Oct 22, 2007 - The town of St. James wants its fair share of sales tax revenue. The gated community off N.C. 211 says it is growing faster than the state can keep up with. So for the second time in a little more than three years, the town is paying for a resident count.
"Since our local-option sales tax revenues are based on our population, it is to the advantage of the town to have a more accurate population count," St. James Mayor Shelley Lesher said in an e-mail.
In 2003, the state pegged St. James' population at 857, after the 2000 census showed it at 804, according to town figures. But officials were sure the population exceeded that and decided to pay for a special census that was completed in June 2004.
The state's demographer started using an adjusted population of 1,610 in October 2004 to calculate the monthly distribution of local-option sales tax.
For the rest of the 2004-05 fiscal year, the sales tax revenue increased. The town had budgeted revenue of $280,800 but took in $355,453, according to town officials. The cost of the census was approximately $55,614.
Based on the town's preliminary population estimate of 2,550 people, officials are expecting this year's census to again bring in more money in sales tax revenue than it costs to do the count. By Shelby Sebens

Oct 12, 2007 - A real estate and development firm with an office in Wilmington announced Monday that it has agreed to purchase 22,000 acres of land in Brunswick County from Fortune 100 company International Paper.
Amici Group, the buyer of the $70 million portfolio of land, closed the first phase of the deal September 28, according to a press release issued Tuesday.
Teresa Matsui Sanders, a real estate investment advisor partnered with Amici Group, said there is no “firm plan in mind right now” associated with the 22,000-acres’ use, but said the company jumped at the chance when International Paper announced that the 36 tracts were up for bid.
Sanders said Amici Group had been researching land opportunities in Southeastern North Carolina for quite some time, adding that there were multiple bidders going after this particular land portfolio.
The tracts in question, ranging in size from a few hundred acres to 8,000 acres, are all concentrated in the northeastern area of Brunswick County, The northernmost boundary is U.S. 74/76, a tract where Malmo Loop Road runs through it, Town Creek Road, U.S. 17, Green Hill Road, Richardson Road, and Bell Swamp Road in fairly close proximity to each other.
“We haven’t really determined exactly what we’ll do with every piece of land there,” said Sanders. “It’s just taking a real big picture and looking at growth in Brunswick County and what’s happening there and making sure whatever decisions we make are appropriate to what else is going on.” By Ben Brown & Jonathan Spiers

Sep 26, 2007 - A small crowd of mostly county and municipal officials listened to county commissioners’ chairman David Sandifer and associates pitch the pros of the land transfer tax at an educational forum Monday afternoon at the government center near Bolivia.
After a few introductory words from Sandifer, he gave the floor to county manager Marty Lawing and county finance director Ann Hardy, who in tandem stressed the need for an alternate source of funding for roads and schools. The land transfer tax, they said, is currently their best option.
Lawing explained that the Land Transfer Tax Act, recently approved by the state legislature, allows North Carolina counties to levy a tax of up to 0.4 percent on the sale of real property within their respective borders. The object is to generate extra revenue for needs such as infrastructure upgrades.
The act also allows counties to levy a quarter-cent sales tax, said Hardy, but the fiscal forecast supports the transfer tax. Since Brunswick County borders South Carolina, she added, the sales tax could send residents there to dodge the extra expense.  By Ben Brown

Aug 31, 2007 - Though it might be a while before pilings appear, a path is being cleared for the second bridge to Oak Island. A $36.6-million contract was awarded to Barnhill Contracting Co. this summer for building the second bridge. Barnhill Contracting will also replace the bridge over Davis Canal, widen parts of Middleton Avenue and build the corridor road between the Intracoastal Waterway and N.C. 211.
It’s there the contractor began work, clearing the way to bring equipment to the water. Wayne Currie is a resident engineer with the N.C. Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and will oversee the project. He said he hopes to meet with the contractor later this week, to iron out details about the timing for various phases of the project.
Replacing the bridge over Davis Canal is expected to begin this year, between October 1 and December 1. That part of the project is scheduled to take just 165 days, NCDOT construction engineer Joe Blair said.  “I think everybody here is very excited,” Blair said. By Lisa P Stites