The New Hanover County Democratic Party abruptly went into a closed session Monday after receiving criticism from several members of the community who attended the meeting. From the hallway, attendees could hear the officials arguing with each other. (Port City Daily photo/Alexandria Sands Williams)
NEW HANOVER COUNTY –– Monday night, a small yet vocal and well-known faction of education activists, along with school board member Judy Justice, crammed into a teal office space on New Centre Drive. They joined eight New Hanover County Democratic Party officers who were slated to meet in person for the first time since the onset of the pandemic.
The Jeff Latta Lacrosse Goalie of the Year Award has been awarded to outstanding New Hanover County Middle School lacrosse goalies since 2016. This award is presented in memory of Jeff Latta, who started lacrosse in the New Hanover County public middle schools.
Jeff first started lacrosse in Wilmington, coaching at Williston Middle School in 1991 (back row, 2nd from right in the Raiders team picture above.)
Jeff was a rock-wall goalie from Maryland’s Annapolis High School who worked at New Hanover Regional Medical Center. A sudden heart disorder at age 32, which resulted in a global brain injury, left him a quadriplegic for the last 16 years of his life. He left us in March of 2016 at the age of 48. The Latta Lacrosse Goalie of the Year Award was established in 2016.
Drowning is quick, and often silent. It can happen in just 30 seconds, and is the 3rd leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide. To help prevent further drowning deaths and injuries in the Cape Fear region, UNCW has organized a pilot program that will help children in underserved communities learn to swim.
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