Taxing situation: Rate lowered, new tax supported May 18, 07
The Franklin Press
By Colin McCandless, Staff writer

Click here for Veterans Memorial Section of this story

The Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to pass a resolution endorsing a land transfer tax in Macon County.

They plan to forward the resolution on to legislators in Raleigh.

Commissioner Jim Davis said the land transfer title is a misnomer and that it is really more of a land sales tax, a one-percent tax for use in Macon County.

“And again it’s been misconstrued—people need to understand that your commissioners are working hard to keep your tax rate as low as possible—as evidenced by our most recent budget presentation,” Davis said.

“What a land sales tax does is allow us to put the burden of the increased infrastructure on those people who are causing that burden. I think it’s one of the fairest taxes.”

Commissioner Ronnie Beale commented that the six counties along the coast that have the land transfer tax are consistently spending the highest amount of money per student in their schools systems.

“It would certainly help us as we look towards school needs,” Beale said.

Some residents voiced opposition to the land transfer tax, part of Senate bill 1516. Don Swanson said according to the bill, it is the seller that pays the tax.

“I’m not sure how this tax protects current property owners from paying higher taxes,” Swanson said. “I really don’t think this is such a wonderful tax.”

He said they already had a number of funding sources for school construction and did not see why they needed another one.

Commissioner Brian McClellan said although he supported the resolution, after listening to the public session he had a question about whether it would impact the seller or the buyer of the land.

“It’s obvious that if the seller is going to be assessed that fee then he will jack up the price,” Davis said. “They claim that it’s the seller, but it’s actually the buyer. Because that price is going to be changed to what you want out of the property.”

Chairman Charlie Leatherman said that the commissioners had already received resolutions from other counties in support of the land transfer tax.

The Board requested that county attorney Lesley Moxley draw up the document for the resolution.

Recycling Awareness Month

Commissioner Bob Simpson introduced a motion Monday for a resolution to proclaim June “Recycling Awareness Month” and to intensify the county’s recycling efforts.

Simpson said the reason behind his motion had to do with state regulations that are making life more difficult for landfills to operate and causing more expense to themselves and ultimately the taxpayer.

He said if Macon County recycles more than what they are doing now, we are going to save landfill space. “The more we can recycle and keep out of that landfill, the better it’s going to be,” Simpson said.

Simpson said he had spoken with solid waste manager Chris Stahl, who informed him that that they can produce a list for the public of what can be recycled and said the county’s recycling facilities are ready to handle this amount of recycling.

Simpson requested a resolution that the county start a full-scale recycling program and declare June “Recycling Awareness Month,” which passed the board.

Countywide recreation commission

Simpson, the commissioner’s recreation liaison, presented a request to the Board that it adopt the recommendation of the study commission calling for consolidation of the county’s recreation programs under a specific and unified policy.

The recreation study commission, which recently visited all the parks in the county, also suggested that the county appoint an overall director to manage all county funded programs in Franklin, Nantahala and Highlands.

“Now we have three recreation programs—the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, as far as the county’s concerned,” Simpson said.

He said that under a single countywide recreation commission, “Nantahala would receive the same quality recreational opportunities that Franklin has and so will Highlands.”

Simpson said that they also needed to modify the by-laws in some areas so it handles a countywide commission.

Leatherman requested that Simpson work on the development of a set of by-laws that includes all three geographic areas and bring it back before the board.

Term limits

Commissioners voted 4-1 to change the term limits for membership on county committees from two to three terms.

Simpson initially moved that the board retain its current policy of two terms for the purposes of discussion.

Beale said that while he agreed with term limits for committee members, he commented that having served on the planning board being brought up to speed on major projects like the Subdivision Ordinance could be challenging and time consuming for someone new.

“I would change that number from two-term limits to four-term limits,” Beale said.

McClellan said he agreed with keeping a policy of term limits and said two or three terms seemed to sufficient to him.

Leatherman commented “In my mind’s eye, it makes more sense to increase the term maybe one term, than to say well, we’re going to fill this position, but we’re going to let this person serve.”

Following the vote to approve a term limit increase to three terms, the board reappointed Karen Wallace to the community funding pool and Eric Pierson to another term with the planning board.

They also reappointed Jerry Sutton to the farmland preservation committee and appointed soil and erosion control officer Matt Mason to the RC & D council, in place of former soil and erosion control officer Josh Ward.

Fire department grants

The board unanimously passed a motion in favor of a resolution supporting HB 262 and SB 238 that aims to provide additional funds for fire departments and improves their eligibility for statewide grants.

The new millage rate for Macon County will be 24.5 cents according to county manager Sam Greenwood, who announced the change during his budget presentation at Monday’s Board of Commissioners meeting.

The fiscal year 2007-08 budget is balanced using the revenue neutral rate recommended by commissioners. It is down from the 37-cent tax rate per $100 valuation that Macon County has maintained for the four years since the last revaluation.

For a second straight meeting, residents wore stickers bearing the words “25 mil limit,” to express their support for a 25 cent millage rate. Citizens also spoke in the public session in favor of the lower rate, which they said would relieve some of the tax burden from the sharp increase in property values during the 2007 revaluation.

News of the tax rate adjustment to 24.5 per $100 valuation provoked applause and cheers from Macon County residents attending the meeting.

This marks the last budget Greenwood, who retires at the end of 2007, will prepare for commissioners and he said he hoped this budget would serve as a guide for commissioners in the next fiscal year.

Commissioners acknowledged Greenwood for his efforts.

“I appreciate the job you’ve done,” Chairman Charlie Leatherman said. “I know it’s become more complex as the county grows and the population grows.”

Commissioner Jim Davis said this marked the sixth budget he has worked on with Greenwood and at no time had he budgeted more than the county needed.

In the late 90s, we set a tax rate so we’d have a 25 percent undesignated fund balance—and we kept it just about exactly the same,” Davis said.

Davis and Leatherman both commented on the good work of finance director Evelyn Southard. Leatherman said Southard’s efforts too often go unnoticed and unappreciated.

Commissioner Brian McClellan expressed his gratitude to Greenwood for beginning zero-based budgeting this fiscal year.

Zero-based budgeting is a type of budgeting where each expenditure must be justified each fiscal year rather than basing budget decisions on a previous year’s funding level.

“We wiped everything off and started from scratch,” McClellan said.

They are beginning with the health department and the county cooperative extension and look to continue it on a rotating basis for different departments in different years, McClellan said.

Commissioner Bob Simpson said: “To come up with a set budget and try to predict what’s going to happen six months down the road is very difficult. And our finance officer and Mr. Greenwood have done an excellent job in preparing this.”

A public hearing on the budget will be held at 6 p.m., Monday, June 4, in Courtroom A of the Macon County Courthouse.

You can view the FY 2007-08 recommended budget and Greenwood’s budget message on the county website at www.maconnc.org.

Upcoming dates

Public hearing on the FY 2007-08 budget

6 p.m., June 4

Courtroom A—4th floor Macon County Courthouse

Public hearing on moratorium, 5 p.m., June 18.

June County Commissioners meeting, 6 p.m., June 18.

Both to be held in the commissioners boardroom

July County Commissioners meeting

July 16@ 6.p.m.

Commissioners boardroom

Veterans memorial update

Chairman of the veterans committee Bob Litten said they now have surveyed a plot down at the Macon County Recreation Park and have enough property on which to build a nice Veterans Memorial.

Litten said they also now have a bank account. The VFW Post and American Legion both donated $20,000 to get the project started.

“We are hoping that the rest of the county—veterans and veteran’s families will help us in many ways, either in money or donated help or machinery,” Litten said.

He said their committee had discussed possible names at length and decided they would like to call the facility “Veterans Memorial Park,” in dedication to all veterans, not just those living in Macon County. “I think the simplicity of it will be better,” Litten said. “We all know it’s in Macon County.

Commissioner passed a unanimous motion designating the name of the park as Veterans Memorial Park.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Veterans Memorial will be held at the park by the Macon County Community Facilities Building on D-Day, June 6 at 5 p.m. The general public is welcome to attend. “At least we can start some of it after the groundbreaking,” Litten said. “We are moving along.”

On Monday, May 28 the American Legion will present a Memorial Day program at Woodlawn Cemetery at 11 a.m.

For donations to the Veterans Memorial, send to:

Veterans Memorial
P.O. Box 474
Franklin NC 28744

Commissioner meeting dates changed

Due to scheduling conflicts, the Board of Commissioners changed the dates of their regularly scheduled meetings in June and July. They made a motion to move the June meeting from June 11 to June 18 at 6 p.m. Commissioners also passed a motion to switch the date of July’s meeting from July 9 to July 16 at 6 p.m.

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