The Sun will take a Fourth of July break next
week
Since next week is
the traditional peak of
our region's summertime
vacation season, the Weekly
Sun won't be
published and e-mailed
to subscribers next
Thursday, July 7. Look
for the next edition two
weeks from now: on
Thursday, July 14.
Town
approves big pay raises
for all employees
To
make salaries more
competitive with nearby
local governments, and
also to offset a
nationwide outbreak of
inflation, the Smithfield
Town Council this week
approved a staff
recommendation to raise
employees for all town
employees far beyond
what's normal – as much as
15% for police officers
and no less than 9% for
everyone else, effective
with August paychecks.
That decision put in place
the last piece of the
town's budget for fiscal
2022-23, which begins July
1 (this Friday). The
council adopted the
spending plan without
dissent Monday night.
"Police (pay) is our
biggest issue – there's no
doubt about it," said Town
Manager Mike Scott, who
pointed out that the town
has been coping with seven
vacancies in
police-officer positions
for some time, and now
there are five "pending
retirements."
A similar challenge exists
in the Electric
Department. "These people
are also in extremely
short supply," Mr. Scott
noted. As a result, the
plan approved Monday
raises pay for the town's
electrical linemen by 15%,
with a similar raise for
Water and Sewer employees.
Mr. Scott said he
anticipates the plan will
raise starting pay for new
full-time workers to
$16.87 an hour while the
minimum for part-time
employees like lifeguards
at the Smithfield
Recreation and Aquatics
Center (SRAC) will rise to
$10 an hour.
Funding
for the unusual size of
the town's annual pay
adjustment was made
available by this month's
payoff of remaining loans
on the SRAC's construction
augmented by a shift of
major capital expenditures
from the General Fund to
Smithfield's allocation of
funds from the federal
American Rescue Plan Act
(ARPA).
Those expenditures add up
to $1,283,500 for a new
"heavy rescue" vehicle for
the Fire Department, a new
collection truck for
Sanitation, and four new
police cars. Previously
the town earmarked
$609,000 of ARPA money to
help pay for expansion of
police headquarters and
$170,000 to correct a
drainage issue on Cedar
Drive. All that leaves an
uncommitted balance of
$2,075,786 in the town's
ARPA account.
VIEW complete details of the town's budget
for fiscal 2022-23>
New budget keeps tax rates unchanged, raises
utility fees
The
town's
overall property-tax rate
of 57 cents per $100
valuation remains the
same, as does the 19-cent
raise for the Downtown
service district and the
12-cent rate for the
Smithfield Fire District
outside the town's
corporate limits.
Electricity rates remain
unchanged for another
year, keeping Smithfield's
residential rates lowest
among the region's power
providers.
Driven by rate increases
adopted by the County of
Johnston for the year
ahead, Smithfield's new
budget includes a 4% hike
in monthly sewer-service
fees starting September 1
and a 45-cent increase in
monthly garbage-collection
fees starting October 1.
(The county charges
Smithfield and other
municipalities for sewage
treatment and disposal of
refuse at its landfill.)
Other
rate increases approved by
the Town Council this week
affect rental and activity
fees charged by Parks and
Recreation and
grave-opening fees at the
newer portion of Riverside
Cemetery.
VIEW the
town's updated schedule
of fees for all services
and activities>
This broken stretch of
North Street beside
Oakland Cemetery is one
of just eight block-long
projects covered by this
year's allocation of
state Powell Bill funds.
Council
awards contract for
limited street
resurfacing
Overriding
a staff recommendation to
spend all the town's
current Powell Bill
allocation on a half-mile
repaving of Outlet Center
Drive, the council on
Monday approved instead a
contract to resurface
eight sections of half a
dozen residential streets:
the 700 block of East
Street, the 400 and 500
blocks of McCullers
Street, the 700 block of
Hancock Street, the 400
and 900 blocks of North
Street, the 100 block of
Bridge Street, and the 100
block of East Holding
Street.
Tripp Brothers Inc. of
Ayden was low bidder for
that work at $183,640.73.
Tripp was also low bidder
at $181,275.70 for the
Outlet Center project,
which included "milling
down" two inches of the
existing asphalt before
repaving. Each of those
bids came close to the
town's total resurfacing
budget for the year
(Powell Bill funds come
from the state's gasoline
tax, directed to
municipalities for street
maintenance).
Councilman Travis Scott
said Powell Bill money
should go for "residential
maintenance" instead of a
commercial avenue like
Outlet Center Drive. He
suggested the council
explore other options for
repairing that heavily
traveled roadway.
Town Manager Mike Scott
said Smithfield has 62
miles of streets "we're
required to maintain" with
the limited state funding.
"Just about every city in
the state has the same
issue," he added.
CSX
culvert replacement
project moves forward
The
council awarded a $193,700
contract to LJB Inc. of
Garner to do the
engineering work for
enlarging the culvert
under the CSX railroad
east of South Bright Leaf
Boulevard that has been
blamed for flash floods
damaging nearby
businesses. The town has
received a state grant of
$950,000 to pay for the
project, which is
scheduled for completion
within the next 12 months.
Town awards contract for grounds maintenance
The
council awarded
contracts totaling
$103,199.94 to Lane Lawn
Care of Smithfield for
maintaining the town's
parks and roadway rights
of way during the next 12
months. A memo to the
council said Lane was the
only qualified bidder for
the Parks and Recreation
contract and submitted the
lower of two bids on a
contract to maintain
roadside grounds such as
traffic islands that are
under care of the town's
Public Works Department.
LAND
FOR SALE
2.4-acre
vacant lot at 1558 W.
Market Street (US 70
Business) in West
Smithfield. Mostly level
with 323-foot road
frontage. Less than 3
miles from Johnston
Regional Airport, about
5 miles from I-95: $525,000
(MLS#2447472)
SUSAN
LASSITER, Broker •
FONVILLE MORISEY REALTY
• 919-669-9235
School
board transfers $8 million
to capital budget
Now
we have an explanation for
the County Commissioners'
omission from the 2022-23
county budget of Capital
Outlay funding for
Johnston's public schools:
The county's Board of
Education during a special
session on Wednesday
transferred $8 million
from unspent Current
Expense funds into the
school system's capital
budget for the year ahead.
The board's resolution
authorizing the transfer
said the move was
necessary for "a number of
capital projects that have
not begun construction
because of insufficient
capital funding due to the
dramatic and unforeseen
rise of costs as a result
of historically high
inflation."
The resolution went on to
explain that the $8
million is available
because of "unusually
high, and temporary,
lapsed salaries due to
vacancies" among the
school system's staff
during fiscal year 2021-22
that ends today (June 30).
"Now we need to focus on
our bond (issue)," said
Chairman Todd Sutton
following the school
board's vote to transfer
funds. "We need (new)
schools more than ever,"
he said, taking note of
the Town of Smithfield's
recent approval of a
2,000-unit residential
subdivision that could add
850 students to Johnston's
schools.
The County Commissioners
have authorized a
$177-million school-bond
issue to be put on the
ballot for this November's
General Election. School
board members on Wednesday
emphasized that a decision
has not been made on
specifics of projects to
be financed if the bonds
are approved.
Schools'
insurance policies
renewed for just 2% more
Also
on Wednesday, the school
board approved
insurance-policy renewals
adding up to $2,794,672 –
an increase of $58,675,
just 2%. Stephen Britt,
the schools' chief of
financial services, told
the board a doubling of
the cost of "cyber
liability" coverage
accounted for much of the
rise in total premiums.
These
front-yard signs
are endorsements you
can trust in all
seasons.
CallPernell.com
Retail sales up 13.9% in latest quarterly
report
Retail
sales in Johnston County
continued their recent
double-digit percentage
gain during the first
quarter of 2022 when
volume totaled
$699,162,295 – an increase
of 13.9% over the same
period a year earlier,
according to the latest
report from the N.C.
Department of Commerce.
Quarterly gains of this
magnitude are an indicator
of Johnston County's
recent surge in
population, magnified by
inflation.
Johnston's jobless rate rises slightly to
3.3%
The
number of Johnstonians
holding jobs in May –
103,241 – was almost the
same as the number
employed in April
(103,245), but the number
filing for unemployment
benefits increased from
3,186 to 3,495, raising
the county's unemployment
rate from 3% to 3.3% (the
statewide rate for May was
3.6%). Johnston's jobless
rate for May last year was
4.5%.
VIEW the
state's May report
covering all of North
Carolina's counties>
June has produced just 1.01 inches of
rainfall
Cornell
Cox reports from the Weekly
Sun's "official:
Backyard Weather Station
in South Smithfield that
measurable rainfall was
recorded here on seven
days this past month, yet
the total from those "rain
events" was a paltry 1.01
inches. That brings the
total for the first half
of 2022 to 16.57 inches.
Normal annual rainfall for
Smithfield is just under
48 inches, so we're not
even halfway there yet.
WHAT'S
COMING UP?
Downtown fireworks this Sunday, the
3rd of July
South
Smithfield neighborhood
hosting parade on the
4th
Another
community event making a
comeback from the
coronavirus pandemic is
the annual South
Smithfield 4th of July
Neighborhood Parade open
to all comers and
spectators regardless of
place of residence. It
begins at 10 a.m. Monday
on Crescent Drive just
south of Hood Street and
features youngsters and
adults wearing patriotic
strollers and riding (or
pushing) bicycles, wagons,
and strollers. Cookies and
lemonade will be provided
by the neighborhood after
the parade.
Town
Council, County
Commissioners taking
next week off
Both
the Smithfield Town
Council and the Johnston
County Board of
Commissioners will forego
their regularly scheduled
first-of-the-month
meetings next week in
deference to the Fourth of
July holiday. The Town
Council will hold its July
meeting on Tuesday the
12th while the County
Commissioners are not
scheduled to meet again
until their regular
third-Monday session on
July 18. The agenda for
the July 12 Town Council
meeting should be posted
next week on the
town's website>
Heritage
Center closing for a
week to move Reading
Room
The
Johnston County Heritage Center
will be closed to the public
the week of July 11-16 while
staff and volunteers
relocate the center’s
Reading Room from the third
floor to the ground floor.
Meanwhile, a new county
history museum, slated to
open in the fall, is in the
process of being set up in a
portion of the former Rose's
building at 329 East Market
Street. During the week's
closing, Heritage Center
staff will continue to
assist the public with
information by phone at
919-934-2836 or by e-mail at
heritagecenter@johnstonnc.com.
DEATHS
AND FUNERALS
A
WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE
EDITOR
"We
hold these truths to be
self-evident...."
In these days of unprecedented political
turmoil (in our
lifetimes, at least), a
good starting place to
reset our ideological
compasses is a
re-reading of this
nation's Declaration of
Independence – the
reason we celebrate the
Fourth of July.
Here's the full text of
that sacred document
(with punctuation and
spelling of words
following the original
handwritten version):
In
Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous
Declaration of the
thirteen united States
of America, When
in the Course of human
events, it becomes
necessary for one
people to dissolve the
political bands which
have connected them
with another, and to
assume among the
powers of the earth,
the separate and equal
station to which the
Laws of Nature and of
Nature's God entitle
them, a decent respect
to the opinions of
mankind requires that
they should declare
the causes which impel
them to the
separation.
We hold these truths
to be self-evident,
that all men are
created equal, that
they are endowed by
their Creator with
certain unalienable
Rights, that among
these are Life,
Liberty and the
pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these
rights, Governments
are instituted among
Men, deriving their
just powers from the
consent of the
governed.
That whenever any Form
of Government becomes
destructive of these
ends, it is the Right
of the People to alter
or to abolish it, and
to institute new
Government, laying its
foundation on such
principles and
organizing its powers
in such form, as to
them shall seem most
likely to effect their
Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will
dictate that
Governments long
established should not
be changed for light
and transient causes;
and accordingly all
experience hath shewn,
that mankind are more
disposed to suffer,
while evils are
sufferable, than to
right themselves by
abolishing the forms
to which they are
accustomed. But when a
long train of abuses
and usurpations,
pursuing invariably
the same Object
evinces a design to
reduce them under
absolute Despotism, it
is their right, it is
their duty, to throw
off such Government,
and to provide new
Guards for their
future security.
Such has been the
patient sufferance of
these Colonies; and
such is now the
necessity which
constrains them to
alter their former
Systems of Government.
The history of the
present King of Great
Britain is a history
of repeated injuries
and usurpations, all
having in direct
object the
establishment of an
absolute Tyranny over
these States. To prove
this, let Facts be
submitted to a candid
world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most
wholesome and
necessary for the
public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws
of immediate and
pressing importance,
unless suspended in
their operation till
his Assent should be
obtained; and when
so suspended, he has
utterly neglected to
attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the
accommodation of
large districts of
people, unless those
people would
relinquish the right
of Representation in
the Legislature, a
right inestimable to
them and formidable
to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at
places unusual,
uncomfortable, and
distant from the
depository of their
public Records, for
the sole purpose of
fatiguing them into
compliance with his
measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses
repeatedly, for
opposing with manly
firmness his
invasions on the
rights of the
people.
He has refused for a long time, after such
dissolutions, to
cause others to be
elected; whereby the
Legislative powers,
incapable of
Annihilation, have
returned to the
People at large for
their exercise; the
State remaining in
the mean time
exposed to all the
dangers of invasion
from without, and
convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population
of these States; for
that purpose
obstructing the Laws
for Naturalization
of Foreigners;
refusing to pass
others to encourage
their migrations
hither, and raising
the conditions of
new Appropriations
of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of
Justice, by refusing
his Assent to Laws
for establishing
Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will
alone, for the
tenure of their
offices, and the
amount and payment
of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices,
and sent hither
swarms of Officers
to harrass our
people, and eat out
their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace,
Standing Armies
without the Consent
of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military
independent of and
superior to the
Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to
a jurisdiction
foreign to our
constitution, and
unacknowledged by
our laws; giving his
Assent to their Acts
of pretended
Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops
among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from
punishment for any
Murders which they
should commit on the
Inhabitants of these
States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of
the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the
benefits of Trial by
Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried
for pretended
offences
For abolishing the free System of English
Laws in a
neighbouring
Province,
establishing therein
an Arbitrary
government, and
enlarging its
Boundaries so as to
render it at once an
example and fit
instrument for
introducing the same
absolute rule into
these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our
most valuable Laws,
and altering
fundamentally the
Forms of our
Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and
declaring themselves
invested with power
to legislate for us
in all cases
whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by
declaring us out of
his Protection and
waging War against
us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our
Coasts, burnt our
towns, and destroyed
the lives of our
people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies
of foreign
Mercenaries to
compleat the works
of death, desolation
and tyranny, already
begun with
circumstances of
Cruelty &
perfidy scarcely
paralleled in the
most barbarous ages,
and totally unworthy
the Head of a
civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken
Captive on the high
Seas to bear Arms
against their
Country, to become
the executioners of
their friends and
Brethren, or to fall
themselves by their
Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst
us, and has
endeavoured to bring
on the inhabitants
of our frontiers,
the merciless Indian
Savages, whose known
rule of warfare, is
an undistinguished
destruction of all
ages, sexes and
conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have
Petitioned for Redress
in the most humble
terms: Our repeated
Petitions have been
answered only by
repeated injury. A
Prince whose character
is thus marked by
every act which may
define a Tyrant, is
unfit to be the ruler
of a free people.
Nor have We been
wanting in attentions
to our Brittish
brethren. We have
warned them from time
to time of attempts by
their legislature to
extend an
unwarrantable
jurisdiction over us.
We have reminded them
of the circumstances
of our emigration and
settlement here. We
have appealed to their
native justice and
magnanimity, and we
have conjured them by
the ties of our common
kindred to disavow
these usurpations,
which, would
inevitably interrupt
our connections and
correspondence. They
too have been deaf to
the voice of justice
and of consanguinity.
We must, therefore,
acquiesce in the
necessity, which
denounces our
Separation, and hold
them, as we hold the
rest of mankind,
Enemies in War, in
Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the
united States of
America, in General
Congress, Assembled,
appealing to the
Supreme Judge of the
world for the
rectitude of our
intentions, do, in the
Name, and by Authority
of the good People of
these Colonies,
solemnly publish and
declare, That these
United Colonies are,
and of Right ought to
be Free and
Independent States;
that they are Absolved
from all Allegiance to
the British Crown, and
that all political
connection between
them and the State of
Great Britain, is and
ought to be totally
dissolved; and that as
Free and Independent
States, they have full
Power to levy War,
conclude Peace,
contract Alliances,
establish Commerce,
and to do all other
Acts and Things which
Independent States may
of right do. And for
the support of this
Declaration, with a
firm reliance on the
protection of divine
Providence, we
mutually pledge to
each other our Lives,
our Fortunes and our
sacred Honor.
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