New Hanover County Commissioners approved an effective property tax increase to finance a variety of expanded and new initiatives. (Port City Daily photo/File)
NEW HANOVER COUNTY –– A typically run-of-the-mill process was inflamed this week when New Hanover County Commissioners effectively passed a tax increase, with two commissioners splintering off from the anticipated state of affairs in favor of finding alternative revenue sources.
The now-approved $458 million budget is up $58.4 million from the current fiscal year, or about 15%.
To finance a variety of initiatives, including making New Hanover County Schools employees the highest-paid teachers in the state, the county opted to raise property taxes. The tax rate isn’t actually increasing (in fact, it’s going down by $0.08), but because of recent property revaluations, most property owners will end up paying more. Property values increased by an average of 33% as a result of this year’s revaluation; the last reval
Local officials are looking to delay cuts to WAVE transit and find a permanent funding for the system. That could mean an increase in taxes for New Hanover County residents.
On Tuesday, during a joint meeting between the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners and the Wilmington City Council, officials discussed making future investments in WAVE transit.
New Hanover commissioners unanimously approved a motion during the meeting to delay a redesign of the public transportation system from this August to no earlier than July 2022. The motion also directed the WAVE s board and executive director to evaluate the system s route structure and the need for future improvements.
A study by UNC Greensboro, commissioned by the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County.
The findings of a recent housing study are surprising to few: the city of Wilmington and New Hanover County are verging on a housing affordability crisis. But advocates say the report may act as a catalyst for new housing policies in the region.
The study set the stakes quite high: more than half of New Hanover’s renters are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing, and little housing is available that’s affordable for low-wage earners.
Katrina Knight, Executive Director of Good Shepherd Center, has been talking about a crisis in affordable housing since she came to Wilmington in 2004. She advocated for the study as a member of the ad hoc committee on housing several years ago.
Listen to the story here.
New Hanover County is in a legal battle with the development team, Coswald and Tribute Companies. It’s over how a parcel of land in the northern part of the county is developed.
Each political season brings the question: What power does the county commission have when it comes to directing development? The answer is complicated, but at a recent agenda meeting on January 28th, 2021 Commissioner Jonathan Barfield addressed the new board members:
“The one thing I don’t want to see happen that the county gets sued. We’ve had several missteps in the past where we’ve got it wrong and developers had sued the county and won and built what they wanted to build.”