Super Fun Meeting on Monday

The meeting will be broadcast on Facebook Live on the Hyde County Government Facebook page. You don't have to have Facebook to watch and as soon as we have the video link, we'll share it here. 

This is my favorite meeting of the year (and that is saying a lot!) The Occupancy Tax Board (five people appointed by the commissioners: Bob Chestnut, chair; Bryon Miller, Ann Warner, Trudy Austin, and Nancy Leach) get to recommend how to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on good causes and projects on Ocracoke.

Occupancy Tax is the 3% you pay when you stay in a cottage, motel, B&B, AirB&B, or campsite on the island. (There's also another 2%, but that's controlled by another board. More on them later.)

The 3% can be spent, by NC statute, on "any public purpose" on Ocracoke. The Occupancy Tax Board (OTB) makes recommendations on the spending to the Hyde County Board of Commissioners who make it official at one their meetings. 

Each non-profit or government organization that is requesting funds submitted their request in writing 'way back in early March, when COVID was something happening to other countries. The original OTB funding request meeting was supposed to be April 2, but pandemics change everything. 

The OTB met on April 23rd and moved to allow organizations to re-vamp their requests for the fiscal years 2020-21. Those final requests were due today, and will be perused by the board over the weekend. 

One Monday, they will meet and ask representatives from the organizations to attend to answer questions. (If you're an organizer, they'll give you a call-in link so you can be in on the Facebook Live page.) The rest of just have to watch, listen, and learn. 

One thing we know is that they won't have quite as much money to spend as in years past because of the double hits of Dorian and COVID-19 on the local economy. On the other hand, there is still a lot of money left unspent by organizations during the 2019-20 fiscal year because of all the event cancellations. At the 4/20/20 OTB meeting, Bob announced that the OTB's current fund balance is $720,000. For the 2019-20 fiscal year, the OTB appropriated about $450,000, but not all of that has been distributed. Bob estimated that around $171,000 wouldn't get spent before June 30th because of project deferrals or cancellations due to the pandemic. So even though OT revenues are down for this year because of Dorian and the COVID-19 shutdown, the OTB can honor their commitments because they have over $300,000 in reserve.

We also know that many organizations won't be asking for funds for their upcoming events (e.g., 4th of July, Ocrafolk), but might instead need money for operational costs because they can't hold their big fundraisers. 

It will be very interesting -- riveting, even -- to find out who's asking for what, right?

The usual suspects are Friends of the Library, WOVV, Ocracoke School, OVFD, Ocracoke Health Center, Ocracoke Youth Center/Community Park, OPS, Ocracoke Alive, Ocracoke Foundation, and Hyde County. 

Now, about the TDA:

The TDA board is the Tourism Development Authority, and they get to spend the 2% charged to overnight visitors. They don't need approval from the commissioners; the TDA is its own governing board. They are required, by NC statute, to spend 2/3 of their income on marketing and promoting the island. (What constitutes marketing and promoting can be interpreted differently.) The other 1/3 can be used for projects that promote tourism to the island or enhance the visitor experience.

The next TDA meeting is Friday, May 22 on Zoom. Before that, the TDA board members will likely be asking the OTB for money. 

What?!?!? 

You read that right. At the April 23rd OTB meeting, Greg Honeycutt, who's on the TDA board, and Bob Chestnut of the OTB, discussed the possibility of the OTB taking on some of the projects that the TDA committed to before Dorian and COVID-19. 

One project the TDA committed to was the renovation of the Odd Fellows Lodge, a.k.a. the Island Inn. Ocracoke Preservation Society purchased the Island Inn property with the intent to renovate the historic building, provide greenspace in the village, and provide space for public restrooms. OPS is counting on TDA funding to pay the mortgage each year while they fundraise for the renovation. 

Bob attended the last TDA board meeting, by Zoom, on Monday April 20th. At that time, he mentioned that he believes it's legal for the OTB to grant funds to the TDA. 

"The TDA will have a budget shortfall," Bob said. "I threw it out there at the meeting that the TDA could ask OTB for help." 

Greg spoke up as a TDA representative. "The big takeaway from our meeting is that we don't have a reserve. We're being extremely conservative with our budget now," he said. "After this virus is over, marketing the island will be so important."

Greg suggested that the OTB consider taking on the mortgage payments for the Island Inn, which is a TDA commitment. The TDA pays about $18-19,000 for the mortgage, Greg said. He also suggested that Bob meet with OPS president Ken DeBarth and TDA chair Amy Howard to "talk it out."

"The Island Inn [restoration project] is part of visitor enhancement, which we can spend up to 1/3 of the TDA budget on," Greg explained. "If we could free up that money, it could go back into marketing."

So what did the TDA spend all their money on? Stay tuned for another article, and the link to Friday's Zoom meeting. I can't promise that it will be as fun as the OTB meeting, but the Current will be there!