Taxpayers who owe taxes may be relieved to know that there are some options for those who owe and can’t afford to pay the full amount right away. Here are the top things the IRS wants you to know if you need more time to pay your taxes.

• Taxpayers who are unable to pay all taxes due are encouraged to pay as much as possible. By paying as much as possible now, the amount of interest and penalties owed will be less.

High Impact Ordinance review will not be a priority for the board

After nearly a decade of talk and more than a year of intensive work by the planning board and a handful of other volunteer advisory committees, Macon County will finally have a comprehensive plan for development and growth. At a meeting of the planning board on Thursday, March 17, county planner Derek Roland passed out copies of a final draft of the plan, a 134-page document plus appendices which, includes an exhaustive analysis of the county, including population and economic trends, and gives recommendations for growth in five major areas.

On Thursday, U.S. Congressman Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) paid a visit to Franklin to meet with staff and owners at a number of area businesses that are weathering the current economic slump and in some cases even growing in it.

The first location on the itinerary mixed business and pleasure with lunch at Rana Rinatta, an Italian eatery that opened on Highlands Rd. in December. According to restaurant co-owner Lisa Thordarson, who formerly ran The Frog and Owl on Main Street, the business has hired approximately 50 employees, including 6 fulltime salaried positions, making it one of the largest new employers in recent years.

After the Great Depression of the 1930s, the real estate market looked like a 98-pound weakling after going 12 rounds with Mike Tyson in his prime.

However, those market conditions sparked a post-Depression boom that sustained 65 straight years of appreciation in real estate. And according to one expert, it’s about to happen again.

“This is an unprecedented economic crisis, but it is spawning an unprecedented opportunity,” said Greg Rand, a 20-year real estate veteran and author of Crash-Boom (www.crashboom.com) from Career Press. “Real estate prices are at their lowest ebb in years, but anyone with a sense of history in the real estate market knows that those prices will rise as the economy improves and the people who got burned in the mortgage crisis are ready to try their hands at home ownership again. You can’t suppress the American Dream, but you can profit from it if you can have the strength and confidence to act.”