Kill Devil Hills endorses occupancy tax hike
Kill Devil Hills commissioners endorsed a 1 percent increase in the occupancy tax for beach nourishment Monday but said it should also be available to tear down or move houses and for other methods to stabilize the shoreline.
In a resolution, town commissioners also said they preferred that the Dare County Shoreline Management Fund pay for no more than half of Nags Head’s $36 million proposal for pumping sand onto its beaches.
The resolution came in response to a request by Nags Head Mayor Bob Oakes to support using $20 million from the shoreline fund and adding 1 percent to the occupancy tax to pay back a $16 million bond over five years for his town’s project.
“Thank you very much. You all are great partners, and it’s great to see an idea improved upon,” Oakes told Kill Devil Hills commissioners after the vote.
Funding half of its project from the $24 million shoreline fund would give Nags Head $18 million. That means the town would have to find $2 million somewhere else or borrow more money if the suggestion in the Kill Devil Hills resolution was incorporated into any funding plan adopted by the county. Last week, Nags Head commissioners said they would push for getting money from the state.
Oakes said after Monday’s vote that the town had some other options for funding, including a special assessment, a special tax district or, if necessary, an increase in the property tax.
“We’ve tried to steer away from that,” he said.
Kill Devil Hills has its own beach nourishment plan, which calls for as much as $18 million from the shoreline fund. There is not enough money right now for both projects, but there has been discussion of sharing scientific data and technology as a way to cut costs.
The Kill Devil Hills resolution has no legal influence on how the county decides to spend the money. But it carries some political weight. It recommends a “super majority” approval of three-fifths or five of the seven members of the Dare County Board of Commissioners for any plan to distribute shoreline management funds. It said it should be based on a formula recommended by the Shoreline Management Commission.
It said that the extra one percent on the occupancy tax should be “designated for beach nourishment, endangered structure relocation or demolition assistance grants and any other shoreline response permitted or authorized in North Carolina . . .”
One percent of the existing occupancy tax already goes into the shoreline fund.
Kill Devil Hills Mayor Ray Sturza said commissioners wanted to “take the broader approach for that second penny.”
That could include jetties or breakwaters, which are illegal under state law. The General Assembly, however, is considering whether to allow exceptions to the ban on terminal groins and recently received a study and a recommendation from the Coastal Resources Commission, which said they could be beneficial if used in conjunction with beach nourishment. (see related story)
Nags Head would like to see a terminal groin at the north end of Oregon Inlet because of its potential to retain some of the sand on its southern beaches. The town is also wrestling with the legal, logistical and financial problem of getting rid of nuisance structures on the public beach that are uninhabitable or have collapsed in South Nags Head.
Monday’s resolution suggesting 50 percent funding mirrors a suggestion by Chairman Warren Judge at last month’s meeting of the Shoreline Management Commission. Judge is also the chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners. (see related story)
The shoreline commission is an advisory panel made up of representatives from the county and the six towns. Oakes, who is on the shoreline commission, said he thought the panel might settle on a recommendation for funding his town’s project when it meets today.
Unlike Kill Devil Hills, other towns have been cool to Nags Head’s funding plan. Kitty Hawk was unable to agree on the 1 percent occupancy tax increase and Southern Shores rejected it. (see related story)
Increasing the occupancy tax from 5 percent to the maximum 6 percent requires authorization from the General Assembly, which starts its short session next month. The short session is reserved primarily for money issues and non-controversial bills.
Dare County’s General Assembly delegation has indicated that it wanted to see a consensus on the tax among the local governments.
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Butch Stone says:
Good for KDH!!!!
whats wrong with Southern Shores???
this tax will not hurt anyone and will save the homes and beaches on the Outer Banks
The tourist will still come here and will pay the tax increase without complaint –but they won’t come here if there is no beach or bad beaches
Ray says:
The consolation I constantly offer myself as I read more and more about the Nags Head beach nourishment morass is the deep down feeling that all of this will come down to absolutely nothing; our beaches will not be nourished, and, as it should, Mother Nature will prevail.
Amusing as usual says:
I’d love to see nourishment happen and then Nags Head launch their new summer campaign:
Vacation in Nags Head, because Kitty Hawk, Duck, and Kill Devil Hills beaches suck! We’ve got sand! We’ve got sand!
Duke Starco says:
Thanks KDH. Lets hope this is the beginning of some consensus of the Towns and County and get the project going.
Butch Stone says:
to Ray
how about if you not paint you home when it needs it..
don’t change your oil in your car when you need to–what happens?
So let’s just let the ocean take the homes and the hotels and let it cut through to the sound– like it wants to and just give up like you and let mother nature prevail!!
Gail M. Jones says:
Rob Morris, Thank you so much for the excellent coverage of the meetings. I can’t tell you much THE OUTERBANKS VOICE has meant to me as an out of state homeowner. Maybe I should place an ad…
FREE HOUSE READY FOR REMOVAL. OH, YOU WILL NEED TO PAY THE $100 A DAY FINE THAT THE TOWN OF NAGS HEAD HAS BEEN CHARGING ME RETRO-ACTIVE to FEB. 3, 2010. MOTHER NATURE HIT ME AND THE TOWN HAS TOO. It’s like being kicked when you’re already down.
Bobby says:
So, the movement begins. And maybe if we had more problem solvers than finger pointers we could move forward with success. The old guard is losing its steam as more forward-thinking and business-oriented minds look for solutions and now we have a like-minded neighbor that wants that same solution. The chicken little skits are far overdone and have been going on for years. Let’s preserve all of our beaches. If SS doesn’t want to participate let them be the next SNH in crisis by not taking action! But why would those that are incompassionate and live away from the ocean and are resistant to change care anyway?
Ray says:
Bobby,
The feeling that some people are “incompassionate” about the plight of those who want sand on the beach is generally wrong. Until beach nourishment proponents come to grip with the fact that (1) beach nourishment will not be successful here, (2) is not economically feasible, (3) and residents are not affluent enough to support it, nothing much will be accomplished.
TT Smith says:
VA beach facts: Nourishment started in 1949 as a simple dump and fill project. Now the total price tag is well over a billion dollars.
A $125 million project washed away in a single storm (Isabel).
The city owns a cutterhead dredge and has 21 employees working three shifts, seven days per week to bypass sand to the Resort Beach.
Beach fill at Sandbridge Beach in Virginia Beach is funded through a Special Service Tax District where property owners pay an extra $0.12 property tax per $100 assessed valuation for beach fill.
Do we really want to go down this road? Proponents have no idea what kind of perpetual expense they are advocating.
Butch Stone says:
to-TT Smith
Where did you get your info from??
It’s still better to lose sand– THAN TO LOSE HOMES or hotels and Va. Beach KNOWS THIS…many smart people there.
If you own a mountain ski resort–you make snow knowing it will melt.