CEDAR POINT — Cedar Point commissioners Tuesday night approved two voluntary annexation requests and plan to mail letters to other property owners outside town limits in an effort to entice them into the municipality.
The board held its regular monthly meeting in town hall and approved the requests as part of the consent agenda, a list of non-controversial items that can be approved with one vote. The required public hearings were held during the Aug. 19 work session, and no one spoke.
Thursday, the board had discussed whether to send letters to other property owners just outside the corporate limits but in the town’s extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction to encourage them to request annexation. Town manager David Rief suggested the idea, but told the board it could also opt to schedule a referendum to annex the entire ETJ, an area of unincorporated property where the town exercises planning and zoning authority.
Under state law, the town would have to notify Carteret County and provide a clear description of the area to be annexed. The town could not proceed with the annexation process unless a majority of votes cast in the referendum are in favor of the annexation.
Also under the law, if less than a majority of voters in the area vote in favor, the city must wait three years before proceeding with or initiating a new process for annexation of the area.
Commissioner Frankie Winberry did not like the referendum approach.
“I’m not for forced (annexation),” he said.
Eventually, the board agreed by consensus to have Mr. Rief write a letter to property owners.
Tuesday night, Mr. Rief told the News-Times he had not penned the letter for property owners, but hopes to do so soon.
“Basically,” he said, “the letter will outline the current tax value of each owner’s property and tell the owners how annexation would affect their tax bill.”
One benefit is the town’s garbage fee, formerly $175 per year, is now included in the town’s property tax levy, 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, since they would no longer have to pay the county’s garbage fee.
“Some bills would go up but some would go down,” Mr. Rief said, noting those ETJ property owners now pay the county garbage fee of $180 per year, including a $15 landfill fee, in addition to county property tax.
The the garbage fee is what drove the two voluntary annexation requests the board approved Tuesday night, Mr. Rief continued.
In addition, he said anyone who decided to be annexed would get the town’s yard debris pickup service and would be able to vote in Cedar Point elections, which they can’t do now even though town commissioners’ decisions often affect them.
The town would benefit because each annexation brings in additional property tax revenue.
The first request approved Tuesday was from owner Dawn Dorin at 150 Boat Landing Drive, off Waterfront Drive. The property is 0.439 of an acre and the house and land are valued at $135,291. The second request was from owner Kimberly Hildreth at 280 Hidden Bay Drive, off Highway 58. The property is 0.35 of an acre and the house and land are valued at $137,576.
With the town’s property tax rate at 14.75 cents per $100 of assessed value, bringing those parcels into the corporate limits will reap Cedar Point a little more than to $400 in revenue.
In his manager’s report Tuesday, Mr. Rief told commissioners efforts to get the former Walmart property on Highway 58 to clean upthe property have paid off, some.
“They tore down a dilapidated building” and removed some overgrown vegetation, he said.
Contact Brad Rich at 252-864-1532; email [email protected]; or follow on Twitter @brichccnt.