The results of a study to assess the “feasibility” of the non-profit Southern Shores Volunteer Fire Dept. (SSVFD) becoming a department of the Town of Southern Shores’ municipal government will be available in February, according to Town Manager Cliff Ogburn, who reported on the study’s progress at last night’s Town Council meeting.
The “merger feasibility analysis” is being conducted by consultants whom the Town hired from the N.C. Fire Chief Consulting organization, according to Mr. Ogburn, who elaborated upon the interview- and data-collection/review process that has occurred so far and briefly looked at the impact a merger might have on Southern Shores property taxes.
The Town Manager’s report about the SSVFD study and other town projects, including the Juniper/Trinitie Trail Bridge Replacement and the use of the Town’s flat top at 13 Skyline Road, and his report on the Town’s finances for the second quarter of FY 2024-25, constituted the bulk of the Town Council’s first regular meeting of the year, which lasted only 45 minutes and concluded with another closed session.
You may stream Mr. Ogburn’s presentation on the Town’s You Tube website. Simply access the video for the Jan. 7, 2025 meeting and fast-forward to the 10-minute mark.
SSVFD-TOWN MERGER: IS IT (FINANCIALLY AND OTHERWISE) FEASIBLE?
The first that Southern Shores property owners heard about the prospect of a merger or “unification” of the Town’s longtime volunteer fire department with the Town’s government was Dec. 6 when Mayor Elizabeth Morey sent a “special announcement” email to Southern Shores residents, property owners, and business owners. She was joined in this email by Eddie Hayman, Chairman of the Board of the SSVFD. (See The Beacon, 12/7/24, for a report.)
The Mayor’s email announced that an evaluation of the “long-term sustainability of our present volunteer system” is “appropriate at this time,” but she gave no explanation as to why.
We believe Southern Shores property taxpayers deserve to know the reasoning behind the Town Council’s decision to commission a study.
Mr. Ogburn spoke last night of the study enabling the Town to assess “what a transition from volunteer to paid would look like,” but the public “optics” of the demands currently made on the SSVFD do not support such a transition.
While we recognize the important role the SSVFD plays in responding to EMS calls, many of us are hard-pressed to remember when Southern Shores last had a structure fire—although we appreciate that the SSVFD assists neighboring fire departments in emergencies.
SSVFD Fire Chief Ed Limbacher, who has been cooperating with the consultants’ study, told The Beacon last night that, although he is a proponent of the volunteer system, in which he came up, he favors the merger. He expressed difficulty in fielding and retaining a complement of trained firefighters.
We believe the Southern Shores public would benefit from hearing directly from Chief Limbacher about his department’s everyday activities, needs, and resources and would encourage him to hold a forum after the feasibility report is filed. We feel certain that members of the public are not reading the community-minded Chief’s annual reports and will not read the N.C. Fire Chief Consulting’s report, but they will care about an increase in their taxes.
As The Beacon reported 12/7/24, the Town of Southern Shores’ budget for the SSVFD in FY 2024-25 was $1,207,335: $893,315 for contracted services and $314,020 for the annual debt on the new fire station at 15 S. Dogwood Trail. The Town assumed a 25-year mortgage in FY 2020-21 to pay for the construction of the station, which cost $5,419,223.
Southern Shores property owners pay a general ad valorem tax of 23.58 cents on each $100 of real and personal property value. Taxes for beach nourishment, assessed according to Municipal Service District, are added to this rate.
Mr. Ogburn said last night that Southern Shores property owners currently pay 7.15 cents of their 23.58 cents per $100 of value for SSVFD’s contracted services, an amount that includes salaries for three full-time and two part-time employees.
If the SSVFD were to become a paid department of the Town now, he said—before this year’s property revaluations, which, he noted, will change tax rates “tremendously”—property owners would see a 1.15-cent tax increase to hire just two firefighters.
(Dare County property owners should expect to receive their revaluation notices in mid- to late-February.)
So far, according to the Town Manager, the feasibility study consultants have interviewed 15 members of the SSVFD, all five members of the Town Council, and “key external stakeholders,” and will soon survey the full membership of the SSVFD. They also have accessed the SSVFD’s “incident record systems,” “response data,” and financial data. We await their analysis.
“The idea,” Mr. Ogburn concluded, “is to keep the volunteers as long as we possibly can.”
QUARTERLY FINANCIALS: REVENUES ARE DOWN
The Town’s expenses exceeded its revenues in the second quarter of FY 2024-25 (October through December) by $481,842, Mr. Ogburn reported, an amount that he said “is typical, historically, for us.”
As of Dec. 31, 2024, expenses for the fiscal year were $6,351,998.32, while revenues were $5,870,156.04. In FY 2023-24, the expenses as of Dec. 31, 2023, were $6,452,867, and the revenues were $6,137,819, for a shortfall of $315,048.
The Town has spent 44.54 percent of its approved amended budget for FY 2024-25 of $14,261,969. In the same quarter of FY 2023-24, the Town had spent 53 percent of the budget.
The Town Manager provides an informative financial report to the Town Council each quarter. You may access his second quarter report at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/media/11361.
As anticipated, occupancy, sales, and land-transfer tax revenues for FY 2024-25 show a “steady decline from the massive increases in recent years,” which were attributable to the pandemic boom, Mr. Ogburn said. Such revenues are $170,392 lower than they were as of Dec. 31, 2023, and $134,405 lower than they were as of Dec. 31, 2022.
Ad valorem tax revenues should pick up in the third quarter. As of Dec. 31, 72.73 percent of the assessed taxes had been collected.
“Eventually, things start to level up and catch up, as we start to collect more ad valorem and occupancy, sales, and land-transfer taxes,” the Town Manager observed.
TRINITIE TRAIL BRIDGE REPLACEMENT UPDATE
As you undoubtedly know, the Juniper Trail/Trinitie Trail Bridge was closed to all traffic as of Dec. 9, and contractor Smith-Rowe LLC, of Raleigh started the bridge’s reconstruction. On Dec. 13, a portion of the culvert, which channels water under the bridge, caved in when a crane came into too-close contact with it.
The crane was being put in place by Smith-Rowe for use the next week in removing the culvert, Mr. Ogburn explained in a Town news release.
The Town Manager reported last night that the crane is still not in the correct position, and the culvert has not been hauled away. The contractor also has experienced some delays because of “mechanical issues.”
Smith-Rowe has been driving sheet piles at the bridge site, Mr. Ogburn reported, work that creates vibrations that can be felt by people in nearby homes and can damage property.
The contractor also mistakenly performed construction on a Sunday, much to neighbors’ consternation. Mr. Ogburn assured Town Councilman Mark Batenic, who lives in Chicahauk, that this will not happen again.
According to the Town Manager, Smith-Rowe has only billed the Town $100,000 of its $1.667 million contract costs. This amount was for mobilization.
An in-water construction moratorium goes into effect Feb. 15, and Mr. Ogburn said the contractor is on schedule to have all in-water work done by then.
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission imposed the moratorium to protect anadromous fish, including Atlantic sturgeons, which can be found in Southern Shores waters. The moratorium expires on Sept. 30, which is about two-three months after the expected completion of the bridge replacement.
USE OF THE ‘UNDERUTILIZED’ TOWN FLAT TOP ON SKYLINE ROAD
The Town is exploring leasing the flat top it owns at 13 Skyline Road to the Southern Shores Civic Assn. and the Chicahauk Property Owners Assn. for office space. Both associations currently have offices on the second floor of the Pitts Center, where the Town would like to store files.
The Town’s original plan for the renovated flat top was to offer it to a newly hired police officer as temporary housing. It was viewed as a hiring “incentive,” Mayor Morey said last night, but after more than a year, the Town had no takers.
While the Town recently hired a new police officer, it also lost Deputy Police Chief Jonathan M. Slegel to retirement. Rather than continuing to offer the flat top, which the Mayor described as “an under-utilized piece of property,” to a police hire, the Town is looking to move on.
The Town purchased the flat top, which was built by Southern Shores’ founding owner and developer Frank Stick, from the Outer Banks Community Foundation in September 2022 for $400,000. The OBCF received the historic residence in 2007 as a gift from John and Norma Tietjen, who restricted its use to the OBCF’s offices, the offices of another qualifying non-profit (501(c)(3)) organization, or the offices of a federal, state, or local government.
The OBCF expanded and moved to Manteo.
Mr. Ogburn said he anticipates bringing a rental agreement between the Town and the SSCA and CPOA to the Town Council at its Feb. 4 meeting.
AMONG THE OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TOWN MANAGER’S REPORT:
*The Town has received $91,533.67 from the Dare County Tourism Bureau to continue its efforts to replace damaged multi-use pathways on Duck Road (N.C. Hwy. 12) from Fifth Avenue to Hillcrest Trail.
*The Town has finished scanning all Planning Dept. property documents for digitization.
THE NEXT ENTRY CORRIDOR ENHANCEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING IS SCHEDULED ON MONDAY, AT 9 A.M., IN THE PITTS CENTER.
According to Chairperson/Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal, the committee has spent its first two meetings discussing its mission statement. Minutes are not yet available. Monday’s meeting is open to the public.
By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon, 1/8/25
The Southern Shores Beacon 