Public hearing on street assessment Tuesday
By Steve Herring
Published in News on August 20, 2018 5:50 AM
Wayne County commissioners will hold two public hearings when they meet on Tuesday.
The first hearing will begin at 9:15 a.m. on the preliminary assessment roll the board adopted on Aug. 7 for street assessments in the Canterbury Village and North Creek subdivisions.
It will be followed by a public hearing on a proposed county grant incentive for an expansion project by an existing business.
Speakers will be limited to four minutes.
The meeting will get underway with an 8 a.m. agenda briefing followed by the formal session at 9 a.m. Both will be held in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the Wayne County Courthouse Annex.
Property owners in the subdivisions will be assessed a total of $15,879.38 or $1,587.94 annually over a 10-year period for the street repairs.
Affected property owners will be able to comment on the assessment at the hearing.
All property owners in the subdivisions, including those who did sign a petition asking for the work, have to pay the assessment.
North Carolina law allows counties to create special tax-assessment districts, provided enough property owners in the district agree.
Property owners in the subdivision repay the cost through a special property assessment.
It has been nearly three years since residents in the two subdivisions first approached the board seeking help to improve the streets to state standards, in an effort to have the roads accepted into the state road maintenance system.
The road work has been completed in the subdivisions, and the streets approved by the N.C. Department of Transportation.
INCENTIVE GRANT
The economic incentive grant would be for a yet-to-be-identified industry. That will happen at the hearing.
Commissioners established the program in 2005, and only tax money paid in by a company is used for the grant it receives.
The company pays its property taxes, and the county, in turn, refunds a portion of those taxes to the company, dependent on the company completing its project within two years and creating the promised number of jobs and investment.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the board will consider motions to:
• Approve animal control ordinance changes as recommended by Emergency Services Director Mel Powers.
• Approve the DWl Task Force Grant Local Governmental Resolution.
• Accept the tax collector's settlement for calendar year 2017 taxes and prior years.
• Approve an order directing the tax collector to collect the taxes charged in the tax records and receipts for calendar year 2018 and all prior years of outstanding taxes.
• Appoint Alan Lumpkin as tax administrator for four years, and administer the oath of office to Lumpkin as tax collector.
CONSENT AGENDA
Consent agenda items include:
• Application for Disabled Veterans Exclusion; budget amendments.
• Motion to approve sale of surplus property at 213 E. Dewey St., jointly owned with the city of Goldsboro, as recommended by the city.
• Motion to adopt the 22nd amendment to the county's position classificiation and pay plan.
Motion to adopt a resolution to confirm assessments for Canterbury Village and North Creek subdivisions.
• Motion to approve a proclamation recognizing St. John AME Zion Church Day in Wayne County.
• Motion to adopt a resolution authorizing the sale of surplus real property through www.gov.deals.com.
• Motion to declare property jointly owned by the county and town of Mount Olive at 107 Short St. as surplus property, as requested by the town. If sold, the town of Mount Olive and county will split the proceeds from the sale. Any proposed sale and final sales price requires approval by the commissioners and the town board.
Public comments will start at 9:05 a.m. Speakers will have four minutes to comment on their topic of choice.