First Posted: 1/15/2009

Fee hike to pay for positions
Scott Witten-Staff writer
LUMBERTON - The Robeson County Sheriff's Office will get two new deputies to serve civil papers and an increase in the service fee to pay for the positions.
The county Board of Commissioners voted Monday to increase the fee for serving court papers from $5 to $15. The commissioners also increased the county’s fee for serving out-of-county papers from $5 to $30. The new fees are effective immediately.
Sheriff Glenn Maynor said the increase will generate an additional $120,000. About $80,000 will be used to pay for the new positions. Maynor said the rest will be used to defray other costs incurred from serving litigants, such as the gasoline used by deputies when they serve the papers. It sometimes takes many visits to different locations before deputies can find the person to serve, Maynor said.
Maynor said the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association has pushed for the revised fee for years, but the General Assembly did not approve it until July.
The fee has not been increased since 1990.

Junked cars
In other action, the commissioners held a public hearing on a proposed ordinance that would give the county the authority to remove junked or abandoned vehicles on private property.
Three residents asked that the ordinance include mobile homes.
“Everyone that has come out says that something should be done about the mobile home near my home,” Cynthia Jacobs said. “But then they all say it is out of their jurisdiction. I'm afraid some child is going to go into that home and get hurt because it is about to fall down.”
County Attorney Hal Kinlaw said, if the home is in the condition described, the county should have other regulations in place to deal with it. But he added that the county will include language in the proposed ordinance to control non-compliant or uninhabitable mobile homes.
The board will hold another public hearing on the ordinance on Oct. 18.
In other business, the commissioners held a public hearing to allow residents to review the schedule, standards and rules used in the 2005 property tax revaluation.
No residents spoke on the schedule of values Monday.
The board is expected to adopt the schedule on Oct. 18. Residents will have until Nov. 17 to file an appeal with the county.
Tax Administrator Robert Baird said the county will host at least 20 “town hall meetings” on revaluation. He told commissioners Monday that he was finalizing the dates for the forums, which will be held in the county annex office at 524 E. Fourth St.
The new appraised values will become effective Jan. 1, and will be reflected in tax bills mailed out in July 2005.
The board also voted to spend $28,780 to add a modular unit to the county Planning and Inspection Department. The 1,632-square-foot space will add five offices and a conference room to the department.
Planning Director Michelle Frizzell said the department's five employees are sharing two offices.
“Right now, everyone is standing in everyone else's space,” she said.