The Pamlico News , Vol. 16, No. 24 20* per^copy USP 782-460 Wednesday, June 15, 1983 Promotion exercises for the 8th grade class of Pamlico Junior High School were held Wednes day, June 9. The 136 students were presented their certificates by PJHS principal Gerald Samders and Pamlico schools superinten dent George Brinson. Class valedictorian was James Mason and salutatorian was Alison Jocelyn Frost. INSIDE Kitchen Chatter page 14 Classifieds page 10 Sports pages 4& 5 Legals page 13 Fourth graders, at Fred Ander son School in Bayboro presented a new North Carolina flag to the school in a brief ceremony held on Monday, June 6. Olinka Burley (left) and Kim Lupton bad the honor of raising the new flag while fellow classmates looked on. Allocation Of Towns’ Monies Examined With less than a month to go before the end of the current fiscal year, local municipal govern ments have been hard at work preparing their budgets for 1983-84. At the time of this writing, only one town, Arapahoe, had ap proved its budget for the coming year although others were scheduled to take the matter up this week. It appears that the budgets, for the most part, will be similar to those of 1982-83. However, as many have incor porated revenue sharing funds in to their budgets, some changes will be necessary should the pro gram not be renewed. Taxes in the towns will remain the same. What each town does with its revenues varies, from minimal services to those unusual for a small town. Revenues come from such sources as ad valorem taxes (the towns of Alliance and Arapahoe do not collect any pro perty taxes), franchise taxes, in tangibles taxes, beer and wine taxes, sales taxes, and other sources. Some, those with town owned streets, receive Powell Bill funds which are used for the maintenance of such roads. Of the towns of Aurora, Vandemere, Alliance, Stonewall, Bayboro, Oriental, Mesic, and Minnesott Beach, only Alliance and Mesic do not receive Powell BUI funding. In preparing their budgets, the towns receive information, some of it coming .from the League of Municipalities, on how much of an increase or decrease they can ex pect in the revenues which they receive from the state. Such revenues include sales tax, in tangibles tax, beer and wine taxes and franchise taxes. These monies would, for the most part, be returned to the county should the towns not be in existance. AURORA The town of Aurora, in its preliminary budget, expects revenues of $144,255 this year. Property taxes will bring in, hopefully, about $34,000, the Powell Bill funds $15,000 and sales taxes $21,350. Aurora also receives revenues from rent of public buildings: the Community Center, the Medical Center, the Dental Center, and Civic Center. The town had hoped to receive at least $38,000 in revenues from this source during the current year but now estimates that income will on ly be about $31,600. $30,000 has been budgeted for the 1983-84 year. Information on Aurora’s estimated expenditures for the coming year was unavailable. Finance Officer Sandra Bonner said that she expected the board to make major changes at the meeting which was scheduled for Monday night, June 13. BAYBORO Bayboro plans to operate on a slightly lower budget this year than in previous years. This year’s budget expected $109,599 in revenues, however, it is estimated that only $100,228 will be received by June 30, 1983, the end of the fiscal year. The town will be mak ing appropriations from the fund balance and Powell Bill fund balance in order to be able to meet expenses for the Coming year. Over $27,000, or 28 percent of the expected revenues of $96,813, will go towards salaries. The main sources of revenue are ad valorem taxes, $21,122 anticipated; fran chise taxes, $12,930; Powell Bill, $13,307; and investment earnings, $10,100. For a recreation complex, $15,500 has been set aside. The budget also provides for a part time police officer although there is no one currently serving in that capacity. By far the largest expenditures are for sanitation, street lights and street maintenance which take 41 percent, or $40,305, of an ticipated revenues. MINNESOTT BEACH The revenues expected this year for Minnesott Beach are down slightly from the current year. Revenues for 1983-84 total $24,460 while expenses are expected to be $32,490. Minnesott provides gar bage collection for the residents and that is one expense which has risen dramatically in recent years, from an actual cost of $451 for 1981-82 to $1,630 for 1982-83. The salaries for public worksemployees alone constitute 24 percent of the revenues ex pected. The town also provides water with revenues from water sales, meter installations, etc. expected to generate $28,600. But expenses are estimated to be $29,450 for the coming year. ORIENTAL Oriental, during 1983-84. expects to take in $109,450 in revenues primarily from property taxes ($43,500), franchise taxes ($11,000), interest income ($11,000) and Powell Bill funds ($16,000). In order to meet the ex penses, a fund balance appropria tion of $4,500 has been included. Salaries for administrative and public works employees and the police department total $25,900, 23 percent of the general fund revenues. Of the $61,450 water department budget, salaries ($9,000) account for 14 percent of the total. (See BUDGETS page 12) Two Cents’ Tax Hike Planned For Beaufort County In order to meet the needs for the coming year, the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners, during their meeting on Tuesday, June 7, approved a tentative budget for the 1983-84 fiscal year which includes an increase in the tax rate from 45 cents per $100 of property to 47 cents, stating that they were pleased to be able to hold the increase down to that amount and still provide the level of services the residents of the county expect. In presenting a budget incor porating changes discussed at earlier budget workshops, County Manager Jay Hodges told the board that $4,000 had been deleted from the amount requested by the sheriff’s department for training for deputies and civilian employees. For the fire departments, to be distributed by the fire commis sion, $137,500 has been included in the budget. Solid waste is funded out of Revenue Sharing funds, Hodges explained. “If it falls through,” he said, “we’ll have to use (funds from) the surplus...but I have a feeling it will be carried over. ” Prior to budget discussions, the board approved capital outlay re quests, to be paid for with this year’s funds, for the health department, stipulating, however, that the funds for 1983-84 be reduc ed by a similar amount, $3,000. Health Department Director Dr. Boone Mora had told the board at an earlier meeting, when re questing funds for a new air condi tioning system, that he had no money available in the current year’s budget with Which to help with the cost of the new air condi tioning system. The board felt that the money the health department wished to transfer to use for the purchase of filing system com ponents could have been used for the air conditioning system. The health department also re quested $32,000 for the purchase of four im*« was y.'--.V reduced to $16,000 for two cars. $2,400 requested for the purchase of radios for two cars will have to be obtained out of the $17,655 allocated for capital outlay. The board left in $2,500 for a microcomputer system for the Beaufort County Extension Ser vice as the state will purchase the rest of the system. Funds for a position now vacant in the extension office were put in to the contingency fund. The schools will be receiving the capital outlay funds they re quested plus the board will be put ting one and a quarter million dollars into a capital reserve fund for the future needs of both school systems. The commissioners em phasized the fact that the amount going into this fund may vary from year to year. Last year, $500,000 was set aside for it. Beaufort County Community College will be receiving $14,000 less than they had requested, ac cording to the revised budget, and funding for Tideland Mental Health was also reduced, from $77,000 to $70,000. ANIMAL CONTROL Beaufort County Animal Control Officer Buck Andrews appeared before the board requesting that an emergency rabies vaccination clinic be held in August. Less than forty percent of the county’s dogs have been vaccinated against rabies, Andrews said, basing his estimation on the fact that less than forty percent of the dogs that bit someone (of those reported to him) had been vaccinated. The state, he added, has said that an area might be able to effectively control a rabies outbreak if at least sixty percent are vac cinated. In response to a question from Ledrue Buck, chairman of the board of commissioners, Buck replied that he investigated about 15 bite reports each month “and we don’t know the half of them.’’ Andrews said that he planned, if the board approved, to set up several clinic sites in each township. The cost for vaccination is tentaviely set at $5. He said that he hoped the clinics would raise the percentage of protected animals at 60. Andrews commented that it is il legal, at the present time, for an unlicensed person to administer rabies vaccine, adding that it could be dangerous if ad ministered incorrectly. The board approved the clinics and asked Andrews to present the details at the July meeting. The commissioners are also re questing that all animal owners cooperate. Renovations to the county jail, which originally were to have cost less than $20,000 will now, because $100,000 Lawsuit Filed Against Beaufort Sheriff A $100,000 lawsuit has been filed in federal court against Beaufort County and Sheriff Nelson Shep pard. Virgil Moore, states the suit, is asking for the money for the men tal and physical pain and suffer ing he alleges to have been the victim of following an incident late last year during which he sus tained injuries to a foot. Moore was shot during a break-in into the Beaufort County jail by two men. Moore, who was being held in the jail at that time, was hit in the foot by a pellet or pellets, treated at Beaufort County Hospital and then returned to the jail. The matter has been turned over to the county’s insurance company; the county has thirty days from the filing of the suit to respond. II No Decision Yet In Mesic Situation The Mesic situation has not yet been resolved, Senator Joseph Thomas said Monday, although he hopes that the legislative delega tion will be able to meet this week to discuss it. What has become known locally as the “Mesic Mess” grew out of a number of property owners’ con tention that the town was not pro perly incorporated and therefore could not legally collect their taxes. They maintain that they were not informed that their pro perty was to be included within the town’s boundaries. The dispute has ended up in eo'irt once already and recently the area's legislators were appro ached by the discontented pro perty owners, requesting that the town boundaries be changed to ex clude the majority of their proper ties. The Mesic Board of Commis sioners has stated that they do not wish for the town limits to be changed. Thomas said that he had hoped a compromise would have been reached by now. “It’s not an easy situation to deal with,” he com mented. The legislature’s current session ends around the first week in July. of design changes, cost about $67,000 for the first floor. Commissioner Mrs. Arthur Lee Moore said that she believed the board should set a limit on what they will spend on the structure which is being renovated for coun ty office space. The county board plans for those involved in the per (See TAX HIKE page 12) Blue Mold Spotted In Pamlico County Blue mold, being found in tobac co fields in the state, has also been spotted in a bed at the Pamlico County-Oraven County boundary. As of the end of last week, the disease had been found only on tobacco plants which had not been treated, said Fred May, chairman of the Pamlico County Extension Service. Conditions have been perfect recently for the development of blue mold, explained May-cool, often foggy, mornings, cool nights and humid, overcast days. Farmers who have not previous ly treated their tobacco plants for blue mold can now apply Ridomil by layby application, in corporating the chemical into the soil on both sides of the row. The application rate for Ridomil, said May, is one quart per acre. Other foliar fungicides are also available. May stressed the fact that Ridomil should not be applied to the foliage. N. C. State University plant pathologists have found, he said, that foliar application can lead to the development of a resis tant strain of blue mold. OTHER PROBLEMS Those raising beans (green, lima or soy), potatoes, peppers, tobacco and tomatoes should also be on the lookout for Southern Stem Rot, said May, a soil fungus which causes the plant stem to rot at soil level. If nr.: • I •.•-here 'his ‘i fungus has been known to exist, he said, make sure that all plant residue is buried. Although a relatively weak fungus, if southern stem rots gets a start on old residue, it can quickly spread to healthy plants. May added. Black rot and black leg, plant borne-soil borne diseases which strike cabbage plants, have also been found in the county. Once the soil is infested there is no treat ment, May said, and the diseases may remain active as long as crop residue is available. Farmers should make sure they obtain plants certified as disease free. May said the infested plants he has seen were non-certified and were shipped in from Florida. The diseases reduce the shelf life of the cabbage, thereby decreasing its desirability. Clubfoot can also affect members 01 the cabbage family (collards, broccoli, cauliflower and, of course, cabbage) although May said he has not yet seen evidence of it in home gardens, the most likely places for it to be found. The fungus, which causes knots on the roots of the plants, will make the area infested useless for growing any members of the cab bage family. Clubfoot can remain in the soil for seven years. Gardeners wishing to raise these should get their plants from a reputable dealer so that the fungus will not be spread from one home garden to another

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