THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 TAG: 9606180341
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 60 lines
The Dare County Board of Commissioners officially adopted the 1996-97 budget Monday, leaving intact last year's 40 cents per $100 property valuation tax rate.
Last-minute additions to the $35,591,977 plan included $12,000 for the Hatteras Island Teen Center.
Finance Director David Clawson said at earlier budget discussions that the tax rate was adequate to finance the budget because of unanticipated increases in interest income, sales tax revenue and collected property taxes.
Unplanned expenses in the revised two-year spending plan included $199,968 for the recreation department and $505,000 for the Board of Education.
Teen center representatives delivered an 11th-hour plea for funds to keep the center afloat.
Kathy Kiddy, the center's director, told the board the lease on the former Frisco teen recreational recently expired because of financial problems. But Kiddy said the teen group has reorganized into ``Locomotion,'' a mobile youth activity center that will commute between Hatteras Island villages.
The group eventually hopes the new Fessenden Center in Buxton will provide space for the teens, but Kiddy said she still wants to maintain mobile activities, such as movies or wall climbing.
Most of the youth interested in a center are junior-high age, Kiddy said.
``Our goal is to merge. . . . But the one difference is we have a one-on-one with children,'' she said. ``The teen center can be everything to a child.''
The board agreed to allot the group $12,000, half of its annual budget.
In another financial matter, County Manager Terry Wheeler recommended that the board appropriate funds from the county's capital reserve fund to pay off the Board of Education settlement for condemned property at Cape Hatteras School. The county has been losing $118 a day in interest accrued on the $517,053.56 court judgment against the school district.
The panel agreed to pay off the debt from the reserve fund, which is financed by land-transfer taxes. Clawson said after he determined the exact payoff, he would have the commission chairman sign a budget amendment.
Also Monday, the board narrowly approved Shady Grove, a proposed ``recycled'' beach house community on the west side of Roanoke Island near the landfill.
Commissioners voted 3-2 to back the Planning Board's recommendation to allow developer Malcolm Fearing to locate 11 single-family units on nine acres located south of Bowser Road.
The homes are all condemned coastal houses that will be transported, refurbished and placed on solid block foundations on lots in the subdivision. The homes will provide affordable rental units for the community, renting from $450-$500 a month, Fearing said.
Commissioners Douglas Langford and Clarence Skinner voted against the planner's recommendation, saying they'd rather Fearing have more time to work out inconsistencies in his plan. But the remainder of the board said the conditions in the permit would require Fearing to address their concerns.
The conditional use permit allows Fearing 24 months to improve the 60-foot road easement. The permit cannot be transferred, and the development may not be divided or parceled without the commission's approval.
Commissioners Shirley Hassell and Sammy Smith were absent from Monday's meeting. by CNB