THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
USPS 428-010 USPS42HH0 Hftford, Prqulmw County, N.C., Thursday, May 21, mi ? 20 CENTS
Social Services board approves revised budget
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^ : T** Perquimans County Board of
P Social Services approved last week a
bodget calling (or (142,339 in local ex
penditnres lor the department in the
toning year.
: That budget must now be accepted by
the county board of commissioners.
I The budget reflects a 3.7 percent rise in
County cost for Social Services, up $8,361
over the present year.
i-lia budget work session last Tuesday
night. Social Services director Paul
Gregory teid the county commissioners
that he is pleased with the reworked
budget. "I (eel real good about it." he
said.
Gregory had initially sought an in
crease of some 9)0,000 in the county's
share of spending, but wu able to find
areas in which spending could be trim
med. "We were able to cut about $12,000
out of it, may $15,000," said Gregory.
Lester Simpson, the county com
missioners' representative on the social
services board, warned that the budget
would be tighter than in past years.
"There's not as muck in this budget
left over as there's been being left ow,"
Simpson said.
In his initial budget, Gregory figured
the cost at county participation in Aid to
Families with Dependent Children at
159,365. The new budget calls (or 131,112,
backed by $3,130 in state equalising
funds.
The state equalising funds do not ac
tually come from county taxes.
Gregory also trimmed approximately
$3,000 from originally proposed Medicaid
spending by using a figure that
represent* a S percent increase over this
year's projected spending, 957,023.
Proposed special assistance spending
was also cut by nearly $4,000 by using s
state estimate rather than Gregory's
own estimate of what the program would
cost
Gregroy's figure was $30,844, whereas
the state had assumed that $17,029 would
be required.
Aside from the commissioners, the
state Department at Human Resources
must approve the budget
New rales and regulations governing
War paint and
potter's clay
tnu Mulhrt Bill Jennings
Into u Indian (top) daring the Sprin*
Extravagansa held in the park oa Grubb
Street Saturday. Although originally
intended u a vehicle for senior dtteni
to dtaghy their talents, the event was
opened to anyone with a craft to adL
Hertford potter Nancy Fletcher and son
Clay displayed their hand at the wheel,
and displays an ????*
from Mnsenni of the Albemarle, pain
tings, basket wearing, and needle work.
The day wu highlighted by per
formances front the Baiter Lites, a
square dandng team from Snug Harbor,
in additkn to a performance by the
Gospel Owl! jinau. (Photos by NOEL
TODD MCLAUGHLIN)
Rate hike to squeeze EMCs
tpany'i latest proposal for raising its
wholesale rates could put six North
Carolina Electric Membership Cor
dbratkmi into a severe "price squeeze"
situation this fall, according to N.C. IMC
ofllcals.
? ; "We're had price aqaeese situations
before, but the EMCs served by Vepco
appear to be beaded for the most critical
case of this kind that the state's co-ops
have faced in the past decade," said Jin
Hubbard, executive vice pndlit of
f North Carolina IMC, the power supply
Tfct EMCs that would be affected by
the rate case are AflWmafle EMC; Cape
Hatteras EMC, Buxton; Edgncoab
arc disproportionately oat of line with the
retail ratea of the power supplier.
"N.C. EMC has raiaed thia Issue in 1U
petition to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Com mission hi Washington
with regard to the new Vepco rate
proposal," he said.
In that petition, the statewide
generating and tranaalaalon co-op
I argues that the rates place the KMCs in
an "antt-coapettthre price aqneese
lituatica" that threaten to pti
them out of business. ' ir
Vepco oflidalt, however, maintain
that the affect will not be aedramatk. "I
think it will have considerably lan (as
pect than the KMCs think it wffl have,"
said JUndy McKeerer , Vepco Sortharn
company's service area by about 2L5
percent or (21.1 million a year.
N.C. EMC calculations, however, in
dicate that the figures will be about 45
percent or 137.1 mUliou a year.
"Vepco's figures were calculated from
higher base rates, with a deduction for
lower fuel costs aa a result of the com
pany's mora extensive use of nuclear
generating facilities." Brawn said. "We
think our figures are tar mora realistic."
Be said Vepco may hope to avoU a
price sqnosno challenge by
the new rates to become <6
opt L t
"no company apparently hopes that
by then theyH have a ruling from the
state utoiites commission on a p raiting
rate hlto tor ratal omtonmn to Hmth
case wasn't (Bad until late
Hearings in the case are set to begin
June It and continue into mid-July, and
the commission usually takes vacation
during August
As a result, he said he'd be "very
surprised" if a ruling could be issued
before Sept 1.
Meanwhile. N.C. EMC is seeking a
separate FERC hearing on the price
squeeze issue alone, with hopes that it
can be considered before the details of
the new rate schedules are reviewed in
McKeever, however, said that with the
number ef regulatory agencies and
com missions Vepco has to work through,
II tinl nhiiuli aB increase to become
effective at the same time.
'1 bear what they're saying (the
EMCa), tat when we go to soak a rate
bMsN we ft when the osnt of aervices
Increases and makes it neoemary lor as
to go," be said.
some social services programs are ex
pected from the Reagan administration,
but Gregory said it could be as long as
two years before they take effect.
In other matters, Simpson suggested
that the commissioners ask the county
board of education to trim their KM, 100
budget request by 120,000. Commissioner
Charles Ward argued that the figure
should be $50,000.
Ward felt that due to economic con
ditions, the schools should not be in
creasing spending.
The county has budgeted $642,600 for
the preaent year.
In another matter, county finance
officer D.F. Reed. Jr. adviaed board
member* that the water rates would
probably have to be increaaed so that the
system would continue to pay for itself in
the coming year.
Board members said they would
discuss the need for a new rate schedule
with Rivers and Associates, the firm that
engineered the water system.
County wrestles
with tax levy
By mike Mclaughlin
The Perquimans County Board of
Commissioners spent much of their
Monday night meeting wrestling with
budget figures in an effort to keep the
1M1-1M2 tax rate in line with that of the
present year.
County finance officer D.F. Reed, Jr.,
presented estimated budget figures
showing a (1.215 tax rate, and an alter
nate budget proposal that would require
a $1.19 tax levy. The tax levy for the
current year was $1.15 per (100 in
property valuation.
The proposals were based on budget
requests from the various departments
and agencies the county provides funding
for.
The commissioners, however, will look
for areas in which spending can be
reduced this week, and will return to the
board room at the county courthouse for
a special budget meeting Monday night.
Discussion this past Monday night
centered around where cuts might be
made.
Commissioner Charles Ward ad
vocated deleting some 14,400 used to help
pay for a Farmers Home Adminstration
employee. "I don't see why we should be
subsidizing FhA," Ward said.
Commissioner Lester Simpson said he
had discussed the matter with the
Chowan County manager, and was told
that the Chowan commissioners had also
discussed cutting their share of the
multi-county position.
Ward also argued that the Albemarle
Regional Commission should pay more
than the )6,000 rent it has budgeted for
3,600 feet of office space.
He maintained that the figure should
be around $15,000, and said that even at
that the county would be losing money on
the cost of operating the building.
Simpson, however, was skeptical about
any chances of raising ARPDCs rent.
"That's all we're going to get," he said.
Ward responded that the commission,
"ought to move, then.
"I don't see why we should have to
subsidise them $10,000 a year," he said,
noting that the commission is a regional
concern.
Another money saving suggestion
came from commissioner Marshall
Caddy. Caddy asked whether the com
missioners shouldn't just go to the
department heads and ask them to trim 5
percent from each of their budget
requests.
His suggestion, though, was greeted
with skepticism. "I think most of them
gave us a pretty tight budget," said
Simpson.
Holding salary increases for county
employees to 5 percent instead of the
projected 10 percent would save an
estimated $10,000, Reed said, a figure
that proved tempting to some of the
board members.
Simpson, though, wu not one of them.
"I hate to cut my employees back," he
said.
But his assertion that recreation
should be held to $>0,000, was greeted by
silence from other board members.
County recreation director Mac Sligh
had earlier offereAp no-growth budget
request that called (or $30,000 from the
county and $10,000 from the Town of
Hertford.
In the current year, though, the two
units of government are sharing the
program's coat equally. '
Though board members were probably
already aware of R, Reed asserted that
there was bo real fat in the budget to cut
He said that the $1.1* tax levy was a safe
one, "without cutting anybody hack or
hurting anybody too bad."
Services are the only thing you've got
to cut that I know of, said Reed.
Ward conceded that the tax rate would
probably km to be raised two to throe
cents juat to accouut lor rk* And
School officials, however, attended the
meeting to offer a compromise on their
budget request of the previous week.
Board of education chairman Clifford
Winslow said that the schools would be
willing to forego two cents of a requested
three cents increase in tax levy if the
money could be made up through
revenue sharing.
"You've had a history of allocating a
certain amount of revenue sharing
money to the schools," Winslow said.
"We would be willing to drop two of our
three cents request if you could come up
with $20,000 (from revenue sharing)...
The bottom line would be the same."
Later in the meeting, Winslow said he
thought the board of education would
agree to an additional one cent cut
(approximately $10,000).
The schools had sought 1699,600 in
funding generated through county tax
dollars, up 17 percent from the present
year's $642,600.
1D? request m<l not, However, include a
small item in the present year's budget
that the schools hope the county will pay.
Winslow told the commissioners that a
$2,187 expenditure for Alliance for
Progress dues had been left out of the
schools budget in hopes that it could be
added to the county's budget.
He called it a flow-through situation in
which the county gives the money to the
schools to give to AFP, and said that both
units of government benefit from
membership in the six-county
organisation.
The commissioners are considering
leaving the figure out of the budget en
tirely.
In another matter, R.L. Stevenson told
the board that the Perquimans County
Restoration Association hopes to have
the Newbold-White House open for public
showing on July 3.
"The house is beautiful. Mr. (W.M.)
Kemp has done a masterful job," said
Stevenson of efforts to restore what is
believed to be the oldest existing house in
North Carolina. "It's something the state
and county can be proud of," Stevenson
said.
He said that festivities are being
planned for that date, including visits
from state dignitaries, and a dutch
luncheon.
Restoration Association member
Herbert Nixon asked for funds to have
the house placed back on the Historic
Albemarle Tour.
Originally included on the tour, the
house had been removed because of
(Continued on page 2)
r This week ^
A curious and adventurous Ufe M
Albert Poirier to Hertford ? seepage
1
The ladies at the ntritioa site do
Hf?*
Aid may be available fcr this year s
ailiag wheat art bariay crape ? aaa
page It.
Weather word