2018-03-08 Agenda Review
NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 34
AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, MARCH 8, 2018 PAGE 44
ASSEMBLY
The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners met for Agenda Review on Thursday, March 8, 2018 at
4:00 p.m. in the Harrell Conference Room at the New Hanover County Government Center, 230 Government Center
Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina.
Members present: Vice-Chairman Skip Watkins; Commissioner Jonathan Barfield, Jr.; Commissioner
Kusek; and Commissioner Rob Zapple. Chairman Woody White was absent.
Staff present: County Manager Chris Coudriet; Deputy County Attorney Sharon Huffman; and Clerk to the
Board Kymberleigh G. Crowell.
Vice-Chairman Watkins called the Agenda Review meeting to order and announced that the purpose of the
meeting is to review and discuss the agenda items for the March 12, 2018 Regular Meeting with discussion as noted:
Consent Item 4. Approval of January 2018 Tax Collection Reports.
In response to Board questions,
County Manager Coudriet stated that this agenda item only concerns property tax and the collection is ahead as
compared to this time last year. The agenda item for the budget amendment addressing the over estimation in sales
and property tax collection is for approximately $3 million. As to why there is an over collection, the value of the base
is growing and there is more development than has been expected. The appeals process with the Board of Equalization
and Review as well as the Property Tax Commission haven’t necessarily gone in the favor of the taxpayer. The values
that have been placed on properties have been upheld and the people are actually paying the taxes on the assessed
amounts.
Regular Item 5. Consideration of a Proclamation Honoring the Legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.
Commissioner Barfield will read the proclamation. District Attorney Ben David will attend the meeting.
Regular Item 9. Consideration of Purchase and Installation of Gold Star Families Memorial
Monument in Hugh MacRae Park.
In response to Board questions, County Manager Coudriet stated the
organization is moving forward with fundraising for the plantings, seeding, etc. to be around the memorial. This
agenda item is for the basic landscape plan and the cost of the monument in the amount of $60,000. The organization
would provide additional funds to do things beyond what the County has agreed to. There will be a project regardless
of the additional amount raised by the organization.
Regular Item 10. Consideration of Room Occupancy Tax Audit Program.
In response to Board
questions, Chief Financial Officer Lisa Wurtzbacher confirmed that Air BnB currently does submit their room
occupancy tax, but there is no breakout of the information. The new software program will look through Air BnB as
well as other websites to map properties that are shown as rentals. It will be the County’s responsibility to contact a
taxpayer to find out if they have rented through companies such as Air BnB and request receipts be submitted for
verification.
In response to Board questions regarding enforcement of the tax payments, Ms. Wurtzbacher stated that a
letter will be sent to the taxpayer which will explain the legislation and rules and the process for paying the taxes if
the property is rented. If the property was not rented, the County would need to know that as well. If no response is
received, another letter would be sent informing the taxpayer of the amount to be paid to the County and requesting
them to contact the County. If there is still no response after thirty days, then a bill would be sent to the taxpayer for
the enforcement of the collection.
In response to Board questions regarding putting a lien on the property for unpaid taxes, Ms. Wurtzbacher
stated staff does not want to harass taxpayers, but rather, encourage compliance. Deputy County Attorney Huffman
stated she doesn’t believe a lien could be placed against the property tax, but could possibly be handled via other
routes, such as filing a suit for a judgment. A debt setoff to intercept state income tax is another possibility. Ms.
Wurtzbacher stated the decision has been made to move away from the free registration system due to concerns from
the UNC School of Government that this is not really allowed. The new program would have an online filing system
and it would require people to list out the individual properties that they are submitting for and the amount for each.
Regular Item 11. Consideration of Mid-Year Budget Adjustment.
In response to Board questions
regarding the administrative reserve of $352,404, Chief Strategy and Budget Officer Beth Schrader stated that under
the general statutes, the County is required to remit to New Hanover County Schools (NHCS) its pro-rata portion of
the sales tax, which is $352,404 and is going to NHCS Fund 225. However, there is no offsetting expense required by
law to have a balanced budget and a balanced budget amendment. There is no appropriated fund balance in that fund
this current fiscal year, so the administrative reserve is essentially a holding line on the expense side. Ms. Schrader
further stated that nothing is being transmitted that has not been budgeted as part of the school’s adopted budget. It’s
a way of accounting for it so it could be re-appropriated in the future, for example, for during the next fiscal year.
County Manager Coudriet confirmed the amount of $352,404 is the school’s share of the requested budget amendment.
Ms. Schrader stated the rest of the funds go to the County’s general fund.
Regular Item 12. Public Hearing Rezoning Request (Z17-13) – Request by Right Angle Engineering,
on Behalf of the Property Owner, McCormick Ventures, LLC, to Modify the Conditions of the Northchase
Planned Development to Allow for an Additional Driveway Access to N. College Road from Property Located
at 4616 Coddington Loop.
Planning and Land Use Director Wayne Clark stated the applicant sent an email requesting
a continuance of the item to a future meeting. A brief discussion was held about the request and Mr. Clark stated that
the email didn’t state a desire to withdraw the request. The email officially only stated it was a request to continue
NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 34
AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, MARCH 8, 2018 PAGE 45
during the time frame between now and April. Staff confirmed that the petitioner or his representative must appear
before the Board during Monday’s meeting to request the continuance.
Staff Update: Project Grace.
Strategy and Policy Coordinator Jennifer Rigby stated that staff has done the pre-development work which
includes the Phase I Environmental Assessment and this is the due diligence that any developer does before the start
of a project. A space needs analysis is almost complete for the library, museum, and shared spaces which will be
helpful in identifying the area needs. The consultant, Benchmark Planning, recommended a two-step process in the
form of first, a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and then secondly, a Request for Proposals (RFP). The RFQ will be
released in April with an ask for any and all firms, who want to create a team, to put together a proposal to submit
their qualifications for the project. The County will look at financial qualifications and ask each firm for a very high
level concept plan of how they would develop the project. The RFQ will be open for 90 days and the expectation is to
have the responses in July. In August, the County will select the top three or four qualified teams and issue an RFP
them. The RFP will include a detailed proposal which will consist of a refinement of the development program,
confirmation of the technical team, a full financial proposal with a detailed proforma, and a detailed site plan and
project schedule. The teams will have another 90 days to put this together with the expectation to submit the RFPs to
the County around mid-November. Once received, staff will complete an analysis of the proposals and bring in a third
party financial analyst to review all the financial documents to help the County understand the merits and cost share
of each proposal. There would be a public hearing probably in January and the Board would then begin deliberations
for how to proceed.
In response to Board questions, Ms. Rigby stated the second 90-day period is for the RFP and the County
would only receive the detailed proposals from the top three or four qualified firms. County Manager Coudriet stated
that since it is a two-step process, the RFQ will be a relatively straightforward statement of qualifications. The RFP,
which people would be bidding on, would be brought to the Board for review and discussion. The consultant suggested
the front end step of the RFQ and unless the Board wanted to see the RFQs, would involve only staff and the third
party reviewers.
In response to Board questions regarding the four design options, Ms. Rigby stated that in October the Board
provided clear direction of the criteria to be included in the proposal. The criteria were similar to Option 4 which
included the library, museum, public greenspace, and additional items. The developers submitting the RFPs would be
bound to those criteria. The Board can still modify the options and there is time before making the final decision on
the project. Regarding the parking assessment, County Manager Coudriet stated it was included in the criteria from
the Board. Staff will provide to the Board, as a reference, the list of criteria it directed to be included in the RFP.
Vice-Chairman Watkins thanked Ms. Rigby for the update.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, Vice-Chairman Watkins adjourned the meeting at 4:22 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kymberleigh G. Crowell
Clerk to the Board
Please note that the above minutes are not a verbatim of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners meeting.