No New Taxes
At last night’s Tourism meeting, attended by twenty-five Ocracoke residents, county manager Bill Rich proposed a new plan: create an Ocracoke Visitor Bureau with $100,000 (annually) of Occupancy Tax funds. That money would be split 60/40; the larger share would go toward tourism promotion and the $40,000 would help to pay a fulltime county employee to direct the Visitor Bureau. (The county would kick in an additional 10K, plus benefits, to the new director because the position would also encompass the county Public Information Officer’s duties.)
This plan is, Bill believes, a good compromise with the Ocracoke community.
After last month’s proposal to raise the OT by 2% was met with resistance from island residents and property owners, Bill, along with county planning office director Kris Noble and county PIO Sarah Johnson (and with input from real estate mogul Bob Oakes), went back to the drawing board.
“We want to create a fulltime county position – Sarah is a prime candidate for that position – whose job would be promoting tourism during the shoulder season, really pushing the shoulder seasons,” he said. “We don’t need more people in the summer season, we need more heads in beds in October, November, December, January, February, and March.”
Bill sees potential benefit to the mainland/county government as well from increased sales tax revenues when all those heads get out of beds and eat, shop, and play.
“Ocracoke is the machine that drives Hyde County,” he said. “I would like to see it expanded upon.”
Bill says that he’s found room in the current OT budget to “take $100,000 without hurting anybody.”
He hopes to get his new plan approved at the April commissioners meeting, and have a Visitor Bureau in place by the beginning of the new fiscal year in July.
“It’s all up to the commissioners,” he said. “They control the occupancy tax.”
It’s true. Although the Occupancy Tax board usually decides where the OT money will go, they are actually just an advisory board and do not have the authority to dole out dollars without a rubber stamp from the commissioners. Bill is bypassing the OT board and going straight to the five guys who could vote on it as early as April 6th.
If the commissioners were to pass such a resolution, then the $100,000 would come off the top of the OT funds, every year. Bill provided a list of OT expenditures for current fiscal year – a whopping $677,000 give or take a few hundred. The OT board still has $550,000 in reserve, saved for a rainy summer.
Bill is confident that the Ocracoke Visitor Bureau and its director would pay their own way within a year.
“If we make another $100,000 from increasing the occupancy tax returns during the shoulder season, this plan would support itself after the first year,” he said.
Bill expects to increase the shoulder season economy by 20%.
“It’s measurable to the day and penny, how good of a job we’re doing,” he said. “We can look at it month by month and year by year.”
Bill is also pushing for more businesses to be open year ‘round
If the commissioners vote Bill’s proposal into policy, then the county will be hiring.
“The job would be open for applications and interviews,” he said. “We could hire somebody on the island or somebody new.” Could you be a “prime candidate”?
If you’re wondering how this idea hatched in the past month, here’s a little background:
Last month, Kris Noble of the county planning and development office, gave a presentation at the Hyde County commissioners meeting, at the February OCBA meeting, and at a special tourism promotion meeting on February 12th. She presented tourism data that she and county PIO Sarah Johnson had compiled, and made the recommendation that the commissioners vote to enact the 2% OT increase (a law on the books since 2006, but never implemented) and create a Tourism Development Authority. (Details about the proposed increase are in this story from last month).
It didn’t go over well with the usual suspects. Representing the lodging folks on Ocracoke were George Chamberlin of Captain’s Landing, Fred Westervelt of The Cove B&B, and Bob Oakes of Ocracoke Island Realty who all spoke out against the increase, which they feel is an unfair burden on their businesses and customers.
There was some support for the idea, but the discussion raised a lot of questions. Many people who might otherwise see the benefits were dismayed by the necessity to create another 5-member volunteer board and more bureaucracy. The Current published one letter to the editor in support of the 2% tax and TDA.
Kris proposed that the Hyde County commissioners vote on the tax increase at their March meeting, so that the TDA could get up and running before the county does its annual budget (April and May) before the end of the fiscal year (June 30th). Public comment was welcome, she said. Bill Rich described it as a “win-win-win” and expressed hope that “we all see it the same way.”
By the March commissioners’ meeting, it was clear that the majority of Ocracoke residents who took the time to comment, did not see it as a win-win-win at all. Several off-island homeowners, at least one inspired by a plea from Ocracoke Island Realty owner Bob Oakes, wrote to the commissioners to protest against the tax increase.
Kris announced that her presentation and the proposed increase had “initiated a great deal of discussion,” that she was withdrawing the request for the commissioners to vote on the increase, and that she would hold another public input meeting on March 12th before asking for a vote.
Connie Leinbach, representing OCBA, also spoke at the commissioners’ meeting. She offered a counter proposal of increasing funding for OCBA’s tourism promotion efforts, using money out of the existing 3% OT funds. OCBA’s proposal includes increasing the salary for their tourism director (full disclosure: that’s me!) and requesting one-time funds to hire a professional marketing firm to create materials and a website for OCBA to use.
On March 11th, Ocracoke’s Occupancy tax board met to hear more details about the proposed 4th of July fireworks display (more on that later!) and to discuss the 2% increase. After some open discussion about raising Occupancy Tax (no one spoke in favor of that idea) OT board chairman Frank Brown read a prepared statement: “I do not favor approval and implementation of the new occupancy tax and the TDA until we have a plan that is agreeable and justifiable to a majority including lodging. If it is approved, I would not favor creating a county government position to promote Ocracoke's tourism. Either way, I would propose retaining the services of a reputable private firm whose business is tourism promotion and brand development to analyze our situation and come up with recommendations. If satisfied, then contracting with such a professional firm for their services for a couple of years, then review results and make decisions for the future. If the new occupancy tax hasn't been approved, fund the aforementioned and OCBA fulfillment and liaison service through our current occupancy tax structure." His fellow board members (Clayton Gaskill, Marlene Mathews, and Trudy Austin) all agreed with Frank.
Bill Rich (on speaker phone) encouraged those present at the OT meeting to come to the next night’s meeting (oh the meetings we’ve had this winter!) and hear “a much better proposal – a way to measure improvement in tourism development within the 3% we already have.”
So here we are – finally – back to yesterday.
How did it go over? Well, much better than the 2% proposal, that’s for sure, though there were some questions.
Ann Ehringhaus expressed concern that in a bad year with a fall hurricane evacuation (perish the thought!) we wouldn’t have enough shoulder season income to cover the $100,000. Bob Oakes mentioned that it would be difficul to make 20% more in the shoulder season because shoulder season rates are lower, making it harder to make the $$. Leslie Lanier said we’d heard promises before about a year-round economy (NCCAT!) that haven’t panned out, but she did like the idea of a professional firm handling Ocracoke’s press. Bob Chestnut asked where the marketing expertise was coming from, because it appeared that Bill, Kris, and Sarah are not professionals in that field. Connie Leinbach commented that it still seemed like the tourism promotion would be fractured and that beefing up OCBA would be a better use of the money. Ocracoke’s county commissioner John Fletcher stated that he prefers to simplify things in government and this looks like the same mess of everybody running their own show. Garick Kalna said that the idea made perfect sense to him, if it could pay for itself. Wayne Clark liked that it would provide structure by way of the county, and felt it was a positive that it segregates some money just for advertising. Gary Mitchell mentioned that the beauty of shoulder season events is that you can target dates that you want to bring more people to the island. I mused that not everybody on Ocracoke appears poised for a year-round economy; perhaps some prefer that the slower off-seasons stay slow – just an observation. None of the 4/5 OT board members who were present made a comment.
What do you think?
Let Bill know by March 27th, so your comments can be added to the commissioners’ packets and considered before the big vote on April 6th. (6pm in the Ocracoke School commons area.) Email comments to: brich@hydecountync.gov
You can also send your comments directly to the county commissioners, or to their clerk, Lois Stoteberry at lstotesberry@hydecountync.gov.
And feel free to comment below!!
