officials said the money
was still put into the fund balance,
but it was taken from occupancy tax
rather than property taxes.
"It all went into the same pot and
it all came out of the same pot,"
Commissioner Sid Swarts said.
Parker said both he and Town
Attorney Ken Campbell arc confi
dent the budgeting was legal, al
though it was confusing to figure
out.
"They shouldn't have used the
language that they used there be
cause it is misleading," Parker said.
"It wasn't set up as clearly as it
could have been."
Based on the 18-ccnt tax rate, an
Holden Beach Cop
Holdcn Bcach Police arrested
four teen-agers Saturday night after
finding them partying at a vacant
cccanfront house.
The two 16-year-olds and two 17
year-olds were vacationing at the
bcach with a church group from
Davidson, said Police Chief Robert
Cook.
All four were charged with break
ing and entering, underage drinking.
i Arrest Four Teens
simple possession of marijuana and
possession of drug paraphernalia.
The four youths allegedly picked
a lock on a door at 423 Ocean Blvd.
West. A man who knew the house
was vacant called police after seeing
the teens enter the home.
"They were in there having a par
ty," Cook said. "They didn't get to
the point where they were destroying
stuff, but they were getting close."
Search For Swimmer
A report of a man believed to have
disappeared in the ocean off Holden
Beach Sunday was apparently a false
alarm, according to police.
Police Chief Robert Cook said of
ficials think witnesses who reported
ihcy saw a while man with black
hair disappear about 100 yards off
shore actually saw a canvas larp or
porpoise.
Town police, the U.S. Coast
Guard and local emergency volun
teers came up with nothing after
searching the ocean in the vicinity of
Holden Beach Bridge for several
hours Sunday afternoon.
Burn Blue Light
To Honor Officers
Five North Carolina law enforce
ment officers who died in the line of
duty last year will be honored in a
memorial servicc Friday, May 15, in
Washington, D.C.
In memory of the officers and of
National Police Week, May 10-17,
Brunswick County Lodge 53 of the
Fraternal Order of Police asks that
residents burn a single blue light at
Ihcir homes this week, said Tom
Vernon, lodge secretary.
Those officers to be honored will
include Columbus County Sheriffs
Deputy Robert Hinson, who was
shot and killed while answering a
fake break-in call in the town of
Brunswick last June.
Two men charged in the slaying
were sentenced to life in prison in
Brunswick County Superior Court
The trials were moved to Brunswick
County pending pretrial publicity.
Other North Carolina officers
killed last year were Ray Kennedy,
Locust Police Department; Edward
Harris, Southern Pines Police De
partment; Donald Tucker, Clinton
Police Department; and Gene Griffin,
Charlotte Police Department.
They and 130 other officers from
across the nation will be honored at
the ceremony.
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Called False Alarm
"Between the larp and the por
poises in the surf, it could have been
one or the other," Cook said. No one
in the area has been reported miss
ing.
"Every call we get, we have got
to check it out," Cook said. "You
never know when it may be some
thing."
estimated property valuation of S236
million and a 98-percent tax collec
tion rate, the town expects to collect
$4 1 3,000 in taxes next year.
Other major revenue sources in the
proposal budget include $150,000 in
occupancy lax, $66,000 in local op
tion sales tax, $44,000 in franchise
tax and $30,000 in Powell bill money.
Proposed general fund expenses
include $212,000 for police,
$164,610 for administration,
S121.950 for streets and about
S75.000 each for streets and public
buildings.
In the only action taken at
Friday's meeting, town commission
ers voted unanimously to acccpt
Motor Vehicle
Office Moved
The state Division of Motor
Vehicles office moved Friday
from the Brunswick County
Government Center to a former
pharmacy building located on
U.S. 17 across from The Bruns
wick Hospital at Supply.
Driver's license examinations,
including the written, road and
vision tests, arc given by the of
fice's staff.
The agency is the latest in a
series of state offices asked to
find office space outside the
county complex because of a
shortage of space for growing
county offices.
"The county needed this
space," said Myers Hickman, an
examiner. "And the move gives
us a lot more room. We're not
nearly as crowded."
Thie office will also serve divi
sion enforcement personnel as
signed to the county.
Office hours arc 8 a.m. to 5
p.m. Monday through Friday.
The new telephone number for
the office is 754-51 14.
STAFf PHOTO BY SUSAN USHEt
House Yields To Erosion
"Handful of Sand," the Ocean Isle Reach home of South Carolina resident Robert Johnson, is on Us
way to a new location as a result of continued erosion on the east end of the beach. Town RuUding In
spector Druied Roberson said it has not yet been determined where the house will be relocated; last
week it stood at the end of Third Street. He said two east-end houses have met thus fate every year for
the last several years. The many jetties that have been built along this part of the coast have apparently
played no role in the current erosion, Roberson said, because the most recently built are as much as
100 yards out at high tide. Town Commissioner Debbie Fox said the town has tried several remedies
over the years and now has applied for a permit to dredge Shallotte Inlet, with the spoil to be used to
build up the eroding east end. The U.S. Corps of Engineers has offered to do this dredging as part of
its annual maintenance project, pending federal funding.
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