THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 15, 1996 TAG: 9605150438
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
Residents of the Outer Banks' most developed and populated beach town probably will not have to pay higher property taxes in the 1996-97 fiscal year.
The $720 million budget Kill Devil Hills Town Manager Debora Diaz presented to the Board of Commissioners Monday night calls for the tax rate to remain at 44 cents per $100 of property valuation for the third year in a row.
Town commissioners will hold a workshop on the budget at 9 a.m. May 22. They will hold a public hearing to receive residents' input on the plan at 7 p.m. that night. The elected officials must adopt the budget by June.
Some additional recreation and beach access projects are included in the 71-page financial plan. And a 2.5 percent cost-of-living pay raise is suggested for town employees. But increased revenues and paying off some long-standing debts will allow town officials to spend more money in the aforementioned areas without raising taxes, Finance Director Teresa Pickrel said Tuesday.
``There is no reduction in services recommended,'' said Pickrel.
``We're projecting a slight increase in occupancy and sales taxes. We don't have to set aside part of the sales tax revenue for the water fund any more because the 10-year obligation provision expired this year. And we're budgeting $18,000 less for utilities in the street department budget because the debt for streetlights the town has been paying off will be paid off in June.
``Overall, there's enough growth in larger revenues projected to compensate for the increase in expenditures we're recommending.''
Town officials did not request any additional employee positions for 1996-97. They did, however, ask that a freeze on an already budgeted police officer and water line maintenance worker slot be lifted so that those jobs can be filled. The suggested budget also asks commissioners to reclassify a groundskeeper position to designate a full-time worker to oversee the upkeep of shoreline accesses, recreational facilities and town landscaping.
School resource officers, paid for with Dare County Board of Education and town funds, would be continued - as would bicycle and beach patrols within the police department.
``These programs allow our officers to spend more time with the residents,'' Diaz wrote in her budget outline. ``This provides an opportunity to become closer to the community and encourages police officers and the people they serve to work together for a safer neighborhood.''
Two of the largest expenditures are for garbage and streets. Tipping fees alone for 7,950 tons of trash collected in the town will cost $369,754 - and account for five cents of the tax rate. Street construction and stormwater management projects will cost $694,000 - and account for seven cents of the tax rate.
``We have significantly more miles of streets to manage than any other Outer Banks municipality: 56.5 miles,'' Pickrel said. ``And we still have a lot of unpaved roads to take care of.''
About $59,500 is set aside for future beach and sound accesses, in as yet undesignated locations. Another $50,000 is earmarked for a community park somewhere in the town. And $25,000 is budgeted for new playground equipment for the area near the ballfield behind the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department. ``The equipment there is 15 years old,'' Pickrel said. ``We want to replace it somewhere on that tract this year.''
Perhaps the largest new outlay is $550,000 for a planning and finance office building, scheduled to be built near the existing town hall off Veterans Drive. Under a pre-existing agreement, Dare County will reimburse Kill Devil Hills for $350,000 of that money. Another $30,000 is set aside to design a town fire station.
Lifeguard Beach Services' contract price increased by $12,000 - to a total of $176,023 for the 1996-97 year. Diaz recommended that $127,617 be used from the undesignated fund balance to help offset overall expenditures without raising taxes - and still keep at least 25 percent of the overall budget in an undesignated reserve. And she projected that about 97.5 percent of the town's taxes will be collected during the 1996-97 year.
``We've also allocated money to pave the public works complex,'' Diaz told commissioners. ``And we've included funds in the budget to connect with the Internet for town computers.''
In other business Monday night, Kill Devil Hills commissioners:
Announced that the Dare County Tourism Board will fund half of the construction, up to $65,000 total, for building a beach access at Prospect Avenue and a bicycle path on Veterans Drive to the First Flight schools. Construction on the bike path will not begin until school is out in June.
Unanimously voted to have the town manager work with North Carolina Power to audit Kill Devil Hills' streetlight policy with the ultimate aim of having uniform lights. The town has 230 streetlights and spends more than $32,000 annually on electric bills for those lights.
Unanimously voted to ask the state Department of Transportation to install a pedestrian walk-wait signal at the intersection of U.S. Route 158 and First Street. by CNB