October 17,
12 C131o5 10/09/1997 20
^'^RC>U''i^ANl3 COUNTY LI — RAf'Y
110 '* ACADEMY ST
HERTFORD NC 27944
The Perquimans Weekly
Vol. 64, No. 41
The only newspaper for and about Perquimans County people
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Schools will get Dentention center location
over $4 million
if bonds pass
protested by residents
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
The Perquimans County
School Board cannottell people
to vote for the $1.8 billionstate
school bond referendum on
Nov. 5, but the school system
can disseminate information
on local needs and what the
passage of the referendum
would do locally.
Elfxtion
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With that in mind, the
Perquimans County Schools
system has printed fliers out-,
lining capital improvement
needs in the local school sys
tem and hosted a public meet
ing last Thursday evening to
present information on the
issue.
State
Treasurer
Harlan E.
Boyles has
also issued an
information
report
regarding
both the
school bonds
and $950,000
highway
bonds. Both
items will be
voted on in
November.
Boyles’
report states
that if the
school bond
referendum
passes,
money
derived from
the sale of
bonds will be placed in the
public school building bonds
fund, then allocated to coun
ties to pay for public school
capital outlay projects. Of the
$1.8 billion at issue, $30 mil
lion will be allocated as grants
to counties that have a small
county school system.
Consideration will be given to
whether the counties demon
strate both greater than aver
age school construction needs
and high property tax rates.
In a report subsection,
Boyles states:
• The state’s borrowing
capacity can more than accom
modate the total amount of the
bonds without increasing per
capita debt too high in relation
to other states or otherwise
jeopardizing the state’s covet
ed Triple-A credit rating in the
eyes of the financial communi
ty.
• If approved by the voters,
the borrwings should be well
received and the debt should
be issued at the lowest possible
interest rates, thereby mini
mizing interest costs.
• North Carolina’s infra
structure needs are considered
serious and, left unaddressed,
will become critical soon.
• Pay-as-you-go financing
cannot totally resolve the
state’s capital needs.
• And, while the proposed
bond referendums address
some of the problems,‘the state
still has no long-range capital
financing plan and no mecha
nism in place to produce one.
A system for evaluating and
prioritizing needs must be ini-
Will the passage of
the school bond ref
erendum raise state
taxes?
“The short answers
is: No, not if the
General Assembly
commits itselt not to
raise taxes and then
follows the traditional
manner of prioritizing
availalbe resources.”
Harlan E. Boyles
State Treasurer
titated to ensure that the
state’s limited resources will
be best utilized.
In his commentary, the
state treasurer states: “It is an
inherent responsibility of the
State Treasurer to speak to the
issues of this financial magni
tude. Given the fact that the
traditional pay-as-you-go prac
tices of the past are simply not
viable today; and, likewise,
since raising taxes is not an
acceptable alternative, the pro
posed bond package represents
the only realistic and cred
itable strategy we know to pro
vide the needed resources.
Collectively speaking, the
bond package may well repre
sent what we in North
Carolina will do in the foresee
able future about meeting the
needs of public education and
transportation.
“The question most voters
will likely ask is: ‘Will my
State taxes be increased if
these bonds pass?’ The short
answer is: ‘No, not if the
General Assembly commits
itself not to raise taxes and
then follows the traditional
manner of prioritizing avail
able resources.’ This is to say,
since the
Constitution
provides that
moneys for
the repay
ment of State
debt shall be
set aside
before other
appropria
tions are
approved, and
since a bal
anced budget
is also man
dated, the
General
Assembly will
have no
option except
to prioritize
and allocate
the remaining
resources
among the
other programs of State gov
ernment.”
Voters, then, must trust
their elected officials in
Raleigh to pay the bonds with
out raising taxes. Not raising
taxes is not a part of the refer
endum. Legislators will still
have the authority given them
by the voters and state consti
tution to raise taxes if they see
fit to balance the budget.
According to figures provid
ed by both Boyles and the local
school system, Perquimans
County stands to receive over
$4 million if the referendum
passes.
On the local capital needs
list for schools is the replace
ment of Central School in
Winfall. It is rated a critical
need both locally and by the
state. Studies have determined
that renovation of the facility
is not economically feasible.
The replacement price tag is
over $7 million.
Capital needs studies pre
pared on behalf of the school
system also show needs of over
$3.6 million at Hertford
Grammar School and $6.1 mil
lion at Perquimans High
School. Other needs amount to
$1.2 million. The report out
lined anticipated needs over
the next 10 years.
Perquimans County is
ranked in the bottom quartile
of the state’s public'Ichools in
ability to locally fund schools,
but ranks in the second quar
tile in actual spending, show
ing substantial local effort to
provide for the needs of stu
dents.
By GINGER LIVINGSTON
The Daily Advance
Over 40 residents turned out
to ask the Winfall Town
Council to revoke its support
of a $1.8 million juvenile deten
tion facility scheduled to be
built in the town.
The residents, led by
Perquimans County
Commissioner candidate Bert
Hayes, presented a 191-signa
ture petition asking the coun
cil to withdraw its support.
The residents presented the
petition at the council meeting
last Wednesday night.
The residents said the pro
posed site, located on county-
owned property behind the
N.C. Department of
Transportation maintenance
facility on U.S. Highway 17
bypass, is too close to a resi
dential neighborhood filled
with elderly people.
The protest came one month
after the town council held a
joint public meeting with
Perquimans County
Commissioners and Division
of Youth Services representa
tives and two weeks after the
county commissioners voted
to sell the property to the state.
The proposed facility would
house 24 youths who are
awaiting adjudication.
“'They say it’s already done
but I don’t believe it will pass
if we band against it,” Beaulah
White said.
“It’s not a done deal. The
fact is 191 people have signed a
petition against it,” Hayes
said.
Former Winfall Town
Council candidate Wayne
Hurdle said most people who
attended the last meeting were
against the facility even if they
did not voice their opposition.
Hurdle said while the people
should have spoken up, he
thinks the town council made
assumptions about the peo
ple’s feelings.
Shooting down the Barons
The Pirates shot down the Red Barons of Gates County Friday night, collecting a 36-14
conference win along the way. Complete details are on page 6.
Hurdle said he believes
most Winfall residents are not
against the idea of a secured
facility for juveniles but do not
like it being so close to a resi
dential neighborhood with
many elderly residents.
Mayor Fred yates picked up
on Hurdle’s statements and
asked the audience how many
people would like to see the
facility outside of Winfall but
in Perquimans County. Nearly
half the people at the meeting
supported that idea.
Yates said the council needs
to speak with its town attor
ney, who was on vacation and
not at the meeting, to explore
the legalities of the situation.
Flooded
again
Josephine
dumps more
water on county
It hasn’t exactly been the
great flood, but people in
Perquimans County can prob
ably sympathize with Noah as
yet another storm from the
tropics poured more water on
an already drendhed landscape
last week.
Trophical storm Josephine
moved through last Tuesday,
bringing heavy rains.
Fortunately, Josephine didn’t
bring the damaging winds her
predecessors hurricanes
Bertha and Fran brought.
Highway flooding, especial
ly along back roads and low-
lying areas, was the main
problem in Perquimans
County. Water washed across
roadways in several places,
making travel slow.
Parade set
The Perquimans County
Chamber of Commerce
Christmas parade committee
has announced that the coun
ty’s holiday parade will be on
Saturday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. The
theme is Christmas: The
Birthday of a King.
All types of entries are
being accepted for the holiday
parade.
or entry forms or informa
tion, please contact Diane
Stallings at 426-5723 (work) or
426-7250 (home) or Susan
Harris at 426-5728 (work) or
426-5307 (home).
Hertford firefighters answer record number of calls
The Hertford Fire
Department has recorded a
record number of responses
for the year with 113 to date.
The 26 volunteer firefight
ers have responded to 29 struc
tural fires. Of those 29 calls, 18
were in the Hertford coverage
area and 11 were mutual aid
calls from other departments
in the county.
Because Perquimans
County has seen a large num
ber of both winter and sum
mer storms, the department
has responded to 19 electrical
lines down. They also respond
ed to 22 alarms resulting from
the malfunction of private
alarm systems. Eleven vehicle
fires were also logged by the
department.
The response team of the
fire department has been
called to
13 car
wrecks,
where
team
members
assisted
rescue
person
nel.
Hertford responded to seven
woods/grass fires, seven good
intent calls (smell of smoke or
gas), and one police assist. The
department has also answered
four false alarms.
The Hertford Fire
Department normally
responds to nearly a hundred
calis each year, according to
Chief Sid Eley, but with the
storms and alarm malfunc
tions, the average annual num
ber of responses has already
been surpassed.
The volunteers are offered
more than 100 hours of depart
ment training and drills each
year in addition to the fire
calls they answer.
Outside
High: Low:
70s 50s
PARTLY CLOUDY
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High: Low:
70s 50s
CLOUDY
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High: Low:
70s 50s
RAIN