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Bill Saffo (born Vassilios Avgerinos Saffo; 1960) is an American politician and real estate businessman serving as the current
As mayor, he helped usher in the age of
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
of Wilmington, North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the Wilmington City Council in November 2003, serving in the role until his appointment as mayor in December 2006.
Consecutively winning every election since assuming Wilmington's mayoralty, Saffo is the longest-serving mayor in the city's history, carrying out his eighth term as of 2023.
Personal life and education
Born Vassilios Avgerinos Saffo in 1960, the son of first-generationGreek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
immigrants, Saffo is a native Wilmingtonian. Graduating from John T. Hoggard High School in 1978, he went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
in political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...
from the University of North Carolina Wilmington
The University of North Carolina Wilmington, or University of North Carolina at Wilmington, (UNC Wilmington or UNCW) is a Public university, public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Caroli ...
. Subsequently, Saffo began working at Hanover Realty Group, a real estate firm founded by his father, Doky Saffo, in 1965. In 2010, Hanover Realty merged with Seacoast Realty, Inc., a Coldwell Banker
Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC is an American real estate franchise owned by Anywhere Real Estate, with headquarters in Madison, New Jersey. It was founded in 1906 in San Francisco, and has approximately 3000 offices in 49 countries and terri ...
-affiliated company, since operating as Sea Coast Advantage.
As of May 2023, in addition to the mayoralty, Saffo continues to work as a real estate agent with Sea Coast Advantage. He is a member of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Christianity in Greece, Greek Christianity, Antiochian Greek Christians, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christian ...
.
Political career
Saffo first expressed interest in joining the Wilmington City Council in 2003, later successfully campaigning for a seat in November of the same year. In May 2006, nearing the end of Saffo's first term, Mayor Spence Broadhurst announced his upcoming relocation toGreensboro
Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina, af ...
and intention to resign his position. On May 10, Saffo was nominated to fill Broadhurst's unexpired term by Mayor Pro-Tem James Quinn, a motion which was approved unanimously, with Saffo assuming the mayoralty on June 11, 2006.
During his first year in office, Saffo consolidated the city's water and sewage departments; initiated a review of the salaries of municipal employees, cautioning voters that fair salaries would require higher taxes; and began to investigate the economic potential of using revenue from the State's hotel room tax to build a new convention center, with construction underway by 2009. The convention center, which opened in 2010, is regarded as having been successful in expanding the city's convention and tourism business.
As mayor, he helped usher in the age of digital television
Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using Digital signal, digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an ...
on September 8, 2008, when Wilmington became the first city in the United States to switch over from the previous analog television platform.
Having won every mayoral election since his appointment in 2006, Saffo became Wilmington's longest-serving mayor after he again won reelection on November 7, 2017, surpassing the record set in 1937 by Walter H. Blair, who held the office for 11 years. As of 2023, Saffo is serving his eighth consecutive term as mayor.
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