THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 19, 1996 TAG: 9606190424
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JEFF HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: 65 lines
If you own a $50,000 home, you'll pay $25 more in property taxes next year and, in return, get a new middle school and major renovations to six other schools - if Pasquotank County's 1996-97 budget is approved next week.
After weeks of haggling over revenues and expenditures, especially the property tax increase, the Board of Commissioners had no objections to the budget presented to them Monday night by county manager Randy Keaton.
A copy of the budget is available at the Pasquotank-Camden Library. A public hearing will be held June 27 just before the board votes on the budget. It takes effect July 1.
``I don't believe anybody wants their taxes increased. I don't either,'' commissioner Patsy McGee said Tuesday. ``But if we want our children to have the best facilities, it is a necessity. Better we spend money on education now than on jails and public assistance later. We just had to do it.''
Property taxes will rise from 72 cents to 77 cents per $100 in value to help pay the $23 million the county borrowed for school construction.
The county owes $1.7 million a year for the next 25 years.
The new $10 million River Road Middle School is due to open in the fall of 1997 to relieve overcrowding at Elizabeth City Middle School. The other $13 million is paying for 16 new classrooms at J.C. Sawyer Elementary School and six new classrooms at Central Elementary School.
Other projects include renovations at Pasquotank Elementary School, new classrooms at Northside Elementary School, an addition to Northeastern High School and renovations at Elizabeth City Middle School.
In the new budget, the general fund increased $1.1 million over last year to $16.9 million. The budgets in nearly half the departments decreased, but school debt payments, a jump in Social Services of $258,000, and a $75,000 increase to the sheriff's department took up the excess.
A $97,700 federal grant will allow the sheriff's department to hire three new deputies. The county has to equip them.
Also in the budget:
Building inspection fees will go up more than 100 percent. For a typical home - 1,700 square feet, with three bedrooms and two baths - inspection fees will increase from $300 to $730. Commercial buildings will see a similar increase. The new fees will bring in $145,000 - $80,000 more than last year.
``It's an attempt to make new construction pay its own way,'' said Keaton, the county manager.
Currently, inspection fees do not match inspection costs. The balance comes from the general fund.
``All the taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for someone else's new building,'' McGee said.
The budget also creates a new Geographic Information System division, under the planning department, at a cost of $32,265. The county will also spend $113,000 over five years to pay for a complete upgrade of its computer system.
In other county business, the commissioners approved redevelopment plans by the Albemarle Commission of the Fairgrounds area, a neighborhood that includes abandoned and rundown homes.
Through an $850,000 Community Development Block Grant, the commission will buy and remove more than 30 old homes in the 14-acre tract to develop an industrial park. The area includes Anderson, Fleetwood, Richardson, North, Fair and Mill streets, on the west side of U.S. Highway 17.
Dick George, assistant director of the Albemarle Commission, is supervising the project.
Brittina Brothers, who lives in the area, contended last week that she wasn't getting fair value for her property. However, George assured her during Monday night's meeting that she would be moved to a nice home. by CNB