North Carolina panel backs plan to use hotel tax to bolster beaches 

By Paul Schuler 
Copyright 2001 The News & Observer
Article date: July 18, 2001
 

Local officials in communities along the North Carolina coast moved closer Tuesday to gaining authority to use revenue from taxes on hotel rooms to pay for beach renourishment programs.

The House Finance Committee gave approval to a bill that would authorize Carteret County to raise its room tax from 3 percent to 6 percent and use the new money to rebuild beaches.

The panel also gave preliminary approval to a second bill that would allow more than a dozen cities and counties either to raise their occupancy tax or levy one for the first time. Included in the legislation are North Topsail Beach, Pender and Dare counties, all of which would get the authority to use room-tax money for nourishment.

Supporters of the bills said the room tax will help local governments raise the money to pay for the expensive nourishment programs as the federal government reduces its contributions.

"The solutions to our problem are very expensive and we are looking for the least painful way to solve our problem," said Buck Fugate, mayor of Indian Beach in Carteret County.

However, some opponents argue that raising room taxes to pay for beach nourishment projects simply provides a subsidy for private property owners who build too close to the shore.

"You're really providing a way for citizens to protect private property that they should be paying for on their own," said Bruce Ethridge, owner of the Beaufort Inn in Beaufort.

Beach nourishment is the process of adding sand to areas where the ocean has washed it away.

The Army Corps of Engineers estimates it will cost $932 million to hold back the encroaching ocean along North Carolina's coast for 30 more years.

Without the programs, North Carolina's beaches erode between two and four feet a year on average, according to the Corps. However, that number can vary widely depending on weather conditions and beach orientation.

At the meeting Tuesday, opponents said the additional room tax, combined with the 6 percent sales tax and property taxes, will raise the cost of doing business in coastal communities and potentially make them uncompetitive with neighboring states.

"Why should we make our beautiful coast more expensive than Myrtle Beach?" said Doug Fleming, a hotel owner in Pine Knoll Shores.

Some legislators also opposed the increased taxes, saying trying to resist nature is futile.

"Beach nourishment in my mind is a waste of money," said state Rep. Russell Capps, a Raleigh Republican.

However, supporters said funding beach nourishment is necessary to keep the beaches, a significant portion of the state's $12 billion tourist industry, healthy.

"Beach nourishment is not for private citizens," said state Rep. John M. Rayfield, a Republican from Gaston County, "it's for all the citizens of North Carolina and the country."
 

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