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Tuesday, 13 June 2006 20:00 |
BLACK MOUNTAIN ?? The Black Mountain Board of Aldermen approved the town??s 2007 budget last Monday night, settling on a tax rate of 32 cents per $100 of property value.
According to Assistant Town Manager Bo Ferguson, this rate is two cents higher than a ?®revenue-neutral rate,?∆ which would have generated the same amount of tax income as the previous year, despite a recent property revaluation.
Black Mountain, like other municipalities in Western North Carolina, has had to readjust its tax structure to account for the recent revaluation, which assessed many properties at significantly higher values than the previous revaluation.
The
2007 tax rate is 6.5 percent lower than the previous rate, Ferguson
noted, despite amounting to an overall tax increase once the higher
property values are factored in.
The board also moved forward on replacing the town??s aging swimming
pool by authorizing a study of three possible sites for a new swimming
facility.
Recreation Commission Chair Terry McElrath, and Vice Chair Don McMahill addressed the board about the pool sites.
The commission had been charged with providing the aldermen with a list of potential sites for the new facility.
McElrath noted that at least 12 to 15 acres is required for the
proposed pool and an accompanying recreation center. The best site
owned by the town was the Clavenger property, she said, although a
preferable option would be to work with Montreat College to build a
pool on the school??s In the Oaks property.
?®The advantage would be that we would both get a facility. There would
be all sorts of advantages to working with the college,?∆ McElrath said.
However, while the college expressed an interest in doing so, it would be unable to start building it for up to 10 years.
?®Then we??d be stuck trying to Band-Aid the same pool that we??ve tried to close several times,?∆ McMahill said.
Alderman Mary Leonard White suggested that even if the town builds a
pool on one of its properties, a future collaboration with Montreat
College might be possible.
?®We??ve talked about the need for two pools ?? one with warm water for
the handicapped and elderly and one with cold for the youth,?∆ she said.
The Montreat pool could be a cold pool, she added.
Sobol urged the board not to wait for Montreat College. ?®As far as I??m
concerned, forget about Montreat ... We need to decide our own fate,?∆
he said.
The board unanimously approved a feasibility study to be undertaken by
an engineering firm on the Clevenger, Cragmont and Carver sites.
According to McElrath, Cragmont and Carver were tied for second-best
site among the properties owned by the town when the Recreation
Commission voted on possible locations.
In other action, the board:
?ÿ Denied a
request by the town??s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board for a pay raise.
The board, which is the only commission in the town whose members get
paid, was requesting a $100 per month raise for its chair and $25 per
month for each of its members.
The fee was rejected unanimously. Sobol recused himself from the vote.
The request had raised the ire of at least one town resident ?? Hary
Hamill ?? during the public comment portion of the meeting. Hamill told
the board, ?®I find it strange that his board that is being paid, while
no other board is being paid, is now asking for a pay raise.?∆
Alderman Joan Brown acknowledged that the ABC Board is paid by the
state, not the town, but nonetheless found the request objectionable,
saying, ?®I don??t understand why they??re getting any money, period, but
the state??s giving it to them, so so be it.?∆
White added that the board has not been forthcoming with information on
its activities. ?®We don??t know that much about what they do,?∆ she said,
recommending that the aldermen defer the request ?®indefinitely,?∆ unless
the ABC Board gives them more information.
?ÿ Swore in Carole McNutt to the Housing Commission
?ÿ Approved a fee increase for rentals of equipment at the town??s recreation facility.
?ÿ Issued a
proclamation honoring Dr. John Wilson for his service to the community.
Wilson, who is a pediatrician and gardener, has been involved in a
community garden that supplies food for local poor families.
?ÿ Unanimously
decided to write a letter to the Metropolitan Sewer District of
Buncombe County, requesting that it reject the request of a new
130-acre development to be allowed to build a pump station that would
pump sewage into Black Mountain.
The development??s owners, whom Vice Mayor C. Michael Sobol said ?®have
not been as gracious?∆ as other recent developers, have requested
permission to build the station, despite MSDs policy that it will only
allow this in exceptional cases.
The property in question lies just outside the corporate limits of
Black Mountain, but falls under the town??s extraterritorial
jurisdiction. Though its developers have been provided an allotment of
water from the City of Asheville, Sobol noted, it would have to use
Black Mountain??s sewer system.
?®When we have a potential neighbors who go ahead and choose not to be a
part of our community, I don??t see any reason why we should try to go
out of our way to help them out,?∆ he told the board.
When White asked
what the consequences would be for the developers if MSD denies their
request, Sobol replied that they would have to ?®build in a less-dense
way,?∆ using septic systems.
?®Then again, when they bought the property ?? buyers beware ?? they should have known that.?∆
?ÿ Approved a
series of changes to the Boards and Commission Manual. These included
making the chair of the ABC Board an appointee of the Board of
Aldermen, in order to comply with state laws and limiting membership to
that board to residents of Black Mountain. All the changes were passed
unanimously, except for the changing membership requirement, which was
approved 4-1 with Sobol dissenting.
The membership requirement was passed with the caveat that current
board members who do not live in Black Mountain would remain in their
positions until their terms expired and the rules would go into effect
on July 2, so that those who had already applied would not be
discounted if they lived outside the town limits.
?ÿ Appointed members to several town commissions. These included Rick
Spalding to the ABC Board, Martha Cummings and Bull Munn to the
Historic Preservation Commission, Ron Crantz to the Housing Commission
and Carolyn Labmbert, Harry Nanny and Rosella Spencer-Palmisano to the
Recreation Commission.
?ÿ Changed the name of Hunting Lodge Acres Drive to Hunting Lodge Drive to conform with the County??s name for the road.
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