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Referendum
Withdrawal |
N.C. State Board of Elections
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Voters Against Incorporation |
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Wilmington is NOT going to Annex Castle Hayne in our lifetime. In the 20 Year Annexation Plan for Wilmington, Castle Hayne is not even considered. Since this latest effort to incorporate Castle Hayne, Legislation has been enacted that allows residents in an annexed area to overturn that annexation with a petition. If 60% of the affected residents dont support annexation and indicate so on the petition, annexation is stopped. That petition is carried out by the Board of Elections and mailed to all affected residents. If you dont support annexation, there is a method to stop it. Being incorporated as a Town will NOT excuse you from any taxes due New Hanover County, personal or property. The same is true if the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County consolidate. Taxes will always go up, but with another layer of government there will be another set of taxes that will go up. And the citizens of Castle Hayne of all ages and those not yet born will pay the price. At a time when every penny counts and families of all ages are cutting costs, do you really want to pay $.10 cents per $100.00 of property value? And receive nothing in return. When will we, as citizens of Castle Hayne, realize any benefit from becoming a town? This is just the beginning of what could become another significant set of taxes on you, with minimal return to you. Establishing a town is one thing, running it successfully is another. What will the total compensation of Council and employees be? Pay and Benefits? What tax rate will ensure that all needs are met within the community? Has that been accurately identified and stated. The answer is NO! New Towns can qualify for federal grants. Applying for and receiving that grant is, at best a difficult process. Since 1979, Federal aid to local communities has steadily declined. Some of that aid only comes in the form of matching funds. That means we would need a sustainable and ever increasing source of revenue to fully comply with these grants. State financial aid to local communities has also declined and is being scrutinized more each year. In the current U.S., State and Local economy we cannot count on these funding sources to help offset the need for higher taxes. Expenditure of grant monies requires careful oversight and bookkeeping. Do we have people in place to honestly and legally administer such funding? What is it going to cost the citizens of Castle Hayne? Simply put, YOU WILL pay ever higher taxes for the privilege of being a town. Creation of a Town Council with limited funds and the ability to enact ordinances and levy fines could become little more than an over zealous Home Owners Association. A Town Council is authorized to utilize certain methods to influence land use and development. Some of those methods can come with fees and, possibly fines. Another way to raise revenue. ReadMore Taxes! Some of those methods are listed below, this is only a sampling and not a complete list. *Regulating use and development of land. *Adopting special-purpose police-power ordinances. *Establishing property maintenance standards. *Establishing public health and safety standards. *Abating public nuisances. (Who decides what a nuisance is?) *Animal taxes. Another way to increase revenues is through zoning changes. That means increasing the density of development in your neighborhood to bring in more tax revenue. Is that a price you want to pay? Loss of the rural nature of our community? The Town will have to pay, on an hourly basis, for planning and zoning services. We already receive those services in your current tax rate for New Hanover County. Castle Hayne is NOT eligible for ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Commission) sales funds until a change is made at the State Legislature allowing distribution of those funds. Castle Hayne will NOT receive any funds from taxes and fees until February 2012 at the earliest. Some funds wont be available until May, 2013. The bulk of the revenue as estimated by the Castle Hayne Steering Committee does not exist. When questioned about inconsistencies in revenue projections, a pro-incorporation Town Council candidate says, We dont need someone to throw a wrench in the cog. What we need is to move forward. Is that the beginning of a transparent Town Council? The following is an excerpt from Response to information requests regarding timing of revenue receipts * The Budget Office (New Hanover County) did not provide any revenue estimates to the CHSC (Castle Hayne Steering Committee). The revenue projections included in the Petition to the Joint Legislative Committee were developed by the CHSC without any input or guidance from New Hanover Budget Office. It is our professional belief that the revenue projections presented in that document are high. The Castle Hayne Steering Committee failed to file the required documents with the elections office to support a referendum committee. This type of filing keeps all financial transactions of the Steering Committee open and transparent. Is this how you want your town run? As you may or may not know, responsibility for providing Fire and Rescue services was turned over to New Hanover County. This was after a lengthy study period and a unanimous vote of support from the New Hanover Fire Commission. This move assures you, the taxpayer, full time paid personnel are available to this community 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With that assurance you also get a response within 5 minutes. Something you cannot guarantee with an all volunteer fire service. An added benefit has been a lowered ISO (Insurance Services organization) rating. And it may go lower still..if we keep our paid staff. This means lower insurance premiums to you. There is an active inquiry and effort by former members of the Castle Hayne Volunteer Fire Department Inc., to return to an all volunteer Fire Service in Castle Hayne if it becomes a town. While this could lead to a lower cost to operate the Dept., it will also lead to extended response times, no guaranteed response and possibly higher insurance ratings and premiums. This would be a regression in services and a major negative impact of becoming a town. This could also mean going back to depending on fundraisers such as Bar-B-Qs and Picture drives to fund the Fire Dept. That is not the best method to ensure service that you expect. Not in this day and time or in this community. As more information becomes available, this information page will be updated to include more facts and some speculation on the negative impacts of becoming the Town of Castle Hayne. It is most important to go out and vote on November 8th, 2011. Whether you are for or against it, your vote counts. For those citizens that are against incorporation of Castle Hayne; if you stay home and do not vote, that will be a vote for incorporation.
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Home |
Referendum
Withdrawal |
N.C. State Board of Elections
| NHC Estimated Revenues Timeline |