Public hearings will be held at the Town Council’s meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10 a.m., on the four Zoning Text Amendments that The Beacon reported upon recently and on the Town Manager’s recommended fiscal year 2026-27 budget of $12,981,790.
The meeting will be in the Pitts Center and can be live-streamed on the Town’s You Tube website.
Absent from the meeting agenda is any mention of beach nourishment.
The Town Council has delayed making a commitment to another dredging project in 2027 until after it receives a May update on the condition of the Southern Shores beaches from its coastal engineering consultant. The first nourishment project was performed in 2022-23.
(See The Beacon, 5/25/26 and 5/17/26, for background on the ZTAs, one of which is the original setbacks reduction proposal, ZTA 2026-01, which the Town Council tabled at its May 5 meeting.)
For tomorrow’s meeting agenda, see https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Agenda-014d3bf7204d423a9bcd7b9987c85b0c.pdf.
For the agenda and meeting packet of materials, including the text of the proposed ZTAs, see https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/soshoresnc-pubu/MEET-Packet-014d3bf7204d423a9bcd7b9987c85b0c.pdf.
THE RECOMMENDED FY 2026-27 BUDGET
For the full report on Town Manager Cliff Ogburn’s recommended FY 2026-27 budget, see https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/media/13736.
The budget total of $12,981,790 is an increase of $1,185,018 or 10.04 percent over the FY 2025-26 adopted budget. The Town budget is subject to amendment throughout the fiscal year.
Page 26 of Mr. Ogburn’s recommended budget enumerates the proposed expenses, by Town department or service. The five departments or services that have the highest line-item budgets include:
Streets, Bridges, [Beaches,] and Canals: $3,055,124
The Town Manager has added “beaches” to this category this year and included the last year of debt service on the 2022 beach nourishment project: It amounts to $1,119,534. Infrastructure costs are projected at $1.3 million, and a list of streets targeted for reconstruction is included in the report.
Police Department: $2,803,037
Salaries make up 57 percent of the police-department budget. Expenses for holiday and overtime pay, FICA, group health insurance, and the employee retirement account for another 28 percent.
Fire Department: $2,323,908
The Town continues to pay $314,020 annually in debt for the firehouse construction. It will buy a new fire engine in FY 26-27, but we are uncertain how much of the truck’s cost will be paid in this fiscal year. According to the Town Manager’s narrative accompanying the Fire Department budget, the fire engine will need to be under contract by July 2026, “with $1,255,000 payable in 2029.”
Salaries and other employee expenses account for about 46 percent of the department’s budget. The Town added eight full-time Fire Department employees in FY 2025-26 and plans to add four more full-time firefighters in FY 2027-28.
Administration Dept.: $1,860,276
Salaries and other expenses related to employees account for the lion’s share of the Administration Department’s costs.
Sanitation Services: $1,071,503
The major costs within sanitation services are, in descending order of amount:
- Landfill tipping fee: $306,687
- Recycling collection: $252,810
- Residential collection: $226,000
- Limb and branch removal: $199,006
BALANCING THE BUDGET: The recommended budget is being balanced with a transfer of $537,000 from the Unassigned Fund Balance, which must maintain $3.5 million for emergency and disaster relief, and $950,000 from the Capital Reserve Fund.
Projected fiscal-year revenues without these transfers are $11,494,783, of which $5,870.904 comes from ad valorem taxes and $3,932,856 from occupancy, sales, and land-transfer taxes.
ALSO ON THE AGENDA TOMORROW . . .
- Introduction and ceremonial swearing in of Deputy Fire Chief Jim Davidson.
- Presentation about the Door Saver Program, an initiative by the Southern Shores Fire Department to help emergency responders access homes quickly and safely without causing damage by forced entry.
- An update on the Mid-Currituck Bridge by Mr. Ogburn, who is expected to encourage residents to write to Governor Stein, North Carolina’s U.S. senators, our U.S. Congress representatives, and other public officials for help in securing funding to build the bridge. A sample letter and addresses of public officials are included in the meeting packet.
By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon, 6/1/26
The Southern Shores Beacon 