And the Survey Says....

The Ocracoke Current started a simple online survey on Sunday night to feel out the support for the tram system among Ocracoke residents and visitors. As of this writing, 352 people have taken the survey with 64% saying they don't want OT funds of $146,000 (spent over two years) to pay for one year (2018) or tram service. 60% don't want trams at all, not matter who's paying for them, but a very close majority of 50.7% are happy that passenger ferries are coming to Ocracoke.

121 survey takers self-identified as fulltime Ocracoke residents. Of those, 72 (66%) say no to OT funding for trams, and 52% say they are not happy about the passenger ferry project. 62% say no, the passenger ferries/tram service will not improve quality of life on Ocracoke, while 54% of business owners say the passenger ferries will not help their businesses.

Of course there are lies, damn lies, and statistics, so we will discuss the possible skewed-ness of this survey further on. 

As for tonight, the special meeting of the Occupancy Tax Board at 5:30pm at the Community Center will be a working/discussion meeting for board members, and won't have a public comment meeting. The public may attend and listen like flies on the wall. 

Hyde County Manager Bill Rich reported that the county has asked the OT board to wait until April 4th, and decide on tram funding along with all the other annual OT requests. (Not sure what OT pays for or what this is all about? Read this article here.) 

The chair of the OT Board, Bob Chestnut, texted me, "We are still having our meeting; as a board we need some time to discuss. Beyond that, nothing has been determined."

The request from the county was originally for $216,000, which was then lowered to $146,000 after the county decided to kick in $70,000. This money is requested over two fiscal years, but will pay operating expenses for just one year (2018, and only five months of that) of tram service. 

This request was met with mixed feelings from the community. Ocracoke Civic and Business Association sent out a statement to their membership taking the stance to oppose the spending of OT money. In brief, "We want to emphasize that our position is not one of opposition to Public Transportation on Ocracoke, nor to the Passenger Ferry System.  We oppose the reservation of Occupancy Tax revenues for the operational costs of this Public Tram System. Doing so without proper vetting runs the risk of destroying the basic appeal of our Village and our Tourist Economy."

That's when the Current decided to step up with a simple online survey. As for the statistical accuracy of it.... well, it IS possible to figure out how to take it more than once and skew the results if you have such nefarious motives. I would like to think that Current readers and Ocracoke residents making that effort is as unlikely as there being widespread voter fraud in our U.S. elections (almost nil.) Do the right thing: vote once and wait for the results. 

The survey also leaves room for plenty of comments, and there are many! 

I will post more complete survey results later; for now, here are some sample comments:

Question 1: Do you support Occupancy Tax Funds being used to pay for operating expenses for an Ocracoke tram service? (Note: this question doesn't ask if you approve of the passenger ferries or the tram service; we only want to know whether you support OT funds paying $146,000 for one year of the tram service in 2018.)

As a business owner, I sadly sit in the fence... as said owner, yes to the tram. As a resident, no.

Not if takes away funds for other services to include the fire department, school, community park, etc.

Don't think this has been thought through enough...too many questions remain about how all this is going to work exactly. While I support a passenger ferry & public transportation & think this is something that occupancy funds could participate in (if it was planned well), I fear that this is going to go the same way PAYT went. It was never implemented correctly & when something is set up wrong/poorly from the start and then it fails, people say, "See, told you it won't work." Right now there are too many questions & too little local support. With more questions answered & logistics figured out, there might be more local support, which would give it a greater chance of success.

Not sure. Would like to see other avenues for funding explored either in conjunction with or instead of Occupancy Tax Funds.

Perhaps provide a small amount (5K/yr?) that doesn't require large sacrifices from the programs and projects currently supported. Why? I fear if there is no money from the island we will continue to have no say in the route or anything else about it. Additionally, as the "tram" is being posited as key to the success of the passenger ferries I am concerned if the whole project doesn't work the lack of any community financial support will be unfairly pointed to as the reason for the failure.

I think there are many other things this island has been waiting on for many years the those $$$ could be spent on. It just shocks me the OT funds are paying for this!

As long as it's a one time payment. We need to be open to new ways of getting people here and giving them a good experience.

I think this is a loaded question. I vote no - but terrible is a loaded word. I don't think our Occupancy should pay near this amount as there are many projects to support - not just the tram.

Why does ocracoke have to pay for something it's local people NEVER asked for to begin with!

We should try. Not much to lose and we can stop if it does not work. if it does work we will be better off with public transportation. Good for Marketing.

Plenty of food for thought here, and we will keep you updated.