By Tiffany Thompson, Staff Writer
Sunday, May 11, 2008
May 12, 2008 01:49 pm
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Locust City Council conducted four public hearings Thursday night during the council meeting to allow residents to voice their opinions.
The first hearing was for the rezoning of 1303 W. Main St. from general residential to highway commercial.
The property directly adjacent to it is already highway commercial.
“This comes directly from the planning and zoning board who approved it,” said Councilman Charlie Hinson.
No one spoke for or against the rezoning request. It carried unanimously by the board.
The second public hearing addressed the increase of the solid waste fee. The fee, which was increased to $8 a month, would be used by the city to recoup some of the cost for pick-up and disposal of solid waste.
Solid waste constitutes curbside trash pick-up, three bulk goods pick-ups and leaf collection.
“This increase will still not cover the total of what the city pays for the service, but it will help,” said City Administrator James Inman.
The fee would be included in the ad valorum taxes collected at the end of the year.
For those elderly residents, there is the possibility of being able to opt out of paying the fee through the homestead exception/deferral. This can be applied for through the tax office.
With no one contesting the increase, it passed unanimously through the council.
The third public hearing concerned the proposed 2008-2009 budget.
The new budget was able to prevent a tax increase by cutting many item requests from department heads.
Included in the cuts was a request from the police department for four new patrol officers.
Only one of the requests was approved, which will add assistance to the overnight shift since there is usually only one officer on the shift.
As a result officers are having to answer calls without back-up.
“The budget also provides for a new full-time Parks and Recreation Director, which we hope to begin interviewing for shortly with the passing of the budget,” Inman said.
The proposed budget was uncontested by neither the public nor the council, so it passed unanimously.
The last hearing allowed residents to voice concerns about the proposed Sunset Ordinance, which would address the concern of unused sewer capacity.
The ordinance, which Inman has worked with for approximately a year, would require developments to meet deadlines in order to receive wastewater services.
For the developments that do not meet the deadlines, they would have to re-apply for capacity before the service could be provided.
“Approximately two to three developments have sewer capacity tied up, which could be given to other developments or residents and I don’t believe that’s fair,” Inman said.
One stipulation for the ordinance is that it would become retroactive, which caused concern for several of the council members.
Among them was Larry Baucom, who believed the new ordinance would create lawsuits for the city.
As a result of the concerns, the ordinance was tabled for yet another meeting.
Contact Tiffany Thompson at (704) 982-2121 ext. 24 or snaponline24@carolina.rr.com.
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