Dale Folwell

TownTalk: State Treasurer Folwell On Upcoming Open Enrollment And More

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There may be departments, offices and agencies within state government that hog the spotlight and get attention in any number of ways, but few affect the everyday goings-on of residents of North Carolina like the office of the state treasurer.

Treasurer Dale Folwell, closing out his second term as the state’s chief financial officer, wears a variety of hats, from chairing the Local Government Commission and connecting people to “lost” cash, to advocating for the state retirees’ pension and state employees’ health insurance.

This year’s open enrollment period for state employees and retirees runs from Sept. 30 – Oct. 25. “It’s the longest open enrollment period we ever had,” Folwell said, “and that’s by design.”

This is an important time because the state is transitioning to a new third-party administrator. In January, Aetna will take over from Blue Cross, and Folwell said folks will need to make some choices during open enrollment.

“Pay attention to your emails, don’t procrastinate, and read what it says,” Folwell said on Monday’s TownTalk.

If you’re among 150,000 or so state retirees on Humana’s Basic Plan, you should be all set – no action necessary. But the 600,000 or so other state employees and retirees will need to make sure they choose from their options during open enrollment.

There’s a bus tour happening now to bring information about the transition to residents across the state and McGregor Hall in Henderson will host a stop on Wednesday, Oct. 2 from 3-5 p.m. Visit https://www.shpnc.org/ and follow the links to register for this or other dates.

Folwell will be retiring at the end of this term – an unsuccessful bid for governor meant he was not eligible to file for re-election as treasurer, but he’s been no lame duck during his last months as treasurer.

Just last week, the LGC approved two key projects with local ties – a $400,000 for the City of Henderson to address lead pipe mitigation and a multi-million-dollar project to lay 23+ miles of water lines in the Kittrell area and to make improvements to that town’s 100,000-gallon water tank.

Henderson and Vance County are just two of the approximately 1,200 units that report to the LGC, which Folwell said was established 75 years or so ago as a measure to protect municipalities and county governments from insolvency.

Once Folwell hangs up all the hats associated with his current office, he said he’ll have plenty to keep him busy.

“I love fixing and I love saving,” he explained. As for the fixing part, he ticked off three things that will get his attention: his relationship with God, his family and motorcycles.

“I think I ‘m going to be very happy doing that,” he said.

 

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Vance County High School

SportsTalk: Vance County Vs. Northern Durham Recap

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A look back at Friday night’s game between Vance County and Northern Durham.

(Our coverage for this story is available by clicking play.)

 

Relief Programs For Qualified Homeowners May Reduce Sting From Tax Bill

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The deadline to appeal 2024 property tax valuations has passed, and technically, so has the deadline for qualified homeowners to try to get some relief from those tax bills, due before Jan. 6, 2025 to avoid a 2 percent interest penalty.

June 1 was the deadline to appeal – and apparently to apply for the three programs listed on the Vance County Tax Office website, according to Vance County Deputy Tax Assessor Jennifer Williams.

“After that date, the Tax Office cannot approve or deny any applications, but citizens can appeal their late applications to the Board (of Commissioners) up until the end of the calendar year for which they are applying,” Williams explained in a response to a question sent via email to the tax office late last week.

Commissioners Chair Dan Brummitt said that, to his knowledge, the board has “never denied a senior, veteran, exemption. Folks don’t always see the dates, so we try to work with people,” Brummitt told WIZS News.

The 2024 tax bills were sent out in late August, following the most recent property revaluation required by the state to be completed at least every eight years. The last property revaluation in Vance County was completed in 2016. Some property owners have seen a significant increase over last year’s bill, and the county wants to make sure that eligible homeowners know about the three programs offered.

Below are details of those programs:

  • Elderly or disabled exclusion – this program is for homeowners at least 65 years old or who are totally or permanently disabled and whose 2023 income was $36,700 or less. The program excludes from taxation the first $25,000 or half (whichever is greater) of the assessed value of the permanent residence.
  • The circuit breaker tax deferment program limits the amount of annual property tax the owner owes. Taxes above a certain amount are deferred, but will be due – with interest – if there is a disqualifying event. This program requires the recipient apply each year; if annual income is $36,700 or less, taxes will be limited to 4 percent of  total income. If income is between $36,700 and $55,050, that limit is 5 percent.
  • A program for disabled veterans – or the unmarried surviving spouse of a disabled veteran – excludes up to the first $45,000 of the appraised value of a permanent residence. For purposes of this program, a disabled veteran is defined as a veteran “whose character of service at separation was honorable or under honorable conditions, and who has a total and permanent service-connected disability or who received benefits for specially adapted housing under 38 U.S.C. 2101.” Although there is no age or income requirement for this program, part of the application must be completed by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs. For more info, about veterans services, visit  vancecounty.org … and click on departments and go to veterans-service-office

Find details on the three programs at:  www.vancecounty.org and click on departments then click on tax-overview and go to property-tax-relief-programs.

Or call the tax office at 252.738-2040 or email taxoffice@vancecounty.org.

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Suspect Charged In Deadly Early-Morning Shooting

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– press release from Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow

 

On September 14, 2024, at approximately 1:40 AM, officers of the Henderson Police Department were dispatched to 1126 Maple Street in response to a shooting.

Upon arrival, they found Romids A. Miles, age 40, with a gunshot wound. Life-saving measures were administered by Henderson Police officers and Vance County Sheriff Deputies until EMS arrived. Additionally, Sylvester Deon Burton, age 38, was found at the scene with a gunshot wound to his leg.

Romids A. Miles was taken to a medical facility where he later succumbed to his injuries. Sylvester Burton was also transported to a nearby medical facility and was listed in stable condition.

During the course of the investigation, it was discovered that there had been a physical altercation between Romids A. Miles and a man named Darius Donzell Harris, age 33, in the recent past, which likely led to the shooting at 1126 Maple Street.

At around 4:20 AM, officers were informed that Darius Donzell Harris was seeking treatment at Granville Medical for injuries linked to the incident at 1126 Maple Street. Upon his release, he was taken to the Henderson Police Department and processed for the shooting death of Romids A. Miles.

Darius Donzell Harris was then taken to the Magistrate’s Office, where he was denied bond for the charge of Murder and transported to the Vance County Detention Center pending his next court appearance.

We are still seeking further information about this incident. If anyone has information about this incident, please contact us through Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers at 252 492.1925 or the P3 app, call us at 252.438.4141, or reach out to us through Facebook or Instagram

Mike Waters

Death Investigation Suggests 21-Year-Old Died By Suicide

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The Vance County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the death of a 21-year-old man who was found Wednesday morning, but District Attorney Mike Waters said the man apparently took his own life.

In a phone interview with WIZS News on Friday afternoon, Waters said he had reviewed evidence in the case and the evidence suggests that Javion Magee, of Aurora, IL, died from an apparent suicide.

The investigation is ongoing in the case, but Waters provided some details.

He said sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call about a man who “appeared to be hanging from a tree.”

“He was in a supine position, basically like he sat down,” Waters added, “with his feet touching the ground, but (he) did have a rope tied around his neck, in such a manner as to asphyxiate himself.”

Further investigation at the scene turned up a Walmart bag containing packaging that had a barcode, which led investigators to a local Walmart where they obtained a video of the subject entering the store by himself and purchasing a rope that was recovered at the scene.

That rope is currently in evidence.

The subject drove his tractor trailer rig, minus the trailer, to a nearby hotel where he inquired about a room, but none was available, Waters continued. He drove to a nearby distribution facility where he parked the tractor, “and that video shows him walking into the woods with a white plastic bag,” Waters said. “He was found very close to where he was last seen.”

None of the video footage shows Magee was accompanied by anyone else. “He did not appear to have anybody with him at any point,” Waters said.

The investigation is ongoing, and an autopsy will be performed by the chief medical examiner, as Sheriff Curtis Brame explained in a press statement released earlier Friday.

Waters said a search warrant will be issued for the vehicle Magee was driving to attempt to recover any digital evidence including phone records.

Sheriff Brame: Death Investigation Continues After Body Found Wednesday On Vanco Mill Road

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The Vance County Sheriff’s office is investigating the death of a 21-year-old man whose body was found Wednesday on Vanco Mill Road.

Sheriff Curtis Brame said deputies responded to a call for service about a deceased person just after 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 285 Vanco Mill Rd.

The Vance County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division responded to the scene to conduct a death investigation into the incident. During the investigation, the male victim was identified as Javion Magee from Aurora, IL, a southern suburb of Chicago.

As Brame told WIZS News and as he stated in the press release, “Magee was transported to the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for Autopsy,” which would be as described standard procedure.

Sheriff Brame has asked for an independent investigation and the State Bureau of Investigations is expected to do so, to review and possibly corroborate the Vance County investigation.

Near the Vanco Mill Road address are several businesses, plus the local bus station, as well as the U.S. 1 entrance and exit ramps.

The Sheriff will not be offering additional information until the results of the autopsy are known.

This case remains under investigation. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Vance County Sheriff’s Office at 252.738.2200 or the Henderson-Vance Crime Stoppers at 252.492.1925 or through the P3 App.

TownTalk: Property Tax in Vance County

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Vance County residents have until Jan. 6, 2025 to pay their property tax bills before getting hit with a 2 percent interest penalty. That may add insult to injury this year, when many taxpayers are facing higher bills as a result of last year’s revaluation.

Vance County is among a handful of counties across the state that waits eight years – the state’s mandatory maximum interval to conduct revaluation – and some county leaders have said it needs to be done more often to reduce the sting and surprise of pricey tax bills.

The county published a list of questions and answers following the public comment portion of the Sept. 3 county commissioners meeting. Tax bills were sent out on Aug. 22, according to information on the county tax department webpage.

Much of the information had been discussed already, either during meetings of the board of commissioners or budget work sessions – the merits of sticking with a revenue-neutral budget versus the need for capital improvement projects that include a new fire station, 911 call center and jail, just to name a few.

One issue that county officials said they will explore is splitting the tax bill to show the breakdown between city tax and county tax for those city residents who must pay both. This hasn’t been done in more than a decade, and a change could come as soon as the 2025 tax bills.

County commissioners adopted the 2024-25 budget on June 24, which included a 10-cent tax increase per $100 valuation. The basic breakdown of that 10-cent increase is $.01 for salary increases to help attract and retain county employees and $.09 for those future capital projects.

As the county faces more opportunities for growth, be they commercial, industrial or residential, there also is a demand for adequate infrastructure to support that growth.

The question that municipalities and counties face is how to balance that growth – providing more services for residents, creating a better and bigger tax base that ultimately may reduce an undue burden on homeowners.

Property owners could appeal their tax bills, as long as they met a few conditions; there was an online mechanism to appeal property tax bills as part of the revaluation process. But 157 property owners in Vance County who completed an online submission got news that their data had been inexplicably lost during a routine computer program update.

To make matters worse, “the normal backup procedures failed to restore the data. The company is working “to better the situation and recollect the lost data,” the FAQ statement read.

Visit https://www.vancecounty.org/departments/tax-overview/ to learn more.

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