THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501150077
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: OCRACOKE ISLAND LENGTH: Long : 184 lines
Everyone, goes the old saying, has to die and pay taxes. But property taxes on Ocracoke are getting so high that islanders fear they won't be able to die on land where they and their ancestors lived.
James Berrie Gaskill knew the taxes on his home and land would increase when Hyde County officials revalued land on this Outer Banks island for the first time in eight years.
Gaskill's land value was assessed at three times the 1986 figure. The tax rates have jumped 31 percent since then.
When the country store owner got his statement in the mail this month, he was ``amazed and outraged.''
``Everybody on the island's upset over this,'' said Gaskill, whose two-bedroom house is valued at $148,000 - which means a $1,554 bill under the 1994 rate.
``The worst part is for the older people, on fixed incomes, who don't have anything but the homes they grew up in. They can't afford two months' income to pay the taxes on those places. I don't know what they're going to do.''
His elderly mother's $1,500 bill is more than twice her monthly income. A neighbor called, crying, after she visited the post office and got her notice.
Many natives are wondering whether they'll be able to hold onto their homes in the increasingly resort-priced seaside village.
Ocracoke Preservation Society President Kenny Ballance agreed. The 40-year-old native takes care of three women, 80 to 91 years old. Even combining their Social Security checks for an entire year would not provide enough money to pay the property tax on their three-room home, he said. The ladies live in a converted Coast Guard boat house, and once had 25 acres.
``I think it's a disgrace that the county can put such a tremendous tax increase on these old homes,'' Ballance said Friday. ``It's just outrageous. These elderly ladies have lived on this property all their lives and they've been abused. People have encroached on their land. They don't have near 25 acres now. But the tax rolls still say they do - and value it at $1.5 million. Much of that property is marshlands and can't even be built on. Something's gotta be done.
``If things don't change soon, all the people on fixed incomes - and many of the local residents - will have to sell out and move away. Ocracoke Island is considered a resort area now,'' Ballance said. ``But what are we supposed to do?
``Should we sell the land that's been in our families for generations just because someone from up north can afford it?'' he asked. ``It's sad.''
Kevin Cutler agreed. The 32-year-old Ocracoker left his native island to attend college, but returned after graduation, hoping to live out his life in his parents' home. Now, he doubts he'll even be able to pay the taxes on the place. He has two jobs. But things are just getting so expensive.
``Younger people, like me, who want to stay here are realizing that might not be an option,'' Cutler said. ``Cost of living just keeps going up. This place is going to become an elite absentee-owner resort. Taxes are killing the core of the Ocracoke community.''
The 1994 property tax rate on Ocracoke Island is $1.05 per $100 of assessed value, up from 80 cents in 1986.
Across the inlet, in Dare County, residents pay 37 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Hyde County officials say they can't do much about the hefty assessment. They have not yet set the 1995 rate, which will determine the amount of residents' bills.
County Commission Chairman David Styron said there is no way the rate can drop more than 5 cents for 1995.
``Mainland values stayed pretty much the same since 1986. Most of ours either doubled or tripled,'' said Styron, an Ocracoke electrician. ``Some people don't think it's a fair price. A lot of folks feel if we were valued the same as the mainland, we wouldn't have these problems.
``But our land is moving on the market,'' Styron said. ``Their's is just not in demand. We're operating on a bare-bones budget as it is. And because of federal and state mandates, the county's costs keep growing without us adding anything.''
A 15-mile-long island on North Carolina's southern Outer Banks, Ocracoke has about 700 year-round residents. The isolated island is inaccessible by road. A free ferry travels hourly to Hatteras Village; twice daily to the Hyde County seat: Swan Quarter. Trips to Hatteras take about 40 minutes. The Swan Quarter ride takes 2 1/2 hours.
Before 1770, Ocracoke did not belong to a county. That year, however, Carteret County annexed Ocracoke and began taxing its residents. Portsmouth Island, Ocracoke's southern neighbor, is still part of Carteret County.
In 1845, Ocracoke became part of Hyde County. Although Dare County is much more accessible, shares the Cape Hatteras National Seashore with Ocracoke, and provides the majority of services most island residents use, Ocracoke remains under control of a mainland agrarian county.
About 13 percent of Hyde County's 5,411 residents live on Ocracoke. Ocracoke Island taxes provide 27 percent of the county's revenue. That, Ocracoke residents say, is the problem.
``Farmland values are going down. Resort land prices are going up. So we have to keep paying more and more to support the rest of Hyde County,'' Gaskill said.
Ocracoke resident David O'Neal agreed. ``We're paying for them. But we don't even have a toll-free number to call the county seat for services,'' said O'Neal, a retired Coast Guardsman. ``There's no satellite office for a building inspector. It takes almost three hours each way just to get to jury duty. We get nothing considering the tax dollars we pay.''
For four days last week, Hyde County's tax assessor and representatives of a land appraisal firm met with Ocracoke residents who had questions about their recent property-value statements. About 150 people attended the informal hearings in the island's tiny Sheriff's Office, which doubles as a jail. Results of the hearings will be mailed to residents next month.
``The bills are due Sept. 1. But we won't know what rate will apply to these property value assessments until the county commissioners adopt a new budget in June,'' said Hyde County Tax Administrator Linda Basnight. ``Land values increased a lot more than actual structures on Ocracoke.''
Residents say that's an understatement. Many of the one-floor cottages are a half-century old and older, without central water or sewer. Some people live in aging metal trailers. But the land they live on just keeps increasing in price, while the houses they live in may be deteriorating around them.
To help explain some of the property assessments - and Hyde County's tax rate - Styron scheduled a community meeting for 2 p.m. Monday in the Ocracoke School gymnasium. N.C. Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Dare, and N.C. Rep. Zeno Edwards, R-Beaufort, have promised to attend. Hyde County commissioners, tax officials and appraisers also will be on hand.
``I'm sure there will be no solutions at this meeting. But we're willing to listen and work together,'' Styron said. ``We want to look at what we can do to help the people of Ocracoke.''
Most residents say the perfect solution to all of their problems is to become part of Dare County. Three years ago, a group of Ocracoke natives and newcomers began trying to secede from Hyde County. But county officials won't let their lucrative island go. ``More than 90 percent of us use Dare County for all our services,'' Ballance said. ``We get our groceries there, go to the doctor there, even travel there for driver's licenses. So why not join the county that gets our income - not just our taxes?''
Last week, more than four dozen islanders who were interviewed said they still wanted to join Dare County. All said Ocracoke is about 95 percent in favor of leaving Hyde County. A few also offered other suggestions.
``I think they should offer a tax break for permanent residents, then take a big chunk off the top if that property sells,'' Gaskill said. ``That way, the county would still get income. But people who wanted to stay and live here could afford to.''
``Elderly people over 75 ought not to have to pay property taxes,'' Ballance said. ``They've paid their dues over the years. At least give them a break.''
``We'd like to set up a homestead exemption clause through the General Assembly,'' Styron said. ``The county commission passed a resolution requesting it in the upcoming legislative session. If it passes, we could decide not to assess people for the total amount of their primary residence - only for a certain percentage.''
Basnight said he supports the concept of a homestead exemption. Someone in the North Carolina Senate will suggest such a bill this month, he said. An amendment to the state's constitution is required to change the current assessment process.
``I well understand the problems of the people of Ocracoke,'' said Basnight, who grew up 80 miles away in Manteo. ``What they live in is their home - not an investment. They don't want to sell it for what the appraisers say they can get for it. They just want to be able to stay there.
``There should be some mechanism for protecting people on low fixed incomes,'' Basnight said. ``We might be able to allow local governments to set their own property assessment standards, based on their residents' needs.''
County Manager Angie Tooley said Ocracoke Islanders receive many services for their tax dollars, including sheriff's protection, garbage collection and mosquito control. She agreed, however, that the distance to Swan Quarter makes getting some services difficult. Transportation improvements, she said, may alleviate some problems - even if the tax rate doesn't drop.
``We're looking at a fast ferry boat that would make the ride from Ocracoke to the county seat 35 minutes instead of 2 1/2 hours,'' Tooley said. ``Ocracoke is completely unique, with entirely different concerns than the mainland. We're looking at what the county can do to try to help the people on Ocracoke.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
DREW C. WILSON/Staff
When James Berrie Gaskill, owner of a country store on Ocracoke
Island, got his latest property tax assessment statement in the mail
this month, he said he was ``amazed and outraged.''
by CNB