Voters deciding whether to approve tax increases for transportation and school projects will be hearing more information from local officials and community members as part
of the next step leading to fall’s bond referendums.

Proponents of the $55 million transportation bond issue, which will be on city ballots while a $160 million school bond issue will be decided by county voters, believe “yes” votes will benefit local businesses in a variety of ways, while some opponents say elected officials should work harder to find other ways to pay for the construction and changes.

The transportation measure comes with a 2-cent tax increase for city property owners while the price tag for the building, renovations and other work planned for schools is a 3-cent addition to New Hanover County’s property tax.

CONSTRUCTING CLASSROOMS
School officials are in the process of looking for property where a new school could be built if the school bond is approved, said Bill Hance, assistant superintendent of operations for New Hanover County Schools.

“We’re in the process of negotiating those right now,” he said.

Meanwhile, the county’s schools, which serve 26,000 students, are overcrowded, and that situation is expected to worsen as more students are added to the rolls, Hance said.

Mobile units, the cost of which starts at $25,000 for the unit itself and increases significantly with the need for utility hook-ups and to meet building codes, are not permanent solutions. “You can only put so many students there (in the mobile units) because the media center and the cafeteria are designed for a certain number of students, and once you start exceeding that, you’re really getting into a crunch,” Hance said.

School quality is often the first question potential buyers who have children ask Realtors, said Jody Wainio, president of the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors.

“We support the bond. We feel that schools are a critical part of our community, and that’s one of the things that attracts people to our area,” Wainio said. “If we’re not supporting our schools, we’re going to hurt the strength of our community when it comes to people wanting to move here.”

Not everyone agrees that tax increases are necessary. Woody White, chairman of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners, voted against the referendum’s amount. And some property owners don’t agree that a property tax increase is the best way to fix school buildings and alleviate overcrowding.

“They waste a lot of money, and I don’t think they need to have a bond issue all the time,” said Vivian Wright, a Wilmington resident and former county commissioner who served on the board from 1972 to 1980. “I know one time when I was on the board, I checked into their stuff right much, and they had a bunch of rooms that they weren’t using for classes. They were using them to store things and do stuff like that. They could have used them for classrooms and found somewhere
else for the other stuff.”

She said she thinks cracking down on illegal immigrants and whittling school staffs down are better options than tax increases.

More information about the school bond referendum, which voters will consider when they go to the polls in November, will be shared via presentations throughout the community and through a link on the  school system’s website, www.nhcs.net.

TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS
Those in favor of a bond issue for transportation costs, including road improvements, more areas for bicyclists and pedestrians and public transportation changes, say a “yes” vote is critical.

 “The thing that brings businesses and new opportunities to the city is people seeing a high quality of life here,” said city councilman Kevin O’Grady. “Most of these road improvements are looking to the future, looking to increase the things that the citizens of this city have said they would like to see more of,” including pedestrian friendly space, green space and bicycle paths.

“The things that make people happy,” O’Grady said, “are the things that are going to make businesses succeed.”

It’s not that city officials are eager to raise taxes, said Margaret Haynes, a city council member and the city’s mayor pro tem.

“I don’t want to pay any more taxes either. None of us want to pay any more than we have to, but you have to pay for what you’re receiving,” she said.

How the money will be used, said one resident, is a concern of those who oppose the transportation bond.

“I’m against the transportation thing because I think they spent the money unwisely in the past, and as far as the bond for the buses and everything, I’m against that because
I see them all the time with empty buses riding around, and they can do better than that,” said Homer Wright, Vivian Wright’s husband.

Like those sharing information about the school bond referendum, officials will be talking to residents about what they see as important transportation needs in the days leading up to the vote.

“This city has to keep moving forward,” O’Grady said.

THE IMPACT
Here’s what local officials say are the expected affects on property owners
if the bonds are approved:

School
Average of 3-cent property tax increase. On a $200,000 home = about $5 a month or $60 a year
 
Transportation
Average of 2-cent property tax increase. On a $200,000 home = $3.34 a month or $40 a year
 
Sources: City of Wilmington, New Hanover County Schools


THE PROJECTS
Here are some of the projects that would be funded through the bonds if approved by voters:

Transportation (Wilmington)
$55 million bond (includes $44 million borrowed)
$35 million for road projects/$20 million for bicycle and pedestrian projects
• Eastwood Road medians & traffic signals
• Carolina Beach Road streetscape (north)
• North Front Street streetscape
• Dawson and Wooster streets
 improvements
• Love Grove second access
• Racine Drive at New Center Drive right turn lane
For full list of projects, go to www.wilmingtonnc.gov

Schools (New Hanover County)
$160 million bond
• New Northeast Elementary School
• Replacement schools for College Park and Blair elementary schools
• Additions and renovations at Laney and Hoggard high schools and Wrightsville Beach Elementary
• Renovations at Roland-Grise, Noble,
 Trask and Myrtle Grove middle schools
• District-wide technology improvements
• District-wide building systems/infrastructure improvements
For full list of projects, go to www.nhcs.net

Sources: City of Wilmington, New Hanover County Schools