H Students spearhead services
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PRD. HC
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October 29, 2008
Vol. 76, No. 44 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
**News from Next Door
Hertford going greener
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Turn in your red for
blue and go greener in
Hertford.
Town residents with
the red 18-gallon recycling
bins may turn them in for
new blue 65-gallon cans on
wheels that can be rolled
out for curb-side recycling
pick up once a week. Town
businesses that have the
green bins may also receive
a blue roU-out can as weU.
Residents and business
es that don’t currently have
recycling bins may receive
blue cans as weU.
There is no cost for the
cans or to recycle.
The town’s upgraded re
cycling program will allow
residents and businesses
to recycle newspapers with
inserts, glass (clear, green
and brown), aluminum and
bi-metal cans, plastic bev
erage containers (No. 1 and
No. 2), office paper, maga
zines, paper board (cereal
boxes, shoe boxes, etc.) and
cardboard (broken down
and entirely in cart).
Items no longer have to
be separated, but may be
dumped aU together in the
blue can.
According to Town Man
ager John Christensen, the
goal of the upgraded pro
gram is to make it easier to
recycle so that more folks
will do it, and increase the
volume of items recycled
so that less garbage is dis
posed of in landfiUs.
“According to Waste In
dustries, the company that
runstherecyclingprogram,
less than 20 percent of our
residents participate in re
cycling with the red bins,”
Christensen said. “Our
goal is to increase the num
ber of participants, as well
as increase the amount of
volume of recycled items
collected.”
Brandon Shoaf, town
J-.-'
; ju. • •; '-rf'-*; ■ ,
Perquimans Weekly photo by CATHY WILSON
READY TO ROLL! JOHN Christensen, town manager, and Brandon Shoaf, town planner, prepare
to help Hertford residents go greener by upgrading the town's recycling program. Residents
with red recycling bins may exchange them for much larger, 65-gallon cans that can be rolled
out for curb-side pick up. Residents who don't currently participate in the recycling program
may take part in the free program, too. Town businesses and offices may receive the blue
cans as well. The upgraded recycling program allows the collection of additional recyclable
items. To receive your free blue can, call the town office at 426-1969.
planner, noted that the
cost of the new 400 blue
cans was paid for by a
$25,000 state grant. 'The
grant funded 90 percent of
the cost while Perquimans
County funded the remain
ing 10 percent.
The county also funded
the same percentage for a
grant to help WinfaU begin
their curb-side recycling
program.
“The only cost to the
town is the cost of labor for
town employees to deliver
the cans to the residents,”.
Christensen said.
While curb-side pick up
for residents is still ongo
ing in town, such service
for local businesses and of
fices stopped this summer.
In the past, the green
bins filled with recyclable
paper were picked up from
local businesses and offices
by the Albemarle Regional
Solid Waste Authority.
That service, however, was
cut out this fiscal year.
Now, businesses and of
fices can still collect recy
clable papers in the green
bins, but must deliver
those papers to the area’s
convenience centers.
With the new blue cans,
however, businesses and
offices can increase their
recyclables and roll the
cart out to the curb for the
weekly pick-up rather than
make the trip out to the
convenience center.
To upgrade to the larger
blue recycling can, just caU
the town office at 426-1969.
Pickups will be on Thurs
days and cans should be
placed curb side by 7 a.m.
Causeway to reopen, high rise lane to close
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Local highway officials
hope to have the causeway
back open to traffic by Hal
loween.
John Abel, bridge main
tenance engineer with the
North Carolina Depart
ment of Transportation,
said a second failure near
Larry’s Drive-Inn at the
north end of the causeway
kept the road closed a few
Wbnm
Thursday
High: 58 Low: 38
Sunny
Friday
High: 65 Low:
Sunny
41
Saturday
High: 68 Low: 47
Mostly Sunny
days longer than originally
scheduled.
The causeway closed
Sept. 29 to repair an older
section of the roadway
along the curve near what’s
known as the turtle log. A
70-foot long concrete area
was built up, and the road
was scheduled to reopen
Oct. 24.
However, a secondfailure
in front of Larry’s caused
officials to build up a 65
ft. area there as weU. The
road closing is advertised
as remaining closed until
Nov. 21, but Abel says they
should be able to reopen by
the end of the week.
“As long as we don’t
see any more failures, we
should be able to open no
later than Friday, if not
sooner,” he said. “Hopefully
this wfil take care of the
problems for a while.”
Abel explained that the
pilings underneath the
causeway were installed in
the 1920s, and have deterio
rated over time, causing the
concrete structures under
neath the roadway to faU.
River water actually runs
underneath the causeway.
In September a year ago,
the causeway was closed
when the concrete slab un
derneath the roadway in
another area broke, causing
the pavement to settle 8-12
inches. Within a few days, a
second failure occurred as
well, closing the roadway
while construction crews
rebuilt approximately 150
feet of pavement.
High ri^e bridge
Transportation officials
don’t expect repair work
on the southbound bridge
on U.S. 17 Bypass over the
Perquimans River to begin
until March 1.
Last month, the N.C.
Board of Transportation
awarded a $2.2 million con
tract to repair the south
bound bridge to Lanford
Brothers Company Inc.
of Roanoke, Va. Work was
originally scheduled to be
gin as early as Sept. 29, with
final completion set for 135
days after the start date and
no later than April 15,2009.
The project includes re
moving the riding surface
of the bridge deck and re
placing it with concrete
overlay.
The two southbound
traffic lanes will be di
rected onto one lane of the
northbound U.S. 17 bridge
throughout the project’s
duration. This traffic pat
tern allows northbound
traflic to use one lane of
the northbound bridge and
southbound traffic to use
the other lane. After pass
ing the construction site,
southbound motorists wfil
then be directed back to
U.S. 17 South.
IRS wants to deliver checks here
6 ""89076"
7143
Eight county residents are among those
who have money coming to them from a
federal agency that usually collects money
instead.
The Internal Revenue Service is looking
for taxpayers who are missing more than
279,000 economic stimulus checks totaling
about $163 million and more than 104,000
regular refund checks totaling about $103
million that were returned by the U.S.
Postal Service due to mailing address er
rors.
' Included in those figures are seven folks
from Hertford and one frorti WinfaU.
“People across the country are missing
tax refunds and stimulus checks. We want
to get this money into the hands of taxpay
ers where it belongs,” said IRS Commis
sioner Doug Shulman. “We are committed
to making the process as easy as possible
for taxpayers to update their addresses
with the IRS and get their checks.”
CONTINUED on page 13
County down
in revenues
"“brSf Hertford
short for year; 3.1S0
new positions t^o i n p"
won’t be filled WdLUlllllg
expenses
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
The economic slowdown
is forcing local govern
ments to tighten their fiscal
belts in anticipation of fu
ture budget shortfaUs.
County Manager Bobby
Darden said first quarter
revenue figures for the
2008-09 budget are down in
categories associated with
building and real estate:
building inspection fees, re
cording fees and land trans
action fees.
“County fee revenues
have declined by about 50
percent from the same three
month period in 2007,”
County fee
revenues have
declined by
about 50 per
cent from the
same three
month period
in 2007.
wrote Darden in a memo to
county department heads
last week. “Based on the
first three months of this
fiscal year, I estimate that
annual revenues for county
fees will he about $150,000
less than original budget
projections.”
Deed registration fees are
down by over 50 percent, he
said, followed by building
inspection fees which have
dropped by a third from the
same time last year. EMS
fees, or charges collected
from answering emergency
medical calls, are down by
15 percent.
As a result, Darden has
put a hold, for now, on hir
ing the two and a half new
county employee positions
approved in this year’s bud
get including a full time ad
ministrative assistant for
his office, a full time deputy
director for communica
tions, and a part time recre
ation program assistant.
In addition, Darden has
suspended aU capital out
lay requests over $500 until
Jan. 1, unless the item is
funded by grant money or
is part of a project already
in progress.
While most of the coun
ty’s capital outlay projects
are vehicles for the sheriff’s
department, Darden said
those vehicles have already
been purchased. But, about
$75,000 of capital outlay
items, such as computers;
are budgeted but are sus
pended until Jan. 1.
Property taxes, the coun
ty’s largest source of rev
enue, are stiff coming in as
usual, he pointed out. The
second largest source of
county revenue is sales tax.
While those figures are not
down yet, Darden is keep
ing a keen eye on them each
month.
“Sales tax money is re
ceived three months after
it is collected by food and
Concerned over possible
tight economic times loom
ing in the future, Hertford
officials are also encourag
ing department heads to
cut expenses wherever pos
sible.
Town Manager John
Christensen said he has
discussed the issue of fu
ture shrinking revenues
with department heads and
encouraged them to save
money through cost saving
measures.
“To date, we have expe
rienced a shortfall in the
Powell Bill funds,” Chris
tensen said. “The state sent
us $64,448 where we bud
geted $69,000, a five percent
shortfall.”
Local option sales tax
revenues for Hertford are a
little ahead of the forecast
so far, he said.
“Not knowing how these
will be affected in the near
future, I have not implex
mented a hard request to
department heads to cut
by a set percentage,” Chris
tensen said. “Conservation
measures are helpful, but
can come with a cost to im
plement.”
Real estate and building
trends do not impact the
town as they do the county
because the county collects
and retains land transfer
taxes.
“Obviously where we
are impacted by slower
growth is the lack of cus
tomers who will help us pay
the costs associated with
our new water and sewer
plants,” he explained.
The town’s capital outlay
projects are already funded
with grants so they will
continue as budgeted.
As far as personnel mat
ters is concerned, the town
currently has two open
ings: police sergeant and a
maintenance worker. Chris
tensen says the police posi
tion wffl be filled, but the
town wffl hold off on filling
the maintenance position
for now.
Other cost cutting mea
sures being considered in
clude sending out only one
disconnect notice for utility
bills rather than two, cut
ting back on heating garage
areas, and more efficient
scheduling for debris pick
up.
retail establishments,” he
explained. “The North Car
olina Association of Coun
ty Commissioners budget
staff have warned of weak
ening sales. If sales tax
revenues decline, then the
county will have to imple
ment additional cost saving
measures later this budget
year.”
The actions taken are
precautionary, Darden not
ed.
“Unfortunately, the
economy doesn’t look like
its going to pull out of this
anytime soon,” he added.
“If this continues, the next,
budget year is really going
to be challenging.”