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GREENSBORO — Cardinal residents moved a step — albeit a baby step — closer Tuesday to becoming Greensboro residents.

The council voted 8-0, with Councilwoman Goldie Wells absent, to move forward with the annexation plan, which could bring as many as 10,000 people from across the county into the city limits.

The next step: At its Sept. 18 meeting, the council will receive detailed information about the services it would provide to annexed areas. The city would mail letters to affected property owners — and there are as many as 4,000 — by Sept. 25.

Final approval would come in late November.

The plan would annex about 8,800 people who live just northwest of the city, in the Cardinal neighborhoods near the airport. Only a few residents listened to the presentation Tuesday.

Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small, who voted to move forward, said she was "having a little bit of heartburn" over the volume of space that would be annexed. Those areas will need services, including bus service, and the will city have to figure out how to pay for it.

"I’m just trying to be a voice of concern on those kinds of things," she said.

The potential annexations would boost the city’s population to more than 250,000 people, according to estimates from the city’s planning department. New residents would get city water, sewer, garbage service and police protection.

But they would pay city taxes for the first time. Those taxes are the downside to annexation, and the owner of a $200,000 house could expect to pay $1,270 a year in city taxes. That’s on top of the $1,383 in county taxes the owner already pays.

In other business, the council voted not to give local taxpayer money to the International Civil Rights Center and Museum, but only to consider donating federal development dollars.

Last week, museum leaders asked the city to consider a $1.5 million donation to the museum, which has been in the works since 1994.

The board informally agreed to pursue the federal money, but didn’t rule out using other city money.

On Tuesday, Councilman Tom Phillips proposed the resolution, which he said was needed to provide clarity to taxpayers who have twice defeated bonds for the museum.

His resolution urges residents to donate private funds and still holds out hope that the sit-in museum will qualify for federal money from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, but it rules out using locally generated tax revenue for the project.

Only Sandra Anderson Groat opposed the resolution.

The council also unanimously agreed to ask new N.C. A&T Chancellor Stanley Battle about the university’s commitment of $750,000 for the East Market Street redevelopment project, something proposed by Councilman Mike Barber.

The university agreed to become a financial partner with the city in paying for the project, but former Chancellor Jim Renick later told the city that the university didn’t have the money.

Last week, a state audit revealed that $380,000 was wrongfully deposited into Renick’s discretionary fund instead of university coffers. A&T administrators say the university misinterpreted the policy for how the money was to be used.

Barber said the issue needs to be revisited in light of those findings.

Contact Margaret Moffett Banks at 373-7031 or mbanks@news-record.com

TIMELINE

9/18: The council can adopt service reports.

9/25: Date by which affected property owners will be notified by mail.

10/25: Public information meeting at Grimsley High School.

11/5: The council holds a public hearing.

11/20: The council considers approving the annexations.

6/30/08: Effective date of annexation, if approved.