THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994 TAG: 9406290378
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, Staff writer
DATELINE: 940629 LENGTH: KILL DEVIL HILLS
The 2-cent increase means that homeowners will pay 44 cents in taxes for every $100 in appraised property value. The increase is 1 cent less than what had been proposed.
{REST} A 3-1 vote approved the increase, with Commissioner E.M. ``Coy'' Harbeson dissenting. Harbeson proposed a series of measures designed to cut spending and make the ad valorem increase unnecessary.
Those proposals - including taking $285,000 from the town's $1.6 million undesignated fund and eliminating the town's planning department - were voted down by the panel. The undesignated funds comprise 26 to 27 percent of the town's budget.
Two other amendments calling for specific cuts in a number of municipal departments also were rejected.
Numerous attempts to reach Gray and Harbeson on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Town resident Neil White addressed the commission and said the $27,000 in spending cuts was not enough.
``The $27,000 they cut was only one-half of 1 percent of the total budget,'' White said. ``I've never been associated with a budget that couldn't be cut by at least 5 percent.''
White said the cuts could be made without services suffering.
``I was told by a former member of the council that Kill Devil Hills has always considered itself to be the Cadillac of beach communities. I think the town could be a Buick and do just as well,'' White said.
White, who serves as vice president of the Kill Devil Hills Taxpayers Association, was quick to point out that he spoke as an individual at Monday's meeting, not as a representative of the organization. He voiced concerns over the tax increase.
``Only two communities (Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills) feel the need to raise taxes,'' White said. ``I don't understand why other communities can hold the line on taxes and we can't.''
In other action, the council approved bids for beach-access projects at Ferris Street and at Asheville Drive. Barnhill Construction was awarded the bids for both projects.
The Ferris Street access will cost $57,180, with 75 percent of funding to come from the town and 25 percent from the North Carolina Department of the Environment, Health and Natural Resources.
The Asheville Drive project will cost $51,773, with cost equally divided between the town and the Dare County Tourist Bureau. by CNB