When Wilmington officials asked New Hanover County’s government to help cover the costs of the recent ice storm debris cleanup in the city limits, the latter declined.
And some brewing tension popped.
“To send us a letter saying, ‘We don’t think we’re going to do it,’ they might as well just spit in my face,” City Councilman Charlie Rivenbark said of the county and the denial Tuesday. His remark came right before the city council approved additional money from savings to satisfy the final costs of the cleanup, which a private contractor completed early this month.
The county, which used the same contractor, paid about $1.4 million to clear away February’s ice-snapped branches and limbs in the unincorporated area, while the city paid close to $1.8 million in its limits.
From the perspective of some city council members, the county should have covered the entire bill; on Tuesday, City Councilwoman Laura Padgett noted, as she has in the past, that city residents are county residents, too.
Past story: City approves funds for debris pickup; unfair, says councilwoman
“I just want to do a little math for everybody again,” Padgett said before arguing that the city’s residents, by being county taxpayers, essentially paid for about half the costs to clear storm debris in the unincorporated area.
As for the cleanup in Wilmington’s limits, there’s a chance the state will cover about 75 percent of the city’s costs (per a disaster declaration making the city eligible for relief). But even then, Padgett said, figuring in what the city’s taxpayers put in to the county’s coffers, the county should have given back.
“We get it. We have always gotten it,” Rivenbark added. “And they [the county’s leaders] get it. It doesn’t take a mental giant to figure out that we’re being hosed, and they’re just not gonna pay it.”
It loops into an ongoing argument from some city council members that the city’s residents pay into services that benefit residents of the county’s unincorporated area, but not the city as well. The perspective also stands that there are programs the city is paying into that should fully be covered by the county alone. Further, in funding agreements that involve spending from the city and the county, there can be a feeling of the city “paying twice.”
Reached by phone for comment Wednesday, New Hanover County Board of Commissioners Chairman Woody White said he understood the general concept, and that in some cases it has merit.
“Most people understand that there’s going to be some of that when you have a large municipality within a county,” he noted.
But the recent storm cleanup, he said, was sort of a different case. While the county and the city both employed the same contractor–DRC Emergency Services LLC of Mobile, Ala.–it was with separate contracts. The city had its own agreement with DRC, and so did the county.
“They [the city’s leaders] chose, and choose, to provide that service,” said White. “Nobody forces them to do that…. But then to come in and ask for reimbursement after the fact, it’s really not something we planned for. We don’t budget for that. It’s not something we would expect the city to do when they went out with their own pre-negotiated contracts.”
How they paid for it
The city initially estimated about 50,000 cubic yards of debris in its limits from the February 11 storm; ultimately, crews picked up 175,000, which City Public Services Director Richard King likened to the aftermath of a Category 1 hurricane. As the roadside piles of branches and limbs grew, the city had to update its spending figure, and the council had to appropriate more money.
The cleanup in Wilmington began Feb. 20 and wrapped April 3. The unincorporated area cleanup, which relieved roadsides of more than 107,000 cubic yards, concluded later that week.
Recent story: Storm debris cleanup finally complete
The city’s source of money was, generally, savings; the county’s was an enterprise fund of revenues from tipping fees at the county landfill, recyclable material sales and state grants. The county said it did not invest general fund tax dollars.
The city is awaiting word from the state on the possible 75 percent reimbursement.
In an emailed response to City Manager Sterling Cheatham’s request that the county help to cover the city’s bill, County Manager Chris Coudriet noted the county wasn’t eligible for such state disaster assistance per a spending threshold. As such, and considering the $1.4 million the county had to pay, he said he wouldn’t recommend the county help the city in this case.
Going forward, though, there should be some discussion on how to better handle this, Coudriet said.
Unified service?
“I would like to ask that both administrations work closely and quickly to address debris removal operations for the next big event, which could well be a summer storm,” Coudriet wrote to Cheatham. And that could involve one, unified contract for all–even with the beach towns, if they want in, he said.
“We will enjoy a better overall [cost] rate, in my opinion, because of economies-of-scale and full negotiating influence with a combined city-county effort,” wrote Coudriet.
White made a similar remark by phone Wednesday.
“This entire conversation does beg the question of where can we further consolidate services in government to avoid this overlap,” he said. “As the city’s population grows, it becomes more prescient in my mind.”
Past story: City, county talk cooperation, potential consolidation
Ben Brown is a news reporter at Port City Daily. Reach him at ben.b@hometownwilmington.com or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter: @benbrownmedia
