Trams and Taxes
Do you fancy community meetings? This one should be a doozy. Opinions are strong on this issue, and everybody has one.
On Thursday evening, the place to be is the Ocracoke Community Center, beginning at 7pm. The special meeting's purpose is to allow the county (represented by county manager Bill Rich, assistant county manager Kris Noble, and Hyde County Transit director Beverly Paul) to present their case to the Ocracoke Occupancy Tax board (Bob Chestnut, Trudy Austin, David Styron, Stephanie O'Neal, and Marlene Mathews) a request of $200,000 of occupancy tax funds over the next two years. The money will pay for one year of a tram service designed to coincide with the arrival of passenger ferries and to carry car-less visitors around the island.
(Just in case you don't know the ins and outs of occupancy tax, here's a brief summary: Ocracoke takes in about $400,000 each year in occupancy taxes, and 10% of the take goes straight to the county coffers. The rest of the big ol’ pot of dough contributes to just about every nice community service or amenity that Ocracoke village has. The Health Center, Ocrafolk Festival, Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree, emergency services, 4th of July celebration, OVFD, our community radio station, the ball field and Community Park, the daycare center, Ocracoke Preservation Society, the community center, the British Cemetery ceremony – all these and more benefit every year from OT funding.
A five member OT advisory board of Ocracoke residents is appointed by the county commissioners to listen to the organizations that present a compelling case for why they need the cash, and then make recommendations to the board of commissioners about how to distribute it. Every year, the many good causes on Ocracoke ask for more than they receive. Additionally, the OT board saves a little for a rainy (or rather blustery, hurricane-y) day, so that in the event of the “big one,” Ocracoke has some money in reserve for whatever needs may arise. Here's how they divvied out the spoils in 2016.)
.... back to the issue at hand: Trams, and how to pay for them.
"The county needs to pay the operating costs," Bill Rich explained at Monday night's Hyde County board of commissioners meeting. The trams themselves will be purchased with grant monies, part of the $9.2 million coming from the feds and state for this project. The grant pays for capital improvements, but not operating costs.
"We assumed [operating costs] would be paid by fares," he added. "But the feasibility study suggests that we don't charge fares."
If they did, it would be about $7 per person for a day pass on the tram. Hmmm... that seems kinda steep when you consider paying that for each member of a family, plus there would have to be a whole money collection system (cash, credit cards) and a way to verify who can get on and off. So a free tram seems to be the best option.
But somebody's gotta pay for it.
"We are asking the Occupancy Tax board to fund the tram system for one year," Bill said.
The money would cover operating costs for three trams on the island – two that will make a circuit around the village and one that will run to the Lifeguard Beach and back again. The battery-operated, eco-friendly trams will start working in 2018 and run May–September, and cater to daytrippers, folks who are staying on the island, and even residents. The tram system will cost over $200,000 to operate (all three) for one season. The county is asking the OT board to divide the money over two years to soften the blow. But how soft a blow can 1/4 of the annual budget be? $100,000 is a lot of money on Ocracoke.
Bill believes that if the trams run for one year, Ocracokers will see the value of supporting the system with OT funds. "It will sell itself to us," he said.
Ocracoke's representative on the board of commissioners is freshman Tom Pahl, who was elected to his post for the first time in November. He says the purpose of Thursday's meeting is to ask the OT board to support the tram system for one year.
"After one year, we'll review and assess," he said. "Tweaking and improving the system, and we'll look for other sources of funding. We need to give it a year to see if it works."
The tram system is considered to be the "ground transport" piece of the passenger ferry project. Passenger ferries are full steam ahead and coming to Ocracoke in 2018, come hell or high water. They will carry passengers only (no vehicles) from Hatteras to Silver Lake Harbor (in the heart of Ocracoke Village) and back again. This meeting is not about the passenger ferries. They are "not even a discussion," said Bill. That is a done deal. (See the whole feasibility study on passenger ferries here.)
The trams address the issue of how to move people around once they disembark without a vehicle. Bill wants the Ocracoke community to give this idea a fair chance.
"What's the alternative?" he asked. "The status quo isn't working. Not enough people can get here."
All are welcome to come to the meeting and hear the presentation and form your own opinion about the costs vs. benefits. Or you can read about it on the Current on Friday.
