OTB Takes Your Requests

OTB Takes Your Requests

The Ocracoke Occupancy Tax Board has some $$$ to spend.

Deadline for requests in November 11th. See the official letter below for the directions on how to apply for funds. 

On Thursday, October 11th, while the winds gusted the arrival of Michael's outer bands, the Ocracoke Occupancy Tax Board met at the Community Center for a second time to discuss the dispensation of their stockpiled funds. To jog your memory, here's an excerpt from the Current's April 11, 2018 article about Occupancy Tax: "According to Hyde County finance officer Corrinne Gibbs, the Ocracoke Occupancy Tax fund balance is $736,000 and will get even bigger before the end of the fiscal year on June 30th. Ideally, the OTB would keep about $350,000 in reserve for emergencies or catastrophes. At their regular monthly meeting on April 2nd, the Hyde County Board of Commissioners voted to ask the OTB to suggest ways to spend about $400,000 of that reserve on tourism-related expenditures."

This meeting was for discussion only, with no fiscal commitments made until formal requests are made in writing per the letter below. 

Present at the meeting were OTB members Bob Chestnut (chair), Stephanie O'Neal, Trudy Austin, Byron Miller, and Nancy Leach. Also present were Hyde County commissioner Tom Pahl, county manager Kris Noble, and former county manager Bill Rich, and various community members most of whom represented non-profit agencies that would like to apply for the money. 

As I arrived, late as usual, the board was already discussing the possibility of paying off the debt that's left on the Ocracoke Community Park, which comes to $188,515.50. Considering that the OTB has funded the Ocracoke Youth Center (the entity that owns the Park) annually to the tune of ~$48,000 to pay their mortgage, paying off the note completely would have the advantage of freeing up their annual allotment for some other good cause. 

Scott Bradley was present to plead the case for the Ocracoke Foundation, which needs $84,500 to raise the Will Willis historic structure at the Community Square (it's the little one on the dock that houses the Watermen's Exhibit), make improvements to the docks, and build a new bulkhead. Scott said the $84,500, and any other money the OTB could grant would be "put to good use."

The Island Inn project is of particular interest to the OTB, as their is consensus among people who come to meetings that Ocracoke village needs public restrooms. For a mere estimated $150,000 the Island Inn committee says they could get a new conventional septic system and build a small building for public restrooms by the 2019 season. Tom Pahl shared a concept drawing that showed their tentative plan for 6 unisex single-sitter units. The blank wall space outside the restrooms would be a great place for local advertising, Tom explained. There's a captive audience waiting their turn or waiting on a friend. "The ads could generate income and help pay for [ongoing maintenance costs]," Tom said.

All agreed that cleaning/maintaining/stocking the restrooms is the sticky issue to providing public potties. Ocracoke Preservation Society owns the Island Inn property and is willing to funnel the funding for construction through their pipeline, but doesn't want to be in the bathroom business. These bowls won't scrub themselves, so who will? Tom explained that the Island Inn committee (a subcommittee of OPS) is talking to Ocracoke Civic & Business Association about how take on the toilet (t)issue.

"It's in the process of being addressed," he said. "It will need money to fund it ongoing and it could be that either the county or OCBA takes it over."

Scott Bradley suggested that perhaps the village needs a "property manager" (job creation alert!) who would work for several non-profits. The Ocracoke Foundation would like, eventually, to hire someone to manage the tenants at the Community Square, and that person could be the same one who scrubs the perma-johns or at least sees that they get scrubbed. One such person is already contracted by Hyde County to clean and stock the Community Center, and another coordinates the Community Center's use and maintains the website. Kris Noble said she would look into other contract labor the county hires as an example of how the bathroom monitor position could be paid.

Officer Jason Daniels of Hyde County Sheriff's Department attended the meeting because the Ocracoke deputies would like $6000 to purchase two radar signs that display speeds to drivers. He says his office gets lots of complaints about speeding (at this point he was interrupted by all of us telling him where the bad spots are), but that writing speeding tickets has not been proved as effective as prevention. Speed display signs are reported to reduce speeding by 80% – the meeting attendees agreed that seeing one makes us all tap the brakes reflexively. Jason would install one sign permanently at the entrance to the village where the speed drops precipitously from 55-20, and put the second one on a portable base. "It'll be no trouble to find places for it," he said to much agreement. 

Bob Chestnut commented that pedestrian safety is an issue that comes up again and again. Byron Miller commented, "They're only $3000 each? Get four of them." Who knew Byron was such a profligate spender of other people's money? 

Another topic of discussion was the Ocracoke School gym floor, which is used not only for PE and basketball but for Commencement, assemblies, community theater, festivals, Halloween Carnival, and other events. Ocracoke Athletic Boosters Club would like $18,153 for a floor protector system and the storage racks to keep it on. 

None of these proposals is officially official yet, and other non-profits and county entities can make requests before the 11/11 deadline. 

In new business, the OTB voted to reimburse $1000 to OPS for the November 22nd festivities, $6430 to Ocracoke School for the outside basketball/tennis court, and $839 for Community Center expenses. All these monies were appropriated in FY 2017-18 but not requested until after July 1, 2018. So... this money has to be re-requested and re-appropriated and re-voted on by the Board of Commissioners. (They'll do that at their November 5 meeting.) (For those who're wondering, OCBA gave back the $14,000 extra that OTB accidentally gave them in FY 2017-18. It was caused by a mix-up over fireworks funding.) 

"The new guidelines going forward is that the end of the fiscal year is a firm cut-off," said Bob. "And after that, the money will have to be re-appropriated." No more Mr. Nice Guy! Actually, this was always the official policy, but goshdarnit, now they're going to enforce it. 

After the OTB receives their requests on November 11th, they'll take two weeks to look them over, then call a meeting sometime in late November to appropriate the money. 


OFFICIAL Letter from OTB dated October 12, 2018:

As part of a planned reduction in the Ocracoke Occupancy Tax Fund reserve, the Ocracoke Occupancy Tax Board is accepting applications for Capital Projects through November 11, 2018. Applications should be for capital projects that can be implemented during the current fiscal year ending 6/30/2019.

APPLICATIONS FOR GRANT REQUESTS FOR THE NEXT FISCAL YEAR WILL BE ACCEPTED DURING OUR NORMAL TIMEFRAME OF MARCH/APRIL 2019.

All funding requests should be submitted by a qualified Non-profit organization or public entity.

All requests should include the following:

  • Single page summary of the project identifying the use of funds and amount requested.

  • Completed checklist of requested information, including Contact info.

  • Detailed estimate as to the “use of funds” with a description/itemization of how the funds

    will be used (specific project) and estimated “line item costs.”

  • Time line as to when funds will be needed (from November 2018 to June 30, 2019.

  • Current (no older than 90 days) Balance Sheet of the organization that reflects the cash

    and investment position of the organization to include all assets and liabilities.

  • Prior year’s Profit and Loss Statement or Cash Flow Statement (funds in and cash out)

    that reflects the use of any Occupancy Tax funds (description of use and amount).

  • Current Budget (Profit and Loss or Cash Flow Statement) for the year the Occupancy Tax

    funds are requested to include an explanation (identify by line item) as to the amount of the Occupancy Tax funds requested. The grant request amount should be identified so as to be considered along with other budgeted items of the organization.

  • Such other information that the requesting organization feels would benefit the Occupancy Tax Board relative to the request (matching funds issues etc.).

    5 copies of the request should be submitted. Requests can be mailed to Bob Chestnut, PO Box 517, Ocracoke, NC. 27960 or dropped off in person at Ride The Wind Surf Shop between 10am- 5pm, Monday-Saturday.

    It is not the intent of the Ocracoke Occupancy Tax Board to make the process of applying for funding burdensome. We do need detailed and consistent information from the requesting organizations in order to responsibly fulfill our task of making recommendations for funding to the County Commissioners. If you have questions concerning your submittal feel free to contact me at 252-921-0231 or by email bob@surfocracoke.com.

    Respectfully,
    Bob Chestnut, for the Ocracoke Occupancy Tax Board

Occupancy Tax Funding Request Checklist

Please provide the completed checklist with your submitted request.

  • Single Page Summary of Request Name and contact information(Name, phone, email) for organization submitting request.
  • Detailed description/itemization of how requested funds will be used.
  • Project timeline showing when funds will be needed and when the project will be completed.
  • Current Balance Sheet of organization
  • Current Profit & Loss Statement of organization
  • Current Budget for the organization for July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019 that includes funds requested from occupancy tax.
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