KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C. — This week, neighbors have been able to get up close and personal with Dare County leaders through a handful of community meetings. The county is using the meetings to continue educating voters about a sales tax referendum that will appear on the ballot in just a few weeks. The referendum would raise the sales tax rate by a quarter-cent, from 6.75% to 7%.
Geof Fountain attended the meeting in Kill Devil Hills on Wednesday night, and he already knows what he'll be doing at the ballot box next month.
"It will certainly help our area with these facilities that we need, so I'm all for it," said Fountain.
If passed, the tax is expected to generate just over $6 million a year for parks and recreation projects. Last fall, a study outlined a number of projects the community feels are needed here, but the price tag for the list totals $56.9 million.
News 3 has been told by neighbors that although they support parks and recreation improvements, they worry about the money generated actually going toward funding those projects. That's a concern Fountain has heard as well.
"They don't see any accountability in their mind on how this money is going to be spent. I would just think if they had a very clear, crisp annual status on here's what the the referendum tax generated, here's what our spend out is, and here's where we're going, and if they also advertise that in this, then I think you get voters to support it," said Fountain.
Numerous commissioners and County Manager Bobby Outten were present at the community meetings. News 3 asked Outten about those concerns.
"It's hard for me to fathom that the board would go out, have a referendum, tell you that it's for a recreation program that we all agree is sorely needed, that we've been trying to find ways to fund, and then as soon as it gets passed, say, "Ha ha, gotcha," said Outten.
In addition to the more than $6 million the tax is expected to generate each year, Outten told News 3 earlier this summer it would also allow the county to borrow the money needed to address the $56.9 million in projects, funding every item on the list of needs.
"If the referendum passes, then they have to borrow the money. Well, the minute that money is borrowed, then they're locked into that like you're locked into your mortgage for the next 20 years. They've got to pay an annual payment on that, and a future board couldn't come in and say, 'Oh, we're going to default on a 50 million dollar bond,' you couldn't do that," said Outten.
Outten defended the board, saying it has done everything it can since the referendum was placed on the ballot to be transparent and commit those funds to parks and recreation projects.
"They've created a $56 million project in the capital improvement plan, which is a plan that we have that sets forth all the capital needs of the county and sets forth when they get done and all that. That plan is set forth in the first three years of that capital improvement plan. We also have a capital improvement fund, and that's the fund where the money goes to fund everything that's in that capital improvement plan, not just recreation, but everything else. They've done budget amendments and done the things that they need to do to put a place in the capital improvement plan to fund these projects contingent on the tax passing. If those things happen, those funds are committed, and each one of those steps was done with a unanimous vote of the board," said Outten.
What ultimately happens is still in the hands of voters. The county expects more than 70% of the tax will be paid by tourists and says it will cost the average person in the community about $14 a year.
Some of the projects included in the $56.9 million plan are synthetic turf for athletic fields at the Nags Head Soccer Complex, Lions Club Center building renovations, Fessenden Center building renovations, Youth Center building expansion, playground improvements and additional splash pad installations.
For more information on the tax, visit Dare County's webpage on the referendum.
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