1954-07-19 Regular Meeting' v Q
Wilmington, N. C., July 19, 1954.
The regular weekly meeting of the Board was held this day at 10:00 o'clock A.M.
Present: R. T. Horton, Chairman and Co;mnissioners Claud 0'Shields, Thurston C. Davis, Hal J. Love,
Raiford Trask.; Cicero P. Yow, County Attorney and T.D,Love, County Auditor. ,.
The meeting was opene3 with prayer bj the Reverend J.Frank Davis, Pastor of St, Pauls' Lutheran Church.
Copies of the minutes of ineeting of July 12, 1954, having previously been mailed to each member of the Board,
the same were upon motion of ,ir, 0'Shields, seconded Yy PQr. Love, approved.
Y7ith reference to a resolution of this Board of Ji.ly 61 1954, to petition the State HighwW and Public Works
Commission to construct a bridge across Cape Fear River at ilawson 5treet, the same was amended by a substitute
motion offere3 by Mr. 0'Shields and seconded by Mr. Love, and adopted, that the location of the new proposed
Cape Fear River Bridge be left to the discretion o£ the State Iiighway Department Engineers.
J? Upon motion of Mr. Davis, seconded 4 Mr. Trask, the following resolution with respect to retaining the 252nd
Antiaircraft Artillery Group was unanimously adopted:
WH&REAS, the I3oard of Commissioners of the County of New Hanover is advised that considerations have been
given to the moving of In£antry Units o£ the 30th National Guar3 Division now located in Tennessee to North
Carolina and create the 30th Division with all fiorth Carolina Yersonnel, and to acomplish this result, it will
be necessary to convert all of the Antiaircraft Artillery Units in North Carolina consisting of approximately
nine hundred men into Infantry; and '
WHEREAS, the nondivisional Antiaircraft Artillery of the National Guard is a part of the 252nd Antisircraft
Artillery Group iaith headquarters at Wilmington and which has top priority in the National Defense Plan, and
which units have been especially schooled and trai.ne3 as such for the past seven years at great expense, and
if this group is converted to Infantry such training and expense will be substantially lost or wasted, and
WHFREAS, such conversion would place the Officers and iJarrant Officers under professional waiver until they tLre again schooled and retained as Infantrymen, which will cause not only great dissatisfaction but will
also require excessive expense and the proba.ble loss of the present technical equipment ann require acquiroment
of all new equipment for Infantry training and service, all o£ which does not seeia desirable or justified; and
WHEREAS, the Board of Co.mmissioners of Aew Hanover County is informed that tho 30th Division is or was
primarily a Tennessee Division and that certain of the Antiaircraft Artillery tinits originated in the City of
Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, many years ago and that I4ew Hanover County has and takes a
peculiar pride in being the home and headquArters of the Unit for many years and that if the said Units are
converted to Infantry it would probabl5r result in a reduced personnel in Netia Hanover County and a substantial
economic loss:
NOkr, THEREFORE BE IT RFSOLVID by the Board of County Commissioners of New Hanover County at a meeting
assembled on the l9th day of Ju1y, 1954 as follows:
That the foregoing views of the ounty Commissioners of New Hanover County Ue submittec to the Honorable
?oJ• blilliam B. Umstead, Governor of North Crarolina, with request that the same be given careflzl consideration
and that the matter be so handled as to retain the present status of the Non-Divisional 252nd Antiaircraft
l Artillery Group rrith present headquarters at Wily-aington, IJew Hanover County, North Carolina, and so that the
years of training o£ such officers and*n and the skills now obtained may be used in the interest of econoiry,
? efficiency and National ilefense and that their present priority r.:ay be preserved.
The foregoing resolution was unanimously adopted as aforesaid,
Dr. John T. Hoggard, Ghairnan of the Eoa d of Education and members E.A.Laney, S.Bryan Broadfoot,
Mrs. Sa1Tie S. Dirmingham, and Superintendent of Schools H.1•;.Roland, Assistant Superintendent of 5chools
/ J.iJ,Grise, !•lilliam E. Brock, Controller and John 0. Marshall, Schools 13usiness Manager, appeared to resume
discussion in support o£ the school budget prtesented at meeting of July 12th. The County Commissioners
faced with the groblem of a.1,y364,100.00 regular school budget request, which is $80,840.00 over the $$283,260.00
appropriated last year , and at the same time are eaerting every effort to hold down the tax rate,
consideraUle discussion £ollowed, after which Mr. I,ove tnoved and it was seconded by Mr. Trask and carried,
That the Eoard of E9ucation receive $25,000.00 increase over the a-aount that the County contributed to the
IIoard of Education last year, out o£ advalorem taxes.
A color transparency Air. Hugh Ptorton toolc of D4r. Horton, A9r. 0'SHileds with Mr. Morton's mother and grandmother
the day of the dedication of Hugh hlacRae Park last May 28th, and a letter £rom Mr. Morton expressing his thanl:s
and appreciation for the good work done at Hugh ]?iaeRae Park, was presented to the Board by the Chair!r.an.
An invitation i•ras received irom Gregory-Poole Equipment Cor..pany, noia mambers of the Wilmington Business Family,
to attend their open house and barbecue suppor on the occasion of the opening of their Wilmington IIranch on
Fagle Island, Friday, Jul,y 23, 1954, betrreen £ive and seven o'clock in the evening.
A check for $49,09 unearned premium was received £rom Harold W. Wells & Son, Agents covering cancellation.o4'
30 Burglary Policy #RS-2147741, Clerlc o£ Superior Court, recommen3ed by the Insurance Committeo, Messrs Matts and
Latimer.
? A letter of thanks was received from the Girl Scouts Cape Pear Area for maliing possiUle the use of labor to
_ S clear the Day Camp site at Greenville Sound.
An invitation was received to attend the annual meeting of the membership of the idilr,ington Chapter, America.t?
Red Cross, Tuesday, July 22, at seven o'clock F.I•i., A cold supper will be served by members of the Canteen in
the back gar3en of the Chapter House, and a charge of £ifty cents per person will be made to cover expenses.
Najor Albert G. 3ternell, iJorld Traveler and Commentator, now serving at Stallings Air Force Base, will be the
guest speaker,
? P4, A letter was received from bliss Lucy L. Nash, Ececutive Secretary of New Hanover Tuberculosis and Aealth Asso-
t?YY" ciation, with reference to the public health nurse vrhose salary the Association is paying at the present time,
and wished to make it plain that they will pny her salary through N,arch 31, 1955, leaving the Amount of
0820.00 the City and County would have to appropriate for salary and travel allowance from April 11 to 7u1y 1,
1955, a period of three months. PJo action was taken.
?A letter was received from Dr. C. B. Davis, Health Officer advising that rxfter a discussion with his staff
,`Cn about the usage of a Buffalo Turbine insecticide :istributor in their mosquito control program, have decided
not to request funds for this equipment this year. The operation of this equipment Vrould require additionsl funds
for personnel and :aaterial. .
A letter iaas receive3 from htr. Franklin W. Bell, City-County Jirector o£ Civil De£ense, concerning the use of
• the rooms on the ground floor under the SheriffIs office for control center which would entail a great deal
? of extra expense to re-con3ition, or could use their present quarters provided it is conver.ient for the lair
liLrary to be removed, and the enlargen:ent of the room, and auditional equi1anent o£ approximately tirenty
telephones with special lines to communicate with the Police Department and the Highway Patrol Office, and
- pergaps a two-way radio. • The only otner suitable place he suggeste3 would probaUly be the old F7LI Building,
provide3 it can be conceniently arranged. That matter being a question for joint consideration with the
City Council, no action was taken. Having previously held a joint meeting with the City on joint matters,
rir. O'Shields aske3 the question, How many times do we have to consider items o£ a joint nature with the City,
or go back ouer it all again?
?
Meeting of July 19, 1954, continued.
?
A letter of appreciation was received £rom Pfs. C. il. Gerganus, Head of Social Studies Department, New Hanover
High School, for our cocperation in making their Students Government Day a success this Spring.
?
nj??1Beports for the month o£ June were received from the following:
"' Consolidated IIoard of Healtb, State Board of Public Welfare Division of Institutional and Protective
Services, North Carolina Rzulic Welfare Statistics-Physical coir3ition of OAA Recipients; Housing Authority
` of the City of l-7ilmington and AiY•porL receipts for Ju1,y 93 12, and 1/.,..
?John C. Wessell 7lxberculosis Sanatorium Census report for week ending July 16:
? White patients 9
Negro " 15
' 24
Non-residents 0 •
Vacant beds 8 =
Discharged: Mr. Clint Wright (white) 8:25 A.M. 7/13/54•
Adraitted : Goldie Stirindell (col) 11:00 A.M., 7/9/54•
William Gause •(co1) 5:40 P.M ., 7/9/54•
i?ir. H. Neilsen •(white)3:30 Y.rvi., 7/12/54•
4_1)eJ31" Upon motion of Mr. 0'Shields, seconded by Mr. Trask, County bi11s No. 4035 to 4349 were approved for payment.
A recess uas then taken urtil 10:00 o'clock A.N „ Ldednesday, July 21, 1954.
--,"Clerk. '
? . Wi]mington, N. C., July 21, 1954•
Pursuant to recess taken July 19, 195/a, the Board.net at 10:00 otclock A.hf.
Present: R. T. Horton, Chait,an and Comr-issioners C1aud 0'Shields, Thurston C. ilavis, Hal J. Love, Raifor3
Trask, Cicero P. Yow, County Attorney and T.D.Love, County Auditor.
Dr. John T. Hoggard, Chairman of the Board o£ E3ucation and members E;.A.Laney, 14rs. Sallie S. Birmingham,
S,Bryan Broadfoot, Jas. S. Craig and H,M.Roland, Superintendent of Schools, S,W.Grise, Assistant Superintendent,
? John 0. Narshall, Business Dtanager and Ylilliam E. Brock, Controller and C.D.Hogue, „ttorney appeared in the
interest of the Schools General Budget appropriations requested in the a.r.ount of $364,100.00 sutxnitted at
meeting of July 13, 1954, which was approved for $308,260.00 by the Comnissioners which would equal the amount
of $283,260.00 last years appropriation plus $$25,000.00 increase.
?,,,?The Chairman requested that discussion be confined to the question at issue and that side issue discussions
be eliminated.
County Auditor T.D.Love sulyr,itted the folloGring budget Estimate and Recommendations £or the fiscal year
? 1954-1955 as required by the County Fiscal Control Act which was upon motion of Mr. Trask, seconded by-Mr. Love,
accepted as an official record to be included in the minutes of this meeting:
°' Wilmington,N.C., July 21, 1954.
' I4ew Hanover County Board of Gomissioners
Court House,
Wilmington, N. C. , .
Gentl eruen :
As require3 under 8ection 153-118 of "County Fiscal Control Act", I submit to you herewith a Budget
Estimate for the fiscal year 1954-1955. You will note that all estimated expenditures amount to $3,522,055.85
and that actual reserve figures of 6/30/54 are w948,993.92• In addition to this reserve figure I estimate
in mme of various kinds before taxes to be $1,402,169.57 and I estimate tire will receive $70,000.00 in Back
' Taxes. These three figures when totaied together amount to $2,421,063.49, and suUtracting this a:sount £rom
your total budget $3,522, 055.85 leaves a balance to be raised by a tax levy of $1,100,992•36.
I reco:nmenci to you that.you use $90,000,000.00 as your valuation for the raising of this tax levy.
N?y reoommendation is based on the fact that you have a total valuFZtion of slightly over $103,000,000.00.
During the past year we collected on 87% of our tax levy. Eighty-seven percent assessed valuation of
. $103,000,000.00 is $90,000,000.00. Last year we iricroased our valuation for a tar.-levy basis from
5^`pg5,000,000.00 to $90,000,000.00 and we would be courting danger to attempt to make another increase of
5 million at this time. Tax collections have ta.ken a downward turn. This procedure in my opinion is the
: conservative course to £ollow and maintained your county in good finanicial condition through a number of
years. Under-esti.mating our expenditures and over-estimating our income could quickly put the County in a
financial condition that would cause it to have to borrmr money for c urrent operations. It will be my
poLtoy in my;recommendations to you to prevent anything of this kind happening.
? M,y estimates of income from sources other than your tax levy is ffised on the experiences of past years.
The estimates are conservative and where the inoome is of a doubtful nature this has been taken into consideration.
I have tliis year increased astimates approximately $50,000.00 over last year, and I call this to your
particular attention, as your reserve figures at the end o£ t_.is fiscal year wilI be down by this amount
unless we receive other income to replace same. I strongly recommend to you that these estimates of income
be not increased. Your reserve figures at the end of each year are due solely Lo receiving more income than
we anticipated or not spending the amount that was budgeted:.FdlloVring a course of this kind does not cost
the tax payer one penny but t o the contrary actually saves him money by keeping your finances in order.
To raise $1,100,992•36 on a valuation o£ $90,000,000.00 will take a tax rate of $1.23 or a 13 cents
increase in your present rate.
The budget as presented has been gone over by your Chairman and your Board.
TYie Fiscal Control Act requires that this budget estimate be file3 in the office of the Clerk of the
Board for a period of 20 days before the adoption of the Appropriation Resolution. Changes can be made
during this time.
I will be glad to answer any question that you desire in regard to the figures I have presented to you.
Respectftill submitted
/s/ T.D.Love.
??r. John T. Hoggard read and subnitted the following school budget adjustments and ef£ects of cuts:
J