Commission to hear from public on budget
By Steve Herring
Published in News on June 15, 2009 1:46 PM
Wayne County residents will have a chance Tuesday to express their opinions of or to ask questions about the county's proposed $157.6 million budget for 2009-2010.
The budget does not contain an increase in the current tax rate of 76.4 cents per $100 worth of property and is some 3.2 percent below the current budget.
The county Board of Commissioners has not indicated whether it will vote on the budget following the hearing. County Manager Lee Smith said today that a budget ordinance will be available for board members to vote on should they decide to do so.
If the budget is not approved Tuesday, the board will have to call a special session prior to June 30 to pass a budget. State law requires local governments to have a budget in place by that date.
The 10:30 a.m. hearing is one of two on commissioners' agenda and they are expected to schedule two more as well.
Tuesday's session gets under way with an 8 a.m. briefing followed by the meeting at 9 a.m. in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the county courthouse annex.
The budget proposal is available for inspection at Smith's office and online at waynegov.com.
A rezoning request by Commissioner Steve Keen will be heard during a 9:15 a.m. public hearing.
Keen, who also is a member of the county Planning Board, has petitioned the county to rezone approximately 70 aces on the south side of U.S. 70 east near the Rosewood Wal-Mart.
Keen wants the front 20 acres rezoned from Residential/Agriculture 20 to Commercial shopping and the other 50 from Residential/Agriculture 20 to Residential 15.
A housing development is planned for the rear 50 acres and commercial development on the remainder.
The Planning Board last week approved the preliminary plats for both sites.
Two other planning issues will be considered for future public hearings.
The board will be asked to schedule a public hearing for Aug. 4 at 9:15 a.m. on a rezoning request by Prentice Grady of Dudley.
Grady is asking that his property on Alert Cable Road be rezoned from Residential/Agriculture 20 to Village District.
The new zone would allow a mixture of residential and business uses.
Grady's plans to develop a flea market. The Planning Board last week recommended its approval.
The second public hearing to be scheduled is on a proposed amendment to the county zoning ordinance regulating off-street parking and loading. It, too, would be held Aug. 4 at 9:15 a.m.
It would be the second time the county has held a public hearing on the issue. The first was held several months ago.
Commissioners took no action and referred it back to the Planning Board for additional study.
The county is eyeing the regulations in tandem with possible new sign rules as a means of ensuring orderly development in the county.
The hearing on the sign ordinance was held June 3 and is back on Tuesday's agenda for possible board action.
It would establish size and location requirements for on-premise signs in areas that have been zoned by the county.
In other business, the Goldsboro-Wayne County Humane Society will present $150,000 for the county's new animal center.