THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050416
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COROLLA LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Corolla public beaches will have lifeguards on duty again this summer, but ocean rescue services won't be expanded as much as some had hoped.
At least not with Currituck County's financial help.
The Currituck County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday night to spend $101,896 in county occupancy tax revenue for lifeguard services this year.
That expense represents about a 23 percent increase over last year's $83,500 funding. But it falls short of the $137,084 the nonprofit Corolla Fire and Rescue, Inc., had requested to extend services to the increasingly popular beaches.
The funding will include an 11 percent wage increase for lifeguards and $9,211 for a search-and-rescue boat operator.
``We have not had a wage increase in three years, and we are finding that it is hard to compete with Nags Head,'' Fire Chief Marshall Cherry told commissioners at a work session on Tuesday.
``We at least have to match their wage rates, or we aren't going to get quality people,'' he continued.
Lifeguards will continue to protect and patrol beaches at the Corolla Lighthouse ramp and Shad, Sturgeon, Perch, Bonito and Sailfish streets at Whalehead Beach.
Cherry and several other Corolla rescue workers at the meeting also wanted to add lifeguard stations at Currituck Beach and Whalehead Beach and set up new sites at Spindrift-Pine Island Beach and Ocean Sands Beach North.
Cherry explained that more lifeguard services were needed to keep up with dramatic growth rates on the Outer Banks' northern beaches.
During the 1994 tourist season, Corolla-area housing rentals rose 21 percent over the previous year; there was a 19 percent increase in beach patrons, Cherry said.
Some popular public beach sites, such as Ocean Sands and Corolla Light, easily exceed 400 people hourly during summer days, according to a graph prepared by Corolla Fire and Rescue officials.
Corolla lifeguards perform myriad services, from rescuing distressed boaters and swimmers to aiding lost children and adults. They serve the sea and the Currituck Sound and have helped people as far away as the mainland's Poplar Branch shores.
Most of the people helped are not from Currituck County.
``We realize that the people who visit our beaches are usually from places where they're not used to large bodies of water,'' Cherry said.
``I have no problem with spending the occupancy tax to provide lifesaving services,'' said Commissioner Paul O'Neal. ``The tourists pay for that. Not a single dollar is paid for by Currituck County taxpayers.''
But commissioners did not seem willing to add more lifeguard towers.
Gene Gregory cast the sole vote against the funding request. He said private developments that benefit from lifeguard services should bear at least some of the costs.
``I think we're obligated at the public access ramps,'' he said. ``But these developers ought to be responsible for some of the people they are bringing in.''
Gregory had earlier moved to give Corolla Fire and Rescue $92,658 to cover lifeguard services at the seven existing towers, two roving patrols and the 11 percent pay hike.
His motion died for lack of a second. One motion that added the boat-operator expense passed.
Corolla Fire and Rescue was incorporated in 1983 and has only recently received county funding through occupancy tax proceeds.
Other ocean rescue supplies and services are supported by private donations. A district fire tax is used to offset firefighting operations. by CNB