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Brunswick County Budget & Policy
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Transfer tax issue on Nov. 6 ballot |
Nov 3, 2007 - The only countywide issue that will appear on the ballot Nov. 6 is the land transfer tax referendum aimed at funding road and school construction and improvement projects. For voters who live in the unincorporated portions of the county, the land transfer tax referendum will be the only question for which they will cast a vote.
Voters who live within a municipality will vote on the land transfer tax, in addition to any town seats up for grabs. All 23 voting precincts will be open Election Day so registered voters who don't vote in municipal elections will be able to vote on the transfer tax, deputy director of elections Sarah Ashcraft said. The referendum lets voters decide whether to give county commissioners the authority to levy a .4 percent land transfer tax that would be imposed on all transfers of real property within the county, including within town jurisdictions, and paid for by the property's seller. By Caroline Curran |
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Final points made on transfer tax issue |
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Nov 2, 2007 - Despite sparse attendance, county manager Marty Lawing and District 5 commissioner Bill Sue offered one last educational meeting Monday on the land transfer tax before voters determine its fate on November 6.
Simultaneously, an opposition group called the Committee of Concerned Brunswick County Property Owners (CBCPO) gathered elsewhere to encourage residents to deliver a tax-squashing “nay” vote.
The proposed tax would extract 0.4-percent of the total value of real property transfers within the county, the revenue from which would go to a restricted fund for capital projects pertaining to roads and schools, or debt service on either.
The sale of a $400,000 house would generate $1,600 for that fund.
County commissioners say the tax is the best funding method available, but its fate is for the voters to decide. A majority vote in favor would not bind the commissioners to adopt the tax, but a majority vote against the tax would prevent it from becoming law.
Lawing and Sue addressed six Brunswick County residents at North Brunswick High School at Leland Monday night, and Sue offered the first expressions regarding the purpose of the land transfer tax and the need for better roads.
“Brunswick County is the 14th fastest-growing county in the entire nation,” said Sue. “With all this growth, we often get in discussions about what our biggest problems are. Every time, it’s transportation.” By Ben Brown |
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County commissioners schedule two public hearings |
Sep 21, 2007 - Members of the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners on Monday scheduled a public hearing for the county's Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA( land use plan. The county's CAMA land use plan will affect all unincorporated areas of Brunswick County as well as the towns of St. James, Belville, Northwest, Boiling Spring Lakes and Carolina Shores, planning director Leslie Bell said.
The public hearing is slated for 6:30 p.m., Oct. 15. If commissioners approve it, the county's land use plan will be forwarded to the Coastal Resources Commission for November approval.
A second public hearing was also scheduled for Oct. 15 regarding the reversion of all private property in the county's conservation and protection zone to its previous zoning designation prior to the implementation of the Unified Development Ordinance on May 1.
Parcels rezoned to the conservation and protection zone were applied to sensitive areas that already had a conservation easement on the property, Bell said. The parcels exempt from the zone reversion are those owned by Brunswick County, the state, the Nature Conservancy and the Coastal Land Trust. ByCaroline Curran, Brunswick Beacon
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Brunswick bans outdoor burning |
April 28, 2007 - Dry and hazardous burning conditions over the past few weeks prompted the Brunswick County fire marshal Thursday to issue a countywide ban on outdoor burning. Starting at 5 p.m. Thursday, outdoor burning within 100 feet of an occupied dwelling became illegal in the county.
State officials may follow suit by placing a burn ban on the region, which includes Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender and other counties, if dry weather conditions don't improve with the rain expected in the next few days, said Chris Carlson, information officer for the Division of Forest Resources.
"There is rain in the forecast for tonight (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday), and we're waiting to see what that's going to do," Carlson said. "The rain may clear up some of the dry conditions plaguing the region."
Brunswick County's ban comes after two fires charred 1,225 acres in Pender County this week. State and county firefighters continued to battle hot spots flaring up from Wednesday's fire in Pender County that burned about 225 acres. The ban does not include cooking on charcoal or gas grills, said Scott Garner, Brunswick County's fire marshal. By Tyra M Vaugn
Read Ban on burning
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Brunswick weighs rules on growth |
March 31, 2007 - The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners could adopt the county's first "unified development ordinance" at its meeting Monday night. The ordinance would govern zoning and land development requirements for unincorporated areas in the county and for the town of St. James. Monday night, the board will vote to approve the final draft of the ordinance as is or recommend changes. After three years of drafts, 10 neighborhood meetings and several public hearings, the vote could bring about one of the biggest changes the county has seen concerning future developments, officials said. "There's been a tremendous amount of effort in this," county Planning Director Leslie Bell said. The ordinance, referred to as the UDO, was drafted in response to stormwater, sewer and growth challenges the county has faced since the existing zoning ordinance was adopted in 1994. "We recognized we needed to do some things to help manage those things," Bell said. The UDO contains some features of the existing zoning ordinance but includes all ordinances, definitions, codes and procedures, Bell said. It would be a one-stop place for rules on developments. By Shannon Bowen Read Commissioners to vote on plan unifying development regulations
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