Cedar Level Fee Approves Annexation Requests, Metropolis Invitations Extra To Search Related Admission | information

CEDAR POINT – Cedar Point commissioners approved two voluntary annexation requests Tuesday evening and plan to send letters to other property owners outside the city limits to entice them into the community.

The Board held its regular monthly meeting at City Hall and approved the motions under the Approval Agenda, a list of non-controversial items that can be approved with one vote. The required public hearings took place during the August 19 working session and no one spoke.

On Thursday, the board had discussed whether to send letters to other property owners outside of the company’s boundaries, but in the city’s extraterritorial zoning regulations, to encourage them to apply for annexation. City manager David Rief suggested the idea, but told the board he could also opt for a referendum to annex the entire ETJ, an area of ​​unincorporated ownership where the city exercises planning and development authority.

Under state law, the city would be required to notify Carteret County and provide a clear description of the area to be annexed. The city could not continue the annexation process unless a majority of the votes cast in the referendum are in favor of annexation.

Also under the law, if less than a majority of voters in the region vote in favor, the city must wait three years before proceeding with a new process of annexing the area or initiating a new process.

Commissioner Frankie Winberry did not like the referendum approach.

“I’m not in favor of forced (annexation),” he said.

Finally, the board of directors mutually agreed to have Mr. Rief write a letter to the property owners.

Tuesday night, Mr Rief told the News-Times that he had not written the letter for landowners but hoped to do so soon.

“Basically,” he said, “the letter will describe the current tax base of each owner’s property and let the owners know how the annexation would affect their tax bill.”

One upside is that the city’s garbage fee, which used to be $ 175 a year, is now included in the city’s property tax, he noted. As a result, many Cedar Point taxpayers will pay a lower total tax bill in 2021-22 than they have in the past, and some of the ETJ residents would likely benefit too, as they would no longer have to pay the county’s garbage fee.

“Some bills would go up and some would go down,” Rief said, noting that these ETJ landowners are now paying the $ 180 per year garbage fee, including a $ 15 landfill fee, in addition to county property tax.

The garbage fee drove the two voluntary annexation proposals that the board approved on Tuesday evening, Mr Rief continued.

In addition, he said anyone who chooses to annex can get the city’s pick-up service and vote in the Cedar Point elections, which they cannot do now, despite the fact that they are often affected by the decisions of city commissioners.

The city would benefit from this, because every annexation brings additional property tax income.

The first approved application Tuesday was from owner Dawn Dorin at 150 Boat Landing Drive on Waterfront Drive. The property is 0,439 acres and the home and property are valued at $ 135,291. The second request came from owner Kimberly Hildreth at 280 Hidden Bay Drive, off Highway 58. The property is 0.35 acres and the home and property are valued at $ 137,576.

With the city’s property tax rate of 14.75 cents per $ 100 of estimated value, bringing these packages within Cedar Point’s corporate boundaries will bring in just over $ 400 in revenue.

In his manager’s report on Tuesday, Mr. Rief shared with the commissioners efforts to preserve the former Walmart property on Highway 58 to Cleaning up the property was worth it, some.

“They tore down a dilapidated building,” he said, and removed some overgrown vegetation.

Contact Brad Rich at 252-864-1532; Email [email protected]; or follow on Twitter @brichccnt.