The members of the Dare County Board of Commissioners are coming to Hatteras Island next week on Thursday, Feb. 4. They are coming to hear from their constituents at a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Fessenden Center.
And all of us who live on Hatteras — or live elsewhere but own property here — ought to be there. We ought to pack the house.
The reason why we should attend is that Dare County’s long-planned beach nourishment project in north Buxton will apparently start in late spring or early summer.
The restoration of the beach is waiting for several state and federal permits. The most important of them is a special use permit from the National Park Service, which owns the beaches in the seashore. The permits are expected to come through in time to start pumping sand in just a few months time.
And before the sand starts hitting the beach, the commissioners will decide whether or not Hatteras islanders will help pay for the project, which is expected to cost between $20 and $27 million.
So if you pay taxes on Hatteras Island, you ought to attend the town hall meeting on Thursday and tell the commissioners you don’t think it’s fair to ask islanders to pay for sand to protect Highway 12.
Or tell them that you think it’s just fine to help pay for sand on the Buxton beach.
However, you had best say something because the commissioners have already had a presentation on the creation of a special tax district to pay for the project by county manager Bobby Outten. That happened back in November, and board chairman Bob Woodard says he is just giving all of his fellow commissioners time to digest the material before they discuss it — and then vote on it.
It’s probably a safe bet that the commissioners will discuss a “sand tax” at their board retreat in February and at their budget workshops after that.
Part of the cost of all four projects will be paid out of the Shoreline Management Fund, which is funded by a 2 percent county occupancy tax.
The reason that this is even an issue is that northern beach towns are asking property owners to pony up to pay for part of their nourishment projects.
The projects include one several years ago in Nags Head and three planned for late spring or early summer in Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, and Duck. Most of the cost of the projects has or will come from the county’s Shoreline Management fund, which is funded by a 2 percent county occupancy tax.
However, the towns have asked all property owners to contribute to the cost of pumping sand. Oceanfront property owners will shoulder most of the burden, but all town property owners will contribute — on the theory that what is good for the oceanfront is good for everyone in town.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
However, the Buxton project, from the beginning, has been aimed at protecting Highway 12 from the encroaching Atlantic Ocean. Protection of the highway is the basis upon which the permits will be issued. Specifically, the Park Service, which generally opposes nourishment of its beaches, approved the project to protect the highway.
Many believe it is the responsibility of the North Carolina Department of Transportation to protect the highway, as it did with nourishment in the northern Rodanthe area two years ago.
However, for whatever reason, NCDOT has not responded to local requests to address the issues in north Buxton. The department apparently does not consider that the erosion threat there rises to the level of an emergency.
So, finally, the Board of Commissioners several years ago and under Democratic leadership, stepped up to the plate and moved ahead to see if the Park Service would allow it and if the county could afford it.
The board had not previously addressed the issue of whether islanders would pay for the nourishment, though there was a general belief that they would not be asked, since the project is aimed at protecting the highway.
Republicans have been the majority on the board — five to two — since the November 2014 general election. At least three of the Republican board members have said publically that they favor asking Hatteras taxpayers to assume some of the burden.
The only commissioner who has publicly said that he opposes a special tax district for Hatteras is Allen Burrus of Hatteras village.
The board can decide not to create a special tax district since the purpose of the project is to protect the highway. Of course, if this is the board’s decision, its members would likely take some flak from constituents in towns who are paying increased taxes.
Or they can create the district, and in that case, there are several options for who should pay for the sand — all of Hatteras Island, all of Buxton, oceanfront property owners in Buxton only. One suggestion even puts the burden on Buxton, Frisco, and Hatteras village property owners — kind of like paying a tax to get to use the highway to your home or business.
Bear in mind that the Buxton nourishment will benefit 34 oceanfront properties with a total value of about $16.8 million. Those 34 property owners would have to pay a huge amount in additional taxes to even make a dent in the cost of the nourishment project.
One of the options would be to ask whatever combination of property owners the commissioners decide on to pay an additional 7.82 cents per $100 of valuation — which is the average of what property owners in Nags Head were asked to pay.
Anyway, in an interview with me for Radio Hatteras earlier this year, board Chairman Woodard noted that he expected that the commissioners would hear how Hatteras Island taxpayers feel about a “sand tax” at the town hall meeting.
Seems to me that’s an invitation to show up or shut up.
There seems to have been little discussion of the possibility of a sand tax among islanders.
I wrote two blogs about the issue in November, and still there hasn’t been much discussion.
That leads me to believe one of two things:
1. No one reads my blog.
2. No one on Hatteras, besides me, opposes asking islanders to pay for protecting Highway 12.
I understand that the first reason is a possibility, maybe even a probability — my blogs do tend to be long and ponderous.
However, I don’t believe most islanders are just fine with paying an additional tax to protect the highway.
If that is fine with you, you can come to talk to the commissioners about other issues — trash pickup, recycling, mosquito control, trashy and neglected properties, or whatever.
That’s Thursday, Feb. 4, at 6:30 p.m. at the Fessenden Center in Buxton.
There is no time limit on how long you can talk, by the way.
And also by the way, I’ve tried to keep this blog a little shorter by not going into all of the details about the options for a special tax district that the commissioners are pondering. You can find out much more by clicking on the stories below.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Hatteras islanders need to be heard on taxing for beach sand
