Dare budget proposal seeks no tax increase

By Ryan Hutchins 

Dare County officials have submitted a $141 million budget request that seeks no property tax increase and includes few new initiatives.

Even though it would keep the property tax rate at 26 cents per $100 of assessed value, the modest proposal is a recognition of the county’s emerging revenue constraints.

“Changes in revenues reflect the local economy: good growth in occupancy, moderate growth in sales and zero to negative growth in real estate and construction,” County Manager Terry Wheeler wrote in a letter to the Board of Commissioners.

The county projects a 1.22 percent increase in its property tax base in 2009, according to the letter. This is the lowest increase Finance Director David Clawson has on record, which dates to 1989.

Balancing the proposal was accomplished, Clawson said, by starting with low requests from departments, putting off some new position starts until January, from July, and removing numerous planned capital projects.

“Terry (Wheeler) told departments early on that they all know what the economics are locally and that they didn’t need to ask for new programs,” Clawson said .

It “worked pretty well,” he said, with only $1.05 million of the requests having to be denied. The budget also has a partial cost-of-living increase for county employees, at 1.5 percent, which is 2.5 percent less than a full increase .

That accounts for most of the money that was saved in balancing the budget, Clawson said. “It wasn’t a pretty year, but it was an easy budget to do because you knew the money wasn’t there.”

Residents will have the opportunity to respond to the budget at a public hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday at the Board of Commissioners meeting.

Ryan Hutchins, (252) 441-1627, ryan.hutchins@pilotonline.com