General Assembly approves rental tax increase
A final vote in the state Senate Wednesday gives Dare County the authority to add another 1 percent to the occupancy tax to help pay for beach nourishment.
The additional tax is a key step in advancing a $36 million plan by Nags Head to pump sand from offshore onto 10 miles of beach.
Dare County was included in a bill allowing new or increased occupancy taxes for a number of towns and counties. One cent of the 5-cent tax is already set aside for beach nourishment and has built a reserve of $22 million in the county’s Shoreline Management Fund.
Under a proposal by Warren Judge, the chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, money from the fund would be used to cover half of the cost of Nags Head’s plan and half of any plan Kill Devil Hills develops.
His plan also calls for using the extra 1 percent of the occupancy tax charged to visiting renters to provide Nags Head with $2 million a year for five years to help retire debt for its project. Another $1 million would be set aside for Kill Devil Hills.
Before the additional one percent can be imposed, the county Board of Commissioners must hold a public hearing and approve it.
“We can act pretty quickly, though,” Judge said.
The goal would be to get it approved by the fall so that rental management companies know the new rate before vacationers begin to book and make deposits for the 2011 season, Judge said. It would bring the occupancy tax to the maximum of 6 percent allowed by law and put total taxes on a rental house at 13.75 percent.
Judge said county commissioners would want to know Nags Head’s plan for funding the balance of the cost of the initial project and for maintenance.
“We’re going to want to see it in place,” Judge said. “I know they’ll get it done.”
The county Board of Commissioners would also have to approve Judge’s proposal for dividing up the shoreline management fund money.
One percent of the occupancy tax generates $3 million to $3.4 million a year. Nags Head Mayor Bob Oakes estimates that the town has to come up with another $8 million to $10 million for the initial project. He said he would like to tackle that first before looking at funding for possible re-nourishment in five to 10 years.
Town commissioners have scheduled a workshop for July 22 to discuss the possibility of generating the difference with a special assessment district on the oceanfront. A number of details need to be worked out, including whether houses west of Old Oregon Inlet Road would be included and how the assessment would be measured.
Oakes said there seemed to be a consensus developing among town commissioners to base the assessment on property tax value rather than oceanfront footage.
The legislation approved Wednesday is now law, according to Schorr Johnson, spokesman for state Senate President Marc Basnight. Local bills do not require the governor’s signature, he said in an e-mail. The Senate vote was 44-3. The house approved the bill Tuesday, 88-26.
Dare County had asked for broader authority, but the bill specifies that the additional 1 percent in Dare County be used only for beach nourishment.
On May 3, county commissioners passed a resolution that said the money should be used “for shoreline nourishment, for endangered structure relocation, for demolition assistance grants, for any other shoreline erosion response technique permitted or authorized in North Carolina now or in the future and for the payment of debt service for any indebtedness incurred for such authorized purposes.”
Previous legislation could provide for other measures under the definition of beach nourishment. Judge said that might include removing houses that interfere with access. (Link here for the specific language.)
Notice of the final environmental impact statement for Nags Head’s project was published in the Federal Register last week and a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could be issued by August.
Oakes said he hopes to get the project started by April of next year.
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charlie says:
Let’s really think outside the box. Have the state ferry division find/build/convert a hull into a multi-purpose self propelled platform. It would be our own winter dredge/pumper for replenishing beaches. In summer it would be the staging platform for weekly fireworks displays up and down the beach paid for and sponsored by the tourism bureau.
Dare county would now have the flexibility to move quickly to replenish hot spots, would not be tied down to expensive contracts with outside vendors, would be the managers of our own destiny.
Ray says:
I’m afraid there’s no such thing as “moving quickly to replenish hot spots” when it comes to beach nourishment, Charlie. The wheels to that piece of political machinery move very slowly, thank goodness.
As to the ferry division, Dare County might be able to purchase the $$ expensive ferry boat that was constructed for the ill-fated Currituck Ferry Project, unless its rusted away by now. Does anyone know what happened to that craft. I assume its sitting over in the Manns Harbor Ferry Yard collecting dust.
The Taxpayer says:
Great, another tax on our visitors; apparently our elected officials won’t rest until they’ve slaughtered the goose that lays golden eggs in Dare County. Increased occupancy taxes don’t raise revenues when visitors stop coming here! Lord I hope some viable candidates come out next time around to challenge the failed elected leadership in Dare County and Nags Head.
John McCarthy says:
“The Taxpayer” has it right– the “goose that laid the golden egg” is dead– the politicians have done it again, as they always do– they don’t get it– taxpayers are fed up and you will be looking for employment soon!
Tim Beacham says:
The beach is our golden egg. We have to maintain our most important asset. Our politicians have this one right.
Ray says:
No, Tim, “our politicans” don’t have this one right.
The people of Dare County have been slapped in the face over this matter ever since, in spite of an overwhelming opposing majority for the sales tax for bn, the board of commissioners, led by Stan White and Warren Judge did it anyway. It cost White his seat and should have cost Judge his seat. Next, came Nags Head Commissioner Anna Sadler who, after her constitutents voted down more taxation for bn, said, “I don’t care what the voters said.” Now, knowing full well that the vast majority of local residents don’t think beach nourishment is cost effective, Warren Judge has led his board into yet another tax that could have been preserved and used for other tourism related matters. What has happened here, Tim, is that voters in Dare County have allowed their voices to be overtaken by a few politicans/businessmen/women who think they know more than the people who put them into office. And, until the voters wake up and change things, the cost of living here on the Outer Banks will continue to rise and the day will come when nonresident investors will control everything from the schoolhouse to the courthouse. The Outer Banks are not like Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach or even Bogue Banks. Most folks up here keep hearing about how the towns on Bogue Banks were nourished. What they don’t understand is that almost no one lives on Bogue Banks in the off season. The Outer Banks beaches are a community of year round residents, who, quite frankly, aren’t affluent enough to support the kind of governmental costs that is being heaped upon them in the name of supporting the tourist industry. It’s past time the wide-eyed 20/20 politicans/movers/shakers/realtor/developers woke up and stopped trying to destroy what is left of this marvelous place. Our visitors aren’t clamoring for beach nourishment or more cottages/condos. It’s the people who want more money in their pockets who are clamoring for it.
Enough is enough.
Dee S says:
“The Taxpayer” does have it right! We’ve been coming from the Northeast to spend our vacation on the Outer Banks for 20 years and have watched the occupancy tax steadily climb. We’ll rethink our total vacation cost (rental, travel time, travel expense) and seriously consider the beaches of New Jersey.
Tim Beacham says:
The beach is the only reason people come here. The maintenance of our beaches should be the #1 concern of our politicians. It is cost effective to maintain the beaches. The value and quality of the beach effects every citizen and homeowner in Dare County.
ekim says:
Lets vote all the bozo’s OUT!! Lets vote BIG RAY in. You got my vote.
Ray says:
Tim,
I find it hard to believe a born and raised Outer Banker like you would say, “…the maintenance of our beaches should be the #1 concern of our politicians..”
Our politicans provide quite well, as it is, for our tourism economy. Look at the exhorbitant visitor’s bureau budget and all the state-of-the-art public services that are here for our tourist’s enjoyment, be it our EMS services, police protection, hospital, ballparks, beach accesses, etc. Let’s make the oceanfront property owners pay for their own protection. It’s tax deductible for them, not for local residents. I believe you are a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Tim; how much money has the chamber put into protecting our beaches; other than lobbying to have locals foot the bill.
dale says:
If they think we will be comming back down next year if they raise any more taxes there, we know our way to Myrtle Beach and we have been coming down for the last fourteen years, and every year thay have been raising taxes, and we the rednecks up north are tired of the hikes in Dare County, and we spend a lot of money there, but it can be spent at South Carolina beaches. In other words, we are fed up with it.
Dumps says:
Well between the politicans and the bird lovers, they are going to shut Dare County down. I love paying for a beach that I can not walk or drive my ORV on.
Jim K in Tenn says:
We’ve been going to Holden Beach, NC for several yrs with families of myself and five siblings/their families.
Were considering Outer Banks, as have heard good things about it. Some of the rentals a little pricey or near the high end of our budget vs Holden Beach, but we were still considering, for change of pace and quality vacation spot.
Then found out that taxes will add another 13.75%
Ouch.
Sorry Outer Banks…..you just pushed yourselves out of consideration.