January LIBPA Newsletter

Island Notes: A Special Christmas Gift. Mr. Windell Mulligan, DOT Public Works Officer graciously used his assets and personnel to clear the portions of the sidewalks along Sams Point Road which had become so overgrown with grass as to be a significant eyesore. Most property owners do a great job of maintaining the sidewalks adjacent to their property. Regretfully, absentee property owners pose a serious problem in regard to maintaining clean and clear sidewalks. Thanks Mr. Mulligan, the community appreciates you noticing our problem with the sidewalks and helping us out. Convenience Center Renovation. The Beaufort County Public Works Department has been attempting to find and purchase land for construction of a new convenience center on Lady’s Island to replace the present one at Airport Road. After almost 5 years of searching for property without success the decision was made to renovate the existing one. To accomplish the renovation will require closing the site for a period of time. The $457,278 contract for the renovation project was recently awarded to REA Contractors and should be accomplished in 2009. A Sad Reminder. The recent crash of a Marine Corps F-18 aircraft into a residential area near MCAS Miramar, California reminds us of the importance of maintaining an Air Installation Compatible Use Zone (ACUIZ) around MCAS Beaufort and continuing to limit this area to low density development. Congratulations! An indication of the quality of the teachers and administrators in our schools is the fact that in addition to Lady’s Island Middle School Assistant Principal Jennifer Morillo being selected as the 2008 SC Middle School Principal of the Year, Ms. Laurel Ingram, who taught English at Lady’s Island Middle School for 10 years and is now Principal at Beaufort Middle School, has been selected as 2008 SC Middle School Principal of the Year. Change of Leadership at Coastal Conservation League. Mr. Patrick Moore, Director of the Beaufort Branch of the Coastal Conservation League has been promoted and transferred to the Government Relations section of the League in Columbia. We congratulate him on his promotion, thank him for his contribution to our community and wish him the best of luck in his new position.

From The Editor: I have had the privilege of serving as the editor of the Lady’s Island Business and Professional Association newsletter for over 8 years. For that same period of time, Ms. Judy Smith has, with great skill, done the layout, coordinated the printing and ensured delivery. With the help of a lot of people, the newsletter has quadrupled in size, added e-mail as an alternative delivery method and is now shared on the LIBPA community web site. Throughout this evolution you, the members of LIBPA, have demonstrated exceptional patience and courtesy in regard to my proofreading ability (or lack there of), my spelling errors and on occasion my inability to read a calendar. Please know how very much I appreciate your support and understanding as we have attempted to improve the newsletter. The welcome arrival of the Lady’s Island News signals the need for a close look at our newsletter. The Lady’s Island News provides 8000 copies each week, free of charge, to the residents and businesses on the island, offers an opportunity for paid advertising (which the LIBPA newsletter as nonprofit organization intentionally cannot), covers the school and social scene 100 times better than the newsletter could ever do and is not limited in size. To have a weekly newspaper oriented specifically toward Lady’s Island is good for our community and LIBPA will make every effort to support it, including sharing our articles. Which brings us back to the question of the proper role of the LIBPA newsletter in 2009? We are reasonably sure we will continue to use the newsletter as a means to give our community a voice on key issues, ask our elected officials to share their thoughts on subjects which affect our island, provide data designed to assist our members in making decisions on controversial local issues, pass on the latest information in regard to growth issues and continue to struggle to master the best method to use our web site. On the other hand we will not attempt to do those subjects which are time sensitive or due to the nature of the subject can best be presented by the Lady’s Island News. So please be patient with us this year as together we, who work on the Lady’s Island Business and Professional newsletter and the publishers and editor of the Lady’s Island News, strive to insure our efforts complement each other to the benefit of the all of the members of the community. If you have ideas on this subject please share them with us. Again, thank you for your support of LIBPA and our community.

Time To Pay Annual Membership Dues: The notice requesting submission of annual membership dues, along with a self addressed envelope, will be mailed this month. Included in the request for membership dues is a form to allow a change of address (actual or e-mail). Upon receipt of the invoice please take time to send in your payment. The deadline for payment of 2009 dues is February 28. Many of our members have already sent in their dues without waiting for invoices – thank you. If you joined LIBPA during the special membership drive in the latter part of 2008 you will not receive a notice since your initial membership fee included your dues for 2009. If you have any questions about the status of your membership dues please call Judy Smith at 522-0066.

Small Business Facts: Lady’s Island is home to a good number of small businesses. Technically, according to the federal government, a small business is any firm with fewer than 500 employees. Using that definition, the following facts are provided by the Small Business Association (Office of Advocacy). Small businesses in the United States: ♦ Make up 99.9% of the 27.2 million businesses across the nation. ♦ Provide half of all private sector jobs. ♦ Generate 80% of all new jobs each year. ♦ Create more than ½ of all non farm gross domestic products. ♦ 66% of all new small businesses survive at least 2 years. ♦ 44% of all new small businesses survive at least 4 years. ♦ 31% of all new small businesses survive at least 7 years. Perhaps, with the reduction in the intense pressure of growth this would be a good time to conduct a serious evaluation of what is needed to make our area more supportive of small businesses. We appreciate all of those who chose to establish their businesses on Lady’s Island and encourage everyone in these tough economic times to, when at all possible, buy locally.

New Charter For Airport Board: The Beaufort County Airports Board is comprised of volunteers and designed to provide County Council with advice in regard to the operation and long range planning of the Hilton Head and Lady’s Island Airports. The charter by which the board was originally established and operated has recently been reviewed and modified by Beaufort County Council. The new charter establishes specific positions on the board for representatives of the Lady’s Island Airport and sets fort specific criteria for membership. The Lady’s Island Airport plays a very important role in our community. If serving as a member of this board is of interest to any of our members the charter to include the criteria for membership is available at the LIBPA web site (www.libpa.org). The final decision regarding membership on the Board will be made by Beaufort County Council. Those desiring to be considered for appointment to the board must complete a “volunteer” application at the Beaufort County Administration Building (available at information desk). A special thanks to Rich Tritschler, past president (2007-2008) and now vice president of LIBPA for his efforts to ensure Lady’s Island has a voice on the Airport Board.

Congratulations Mrs. Morillo 2008 S. C. Middle School Principal Of The Year : We, who live on Lady’s Island, are very aware of what great educators and leaders we are privileged to have in our local schools. However, it is nice when a state level organization also recognizes one of them for their exceptional contribution. Such is the case of Mrs. Jennifer Morillo, the Assistant Principal at Lady’s Island Middle School, who was recently selected by the S. C. Association of School Administrators as the 2008 S. C. Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year. In describing why he believed she deserved consideration for the award LIMS Principal Terry Bennett stated that “Her deep commitment to her students, staff, and community is only secondary to her obvious belief that all children can learn and will learn. Mrs. Morillo’s passion for what is right and for defending the underdog will never vacillate, especially if this little guy is a defenseless student or an at – risk parent.” Mrs. Morillo came to Lady’s Island Middle School in 2004 from H. E. McCracken Middle School where she was a teacher. She graduated from University of South Carolina in Columbia and obtained her masters degree from Charleston University. She and her husband and two children reside in Bluffton.

Did You Know?: by Jim Bequette, Lady's Island Representative Beaufort County School Board Personal Pathways to Success was created by the Education and Economic Development Act of 2005 by our state legislature and signed into law by Governor Mark Sanford. Personal Pathways is an innovative way of connecting academic studies with preparation for entering the workplace. It must be implemented in all SC schools by 2010. Here is how it works: 1. In elementary school students will learn about a variety of professions through career awareness activities. 2. In middle school students will explore careers to identify clusters of study relevant to their aspirations and abilities. Beginning in the 8th grade students will write and annually update an Individual Graduation Plan (IPG) with help from guidance counselors and parents. 3. In high school students will experience a variety of professional opportunities through apprenticeships or internships. In the 10th grade students will declare a major based on their chosen cluster of study. They will then plan and prepare for college study, specialized training or employment with input from parents, educators, counselors and the business community. South Carolina has organized professions and careers into 16 broad categories which are further subdivided into areas of concentration. Each school district must offer training in at least three of these clusters. Beaufort County along with the Academy for Career Excellence (ACE) is offering areas of concentration in 15 of these career clusters—only manufacturing is not offered. Students are allowed to transfer between high schools in order to get the program of their choice. Examples of clusters are: 1. Architecture/Construction offered at ACE 2. Science/Technology/Engineering/Math offered at Beaufort High, Bluffton High and Battery Creek High Schools. 3. Hospitality/Tourism offered at Hilton Head High School If you would like a list of all 16 clusters or the area of concentration at each of our high schools including ACE, please contact me. The Beaufort County School District is fortunate to have Dr. Catherine Smith as Director of Career and Technical Education. During her tenure as Principal of ACE, it became our only school with a rating of “Excellent” from the SC State Department of Education.

Best Wishes For A Speedy Recovery!:  Former County Councilman W. R. “Skeet” Von Harten is recovering from open heart surgery. Over the years Mr. Von Harten has served as a great example of how a private citizen can make a difference in their community. In his past role of Chairman and Vice Chairman of County Council, Chairman of the County Land Management Committee and member of the Northern Regional Plan Steering Committee he has been the voice of reason, patience and professionalism. We wish you a quick recovery and please know how very much we on Lady’s Island appreciate your leadership during a time of the most intense growth pressure ever experienced by Beaufort County.

A Transportation Potpourri: by Rick Butler, Transportation Representative Bids in hand for road project, bridge to follow. “So, what is the status of our second bridge and widening of Highway 21/802? I don’t see much happening, ” you might be asking. County Engineer Robert Klink has been busy on our second bridge and Lady’s Island Parkway/Savannah Highway (Highway 21) road widening. This combines both parts of the road work we bought with our 2006 one cent tax initiative, from the Publix intersection on Lady’s Island all the way along the Savannah Highway to Highway 170 at Broad River. Mr. Klink has already solicited bids on this roadwork, and has scheduled the opening of bids for the road portion of this extensive project on Wednesday, January 7. He said that response to the solicitation of bids has been very active, so this project will move a step closer to construction very soon. This large project also includes constructing the second McTeer Bridge span, which is being solicited for bids separately from the roadwork portion of the project. Solicitation of the bridge building bids will happen this month, and Mr. Klink is aiming for the opening of bids to build the bridge about the end of February. With the bids for both parts of this project in hand, County Officials will move to selection of successful bidders, and then vote on authorizing construction to begin later this year. We cannot see the dirt moving yet, but major preliminary progress is well underway on this vital improvement to the Sea Islands connectivity to the mainland. A small silver lining in bridge/road bidding? A possible silver lining to the economic downturn is that companies in the road and bridge building business may be hungrier for work. Last summer there was skepticism that our project could be brought in for the roughly $36 million planned as part of the 2006 one cent sales tax initiative. In the present climate, there might be a better chance of receiving bids within the right ballpark. Seen any accidents waiting to happen? In our driving around Lady's Island we might notice conditions which could contribute to serious traffic accidents. As an example of this sort of thing, consider the way that Brickyard Point Road ends when it reaches the County boat ramp at Brickyard Creek. Here the gently curving highway ends directly onto the boat ramp into Brickyard Creek. No advance warning sign to say "Road Ends" was posted. No reflective taped barrier to warn motorists of the road's end was installed -- just a 45 mph speed limit road abruptly becoming a ramp into a deep waterway! Who should you call if unsafe conditions are noticed? Since this was a state maintained road, a call regarding this situation was made recently to the SCDOT Resident Engineer's office (524-7255). County maintained road issues should be addressed to the County Public Works Department switchboard (470-6400). Being alert to road and traffic conditions which could be made safer is something we can all do to help our community.

Foreclosure And Bankruptcy Report: December of 2008 saw the largest monthly increase to date in the number of single family homes involved in either foreclosure or bankruptcy proceedings in Beaufort County. For example, on Lady’s Island, the total number of homes involved in one or the other types of these proceedings jumped from 17 in November to 28 in December. Northern Beaufort County experienced a 30% increase in families losing their homes while the overall county experienced a 34% increase. Following is a snapshot of the December foreclosure and bankruptcy picture in Beaufort County.                                                        The basic data presented in this article is derived from www.foreclosure.com.

How Does The Foreclosure Process Work?: By Everett Ballenger, BIC Ballenger Realty and Past President of Beaufort County Association of Realtors As the economy continues to pose new challenges the word foreclosure is being heard with increasing frequency. Most of us know that if homeowners fail to make their mortgage payments they can lose their home through foreclosure action. Exactly how the foreclosure process works is not common knowledge. To begin with, there are 2 types of foreclosures in the United States - non-judicial and judicial. Non judicial foreclosures are those that do not involve court action and are not allowed in South Carolina. The only type of foreclosure that is legal in South Carolina is the judicial type. The following information is provided as general information as to how judicial foreclosure works in South Carolina. For judicial foreclosure proceedings to begin the lender must file a complaint against the borrower and obtain a decree of sale from a court having jurisdiction in the county where the property is located, In Beaufort County the Master in Equity (The Honorable Marvin H. Dukes, III) oversees these proceedings. Generally, if the court finds the borrower in default, they will give them a set period of time to pay the delinquent amount, plus costs. If the borrower does not pay within the set period of time, the court will then order the property to be sold. In South Carolina, the property is generally sold in the following manner: 1. A notice of sale, containing a description of the property, the time and place of sale, the borrowers name and the lenders name, must be published at the courthouse door and two other public places at least three weeks prior to the date of sale. The notice must also be published in a newspaper of general circulation within the county where the property resides for the same time period. These type of notices appear in the “classified” section of the Beaufort Gazette. 2. The sale, unless otherwise ordered by the court, must be conducted by the sheriff at the county courthouse in which the property is located. The sale must be held on the first Monday of the month, unless it is a holiday and then the sale may take place on the following Tuesday. The sale may begin at 11:00 am and go until 5:00 pm, but the sheriff may close the bidding prior to that time. 3. In South Carolina, despite the fact that the bidding at the public sale has ended, the auction actually stays open for a full thirty days after the date of the public sale. During this thirty day time period, anyone may place a bid higher than the last bid amount. The successful purchaser will be the one with the highest bid at the end of the thirty days. This ongoing bid process is referred to as “upset” bidding. Anyone, other than the successful purchaser, who has placed a bid during this time, will be entitled to a refund of any deposit made in good faith and he or she will have no further interest in the property. 4. If no objection to the sale price of the property has been filed with the sheriff's office within three months after the date of sale, the sale will be considered confirmed and the sheriff will make any necessary deed endorsements. Lenders in South Carolina may file for a deficiency (the difference between the amount borrowed and the price the house brought at auction) judgment against the borrower who has no rights of redemption. In summary, if a home owner fails to make the monthly mortgage payments the lender can go to court, prove the failure to pay the mortgage payments and the court can direct that the house be sold at public auction. Three months after the date of the auction a deed for the property may be issued to the purchaser and if the house does not sell for the amount originally borrowed the lender can institute further legal action to obtain that amount from the borrower. Note: The basic information contained in this article was derived from S. C. Law and www.foreclosureuniversity.com.

An Early Glimpse of the Lady's Island Real Estate Market: By Everett Ballenger, BIC Ballenger Realty and Past President of Beaufort County Association of Realtors Last year, as we neared the end of the year, I pulled the number of closed sales for Lady’s Island for the first 11 months (January through November) in an effort to obtain an early hint of how the market did in 2007. Using those numbers and comparing the same 2008 figures provides the following picture of the 2008 real estate picture for Lady’s Island.                          The above numbers do look a little bleak, but they are not quite as bad as they first seem. Especially when looking at the land statistics, because, up until late spring of 2007, banks were still lending large amounts of money to builders and developers to purchase land for speculation purposes. This was in spite of the fact that we, in the Beaufort area, had been in a correcting market for about a year! The data for Lady’s Island would indicate there has been very little “speculation” building or purchase of land in 2008. If a builder builds a property now, you can be pretty certain they have a potential buyer for it. As a result of the removal of speculation building from the market there has been a reduction of the available inventory over 2008, especially new houses. As for predictions for next year I see the market leveling off over 2009 to a much more “steady” pace, although there could still be some further softening in prices. Please remember the data presented in this article is only for one area (Lady’s Island) and covers only the first 11 months of the year. We will do an in depth article in the February issue of the LIBPA newsletter, at which time we will look at the entire 2008 real estate market for all of the area of Beaufort County north of the Broad River. Editor’s Note: A special thanks to Mr. Ballenger for his willingness to continue providing a monthly real estate article for the LIBPA newsletter. He has just completed serving as President of the Beaufort County Association of Realtors, sponsors the maintenance of a median on Sams Point Road and along with the other members of Ballenger Realty helps keep the sides of Sams Point Road clean as part of the Keep America Beautiful program. Please know that we in LIBPA sincerely appreciate your contribution to our community and organization.

Incorporate, Remain Unincorporated Or A Third Option, Contract The Town Of Lady's Island: Should Lady’s Island remain unincorporated, annex into the City of Beaufort or incorporate and become the Town of Lady’s Island? This question comes up every year. Following is a brief glimpse of the question of incorporation as it pertains to Lady’s Island. In April of 2000, when the City of Beaufort annexed a large piece of Lady’s Island, a group of citizens enthusiastically promoted the idea of incorporating into the Town of Lady’s Island. The problem with the idea of incorporation, at that time, was that state law prohibited incorporation of any area located within 5 miles of the boundary of another incorporated municipality. Exceptions could be made to the 5 mile rule if the area had a population of at least 15,000. So, at that time, being next to the City of Beaufort and having a population of approximately 11,000 Lady’s Island was not eligible to become an incorporated municipality. James Island, located adjacent to the City of Charleston, was in a situation similar to Lady’s Island in that Charleston was annexing large portions of the island (about one half). James Island also had a dynamic group of residents who desired to incorporate and become a municipality. It took them three tries, numerous law suits and changes to S. C. state annexation laws but in 2006 James Island became a municipality (again) and remains incorporated today. The first two times the City of Charleston took them to court alleging that their incorporation was illegal and won each time. Today, they are still struggling with similar law suits in that James Island won the last one which is being appealed by the City of Charleston. However, as a direct result of James Island’s efforts to become a town, state laws were changed to the extent that in 2005 Lady’s Island could legally petition to become a municipality. Incorporation was considered, surveys were taken and inevitably the question came back to money. How much would it cost to operate a Town of Lady’s Island and what, other than stopping annexation, would be the benefit? Today the Town of James Island, with about 20,000 citizens, operates on a very small budget of about $3.5 million, collects no property taxes (funds come from local option sales tax, state grants, business license fees and building permits). The town provide only minimal services. For police services they contract with the City of Charleston and the fire district for fire services. The island is within a Public Service District which provides basic services such as sewer, water and trash pick up. For these services each resident pays a fee which in the end is nearly the same amount which the City of Charleston residents pay in property taxes each year. No matter how the finances are structured the actual cost for operating a municipality the size of the City of Beaufort (12,000 residents) is approximately $12 to $14 million which translates into property taxes of about $422/year on a $200,000 home. A unique approach to forming and operating a newly incorporated municipality was demonstrated by the town of Sandy Springs, Georgia. In 2005 the 100,000 citizens of the Sandy Springs area of Fulton County, Georgia voted to incorporate into their own city to avoid annexation into the City of Atlanta. The only problem was that Sandy Springs had no government structures and needed to build them from scratch – everything from tax collection to zoning to parks and recreation. Once incorporation was approved the residents of Sandy Springs were approached by the construction and consulting giant CH2M Hill with a unique pitch - let us do it for you. For the starting price of $27 million a year, the contractor pledged to build a complete city government from the ground up. Sandy Springs accepted the offer and became the first “contract city”. The City Manager for the City of Beaufort, John McDonough was hired to become the first City Manger of Sandy Springs. The concept of incorporating and then contracting for all municipal services, with the exception of police, fire and emergency services, was followed by the newly incorporated town of Milton, Georgia and Johns Creek, Georgia where former Beaufort County Administrator John Kachmar became their City Manager and former LIBPA President Buz Boehm his deputy. Recognizing a potential market CH2M Hill formed a subsidiary company (CH2M Hill Omni) which today specializes in running cities and at the present time runs the day to day operation of cities in Georgia, Florida and Colorado. So, in the future, if we as a community decided that Lady’s Island should become a municipality we could legally do so. To operate this new town we could (1) attempt to form a “stand alone’ type of government similar to the City of Beaufort, (2) only provide the minimum basic services as in the case of James Island or (3) contract with a company like CH2M Hill to develop and operate all of the desired municipal services. There is a fourth choice. We could request to annex into the City of Beaufort which would result in a municipality with over 24,000 residents. With all of these choices the bottom line is really, what services could be provided by a municipality (regardless of its name) for which you as a Lady’s Island resident would be willing to pay an extra $400 or so each year in municipal property taxes? It really is all about money.

Conservation Legislation Priorities And How They Relate To Beaufort: by Patrick Moore, Director of the Beaufort Branch, LIPBA friends, it is with excitement and sadness I announce my impending departure from Beaufort. I have taken a job in Government Relations with the Coastal Conservation League in Columbia. I am looking forward to working on State policy but can’t help but think of the t-shirt I have seen around Columbia, “Don’t tell my mother I am a lobbyist, she thinks I play piano in a whorehouse”. In all seriousness, this session will involve several issues that directly relate to the water, air, land use patterns, and quality of life in Beaufort County. The legislative priorities for the Coastal Conservation League in the 2009 legislative session are as follows: Secure Our Water Supply - Some people say water is the oil of the 21st century. A key difference is that alternatives to oil are rapidly developing. There is no substitute for our fresh water. Almost all of South Carolina’s rivers flow through North Carolina and Georgia before they get to us. This means that other States get first crack at a resource that is critical to the economy, environment, and life as we know it. South Carolina has sued the State of North Carolina before the United States Supreme Court over a NC proposal to pipe water out of the Catawba-Wateree Basin into another area of the State entirely. In Georgia, as Lake Lanier continues to drop, there are people eyeing the Savannah River (the source of BJWSA water) to quench Atlanta’s insatiable thirst for resources. Both NC and GA have legislation governing how much water can be taken from a river and how much must be left for recreational, ecological, and future use purposes. South Carolina has no laws about how much water must be left in the river. This total lack of control weakens our negotiating position before the Courts and leaves us open to the criticism that we don’t care enough to protect our resources so why should others. There almost certainly will be a bill this session setting minimum stream flows to protect South Carolina’s water interests. A strong water withdrawal bill is critical for South Carolina’s future. Energy Policy - South Carolina is ranked 4th in per capita energy consumption nationwide. That means as a state we can gain more from energy efficiency measures than 46 other states. We pay some of the lowest per kilowatt rates in the country but have some of the highest bills because of energy inefficiency in our homes and buildings. Every river in the coastal plain and every mile of coast in South Carolina have unsafe levels of mercury in one or more species of fish. That means the health of our citizens, especially children, depends on our ability to find alternatives to energy production methods that put more mercury in our water. The economy of the Lowcountry, and to a certain degree the State, depends on our coastal resources. That means that sea level rise associated with climate change will hit Beaufort County wallets first, with statewide impacts not far behind. South Carolina has substantial potential for solar, offshore wind, and tidal energy which when combined with efficiency, go a long way towards alleviating our need for new coal fired power plants. This legislative session the League will push for abolishing the red tape keeping utilities from pursuing renewable energy, updating building codes, increased evaluation of alternative energy sources, and pushing state buildings to lead by example on energy efficiency issues. Conservation Bank - The South Carolina Conservation Bank is a State fund that is used, often in conjunction with local programs like Beaufort County’s Rural and Critical Lands Program, to purchase land that are valuable to the community. Some local parcels the fund has helped purchase include: portions of McLeod farms, part of Lemon Island, the Johnson Creek Camp islands between Hunting Island and St. Helena, Sanders Farm on St. Helena, Williman Island, and Chisholm Plantation. The Conservation Bank has protected more than 130,000 acres statewide since 2004. The Conservation Bank, along with all other State agencies, is facing severe funding cuts this fiscal year due to budget shortfalls. It makes little sense to fund the bank when real estate prices are high and remove funding when prices are low and the best deals are available for the use of taxpayer dollars. The League will be working to insure that the base funding for the Bank remains in place. Annexation Reform - According to the Northern and Southern Regional Plans, Beaufort County will be almost a billion dollars short by 2025 because we have allowed growth to outpace our infrastructure. This shortfall can be substantially attributed to our inefficient growth patterns brought on by wild annexations. Whether it is the annexation of Clarendon Plantation by the City of Beaufort, Binden Plantation by the Town of Yemassee, or the Mobely tract by the Town of Port Royal, annexation has been in the news frequently. Bluffton grew from 300 acres to more than 33,000 acres between 1997-2007. The recently approved high density residential sprawl in Okatie called “Okatie Village”, eating up some of the last open space in Southern Beaufort County, was approved largely because of the threat of annexation by Hardeeville. The surprise of the general population that the proposed Wal Mart site on Lady’s Island was in the City of Beaufort can be attributed to our outdated annexation laws that allow municipalities to annex down roads, easements and across water bodies miles wide without any real analysis of service, impacts to neighboring landowners, or existing land use plans. The League is pushing to reform our annexation laws by 1) requiring a plan of services to show how and when services will be extended to an annexed area 2) requiring greater public notice to people negatively impacted by proposals 3) doing away with shoestring annexations by requiring 60% continuity of boundary with the annexing municipality 4) expanding statutory standing to entities negatively impacted by the decision like Counties, neighbors, and citizens of the annexing municipality and 5) requiring consistency with existing land use plans. These changes will go a long way towards reducing tax burdens, making service provision more efficient and reigning in the sprawl that our current code has become famous for encouraging. I appreciate the opportunity to share these priorities with you and invite you to attend our annual lobby day or get involved in other ways by visiting our website www.coastalconservationleague.org or emailing me directly at patrickm@scccl.org. It has been a pleasure knowing you and I commend you for being part of a group that is as involved as LIPBA.

2008 Year End Accounting:                                         It should be noted that the data set forth in this article is presented in such a manner as to best show LIBPA members the amount of funds received in the form of dues and interest (certificate of deposits) and the manner in which those funds were utilized along with a comparison to the previous year. LIBPA continues to financially support the maintenance and replacement of the signs for the planted medians on Sams Point Road. The decrease in funds utilized for printing is due to our not publishing a 2008 Lady's Island Business Pamphlet. As can be seen, the LIBPA budget is reasonably stable from year to year and our organization is financially sound.