The rebuilt Trinitie/Juniper Trail Bridge is open to all traffic!!! You may freely travel on it.
Construction of the bridge replacement took 199 days, instead of the 211 days forecasted, according to an announcement released today by the Town, which had earlier this month announced that the bridge would reopen by Memorial Day.
The road was closed on Dec. 9, 2024 for the extensive multi-million-dollar project, which replaced an often-repaired culvert with a new core slab bridge.
The construction contract awarded to Smith, Rowe LLC of Mt. Airy is expected to come in at or below the authorized $1,667,178.70 cost, the Town said.
Kimberley-Horn and Associates, Inc., of Raleigh designed and engineered the bridge.
The Southern Shores entry “corridor” along U.S. Hwy. 158 and N.C. Hwy. 12 is outlined in yellow. The west end (far left) begins just to the east of Martin’s Point; the east end (far right) encompasses the Southern Shores Crossing and the Southern Shores Realty properties.
The Town will hold an open house Tuesday, May 27, from 5 to 7 p.m., in the Pitts Center, to inform residents, property owners, and other members of the public about the Entry Corridor Enhancement Committee’s initiative to “revitalize and enhance” the U.S. Hwy. 158 corridor, as well as the N.C. Hwy 12 entry corridor, into Southern Shores.
The event will be an informal give-and-take between the public and members of the committee, the Town Council, and Town staff. It will be an opportunity for those who travel the two corridors and shop the retail businesses or use the services along them to learn what the committee’s mission, goals, and plans are for revitalization and to share their perspectives.
Approved by the Town Council last year, the seven-member Entry Corridor Enhancement Committee has been meeting the past six months to define its purpose and goals and to discuss how to “shape a community-oriented, beautiful, and functional entryway [into Southern Shores] that reflects our Town’s heritage and values.”
The aim of the committee, according to a statement it published online, is “to promote a welcoming identity for the Town; enhance green spaces and landscaping; improve accessibility and safety; and establish cohesive architectural standards.”
In short, it aspires to make the entryways into Southern Shores more appealing and more in keeping with the community values of the Town.
The committee has delineated the entry “corridor” into Southern Shores as depicted in the photo above to include the Town’s property frontage along Hwy. 158 from just east of Martin’s Point to the Town Hall, where the property is zoned governmental use, and the area fronting N.C. 12, where the Southern Shores Crossing and the Southern Shores Realty properties are located.
This area obviously encompasses the Town’s commercial property district, with the largest development on the corridor being the Southern Shores Marketplace, whose architectural design and retail and service choices rate mixed reviews from Town residents.
The Entry Corridor Enhancement Committee recently released a community survey to solicit views and ideas from those who live, work, shop, visit, and otherwise have a vested interest in the future of the Southern Shores entry corridor(s). (The survey primarily addresses the U.S. 158 entryway.) It is clear from the survey the direction the committee would like to take corridor improvements: toward a more aesthetically pleasing, community-promoting, unified, walkable, and green area to enjoy.
Our impression is that the committee’s vision aligns with a town-square concept. Among the ideas it is considering are the creation of “pocket parks,” which are small gathering places typically found in urban areas that lack green space, and the construction of mixed-use development that would offer diverse and more affordable housing.
The Entry Corridor Enhancement Committee’s website contains its full mission statement, its seven goals, and minutes of its meetings, and may be accessed at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/bc/page/entry-corridor-enhancement-committee. You will find that the goals are well expressed and thoughtfully elaborated upon.
Members of the committee are Mayor Elizabeth Morey, Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal, Deputy Town Manager/Planning Director Wes Haskett, and Southern Shores resident property owners Jim Gould, Linda Lauby, Matt Price, and Michael Zehner.
The committee will meet tomorrow at 9 a.m. in the Pitts Center.
Funeral services for former Southern Shores Mayor James Harold “Hal” Denny, who died April 10 in Gaithersburg, Md., will be held at Duck Church in Duck tomorrow at 10 a.m.
Mr. Denny would have marked his 100th birthday on May 13. He was born in 1925 in Red House, Ky.
Mr. Denny is survived by his wife, Billie Sue Watson Denny; his son, James H. Denny II (wife, Fran); his daughter-in-law, Nancy Wylie; three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. His son, David Watson Denny, and grandson, David Elliott Denny, predeceased him.
Dr. Denny, a former naval aviator and retired U.S. Navy Reserve captain, began his public service in Southern Shores in 1999 when he was elected to the Town Council. He was reelected to a two-year term on the Town Council in 2003 during the period when the Town was transitioning to staggered terms for Council members and opening up mayoral elections.
The Town held its first popular election for mayor in 2001, Council members having previously elected the mayor from among their ranks.
Mr. Denny was chosen mayor by the Town Council in 2004 after then-mayor Rear Admiral Paul E. Sutherland, Jr., resigned before his term ended. Admiral Sutherland was the first mayor of Southern Shores who was elected by popular vote.
In 2005, Mr. Denny retired from Town government service, but he returned to politics in 2009 to run for mayor against incumbent Mayor Don Smith, whose term was marked by controversy. A retired logistics manager, Mr. Denny, then 84, defeated Mr. Smith in a landslide, 816-352.
Mr. Denny served out his term and was succeeded by Tom Bennett, who won two terms as mayor. (Current mayor, Elizabeth Morey, succeeded Mr. Bennett, winning election in 2021.)
During his time in Southern Shores, Mr. Denny also served as president of the Southern Shores Civic Assn. and Vice Commodore of the Southern Shores Boat Club. He lived in Chicahauk and was actively involved in the community.
Four new full-time employees of the Southern Shores Fire Dept. are slated to be hired in fiscal year 2025-26, when the department become a division of the Town.
The recommended Southern Shores budget for fiscal year 2025-26, presented to the Town Council last Tuesday by Town Manager Cliff Ogburn, calls for a 4-cent increase to the ad valorem tax rate—to be imposed on the Town’s revenue-neutral rate of 14.8 cents—and total General Fund expenditures of $11,706,772.
Mr. Ogburn estimated in his draft FY 2025-26 budget, which he previewed at an April budget meeting, that the revenue-neutral tax rate in Southern Shores would be 12.16 cents. He has recalculated it to be actually 2.64 cents more.
Property taxes to pay for the fifth and final year of debt service for the 2022-23 beach nourishment project will be assessed in addition to the ad valorem taxes of 18.8 cents per $100 of property value.
(As we have previously explained, a “revenue-neutral” tax rate is a tax rate estimated to produce revenue for the first fiscal year after a county-wide property reassessment that is equal to the revenue that would have been produced by the current tax rate if no reassessment had occurred. See The Beacon, 4/10/25.))
The Manager’s budget recommends adopting the revenue-neutral tax rates of 4.08 cents for Municipal Service District 1; 1.76 cents for MSD 2; and 2.51 cents for the town-wide beach nourishment tax rate.
During the upcoming fiscal year, the Town will “begin to prepare for planning a potential renourishment project for FY 2027,” according to Mr. Ogburn’s FY 2025-26 budget summary.
A public hearing on the recommended budget will be held during the Town Council’s meeting on June 3.
We will publish further analysis of the recommended budget before the hearing. Before we can do so, however, we must ask the Town Manager some questions about his numbers.
Salaries and benefits of Town employees, who next year will include seven full-time members of the fire department and an additional police officer, are driving the Town’s expenditures.
Heretofore, the Town paid the salaries, but not benefits, for three full-time members of the Southern Shores Volunteer Fire Dept., which is being incorporated into a municipal department in fiscal year 2025-26. (For more about the fire department’s restructuring and staffing, see The Beacon, 4/10/25.)
The Town Manager has also recommended hiring a full-time Public Information Officer in the Administration Dept.
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DON’T FORGET . . .
Mayor Elizabeth Morey is holding an informal Mayor’s Chat on Wednesday (May 14) at 5 p.m. in the Pitts Center. Bring your questions and comments on “all things Southern Shores.”
The Town Entry Corridor Committee will meet on Tuesday at 9:15 a.m., also in the Pitts Center.
ENTRY CORRIDOR SURVEY
If you did not receive by Town email the survey prepared by the Southern Shores Entry Corridor Committee, which is seeking ideas on how to “shape a community-oriented, beautiful, and functional entryway” into town that reflects Southern Shores’ “heritage and value,” you may access it here:
Contrary to the committee’s representation, the survey will take you longer than five minutes to complete, if you actually give it some thought.
The committee is proposing to “revitalize and enhance” the U.S. Hwy. 158 entry corridor, which runs along the southern end of Southern Shores, where most of the Town’s commercial district is.
The survey closes June 6.
LAST, BUT HARDLY LEAST . . .
The Town Manager announced at the Town Council meeting that the newly rebuilt Trinitie Trail Bridge is on schedule to open by Memorial Day. The finishing touches on the sidewalks and roadway will be completed in the next few weeks.
And the offices of the Southern Shores Civic Assn. and the Chicahauk Property Owners Assn. have moved to the Town’s flat top at 13 Skyline Road and are no longer on the second floor of the Pitts Center.
Dare County will hold its annual hazardous waste collection in Kitty Hawk Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Town Hall, 101 Veterans Memorial Drive.
Collections are also scheduled in Buxton on Friday and in Manteo at the Dare County Public Works Dept. on Saturday.
This is a great opportunity to clear your garage of old paint cans and brushes, pesticides, pool chemicals, automotive fluids, and other hazardous clutter.
The list of acceptable materials, along with the times and addresses for the Buxton and Manteo collections, is accessible here:
The three-day event is sponsored by the Dare County Public Works Dept., the N.C. Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services (Pesticide Division), and the N.C. Cooperative Extension at N.C. State and N.C. A&T State universities.
It is only for Dare County residents and the agricultural community.
Town Manager Cliff Ogburn will present his recommended fiscal year 2025-26 Town of Southern Shores budget to the Town Council at its regular meeting Tuesday, May 6, after which the budget will be available on the Town website for the public to view.
Tuesday’s meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.
The Town Council will schedule a public hearing on the budget in June before it votes on its approval. The Council has until June 30 to finalize the budget, which starts on July 1, 2025.
You may access the agenda and meeting packet here:
You may live-steam the meeting at the Southern Shores You Tube website.
Mr. Ogburn also will give status reports Tuesday on the construction of the Trinite Trail Bridge replacement, which previously has been projected to conclude by the end of June or early July, at the latest, and on the Town’s acquisition of the Southern Shores Volunteer Fire Dept.
For background on the FY 2025-26 budget and on the transition of the SSVFD to a department of the Town of Southern Shores, see The Beacon, 4/10/25.
Another important item on the agenda is a discussion about House Bill 765 and similar legislation currently in the N.C. General Assembly that would limit the planning and zoning authority of municipalities.
The Town Council will consider, and undoubtedly approve unanimously, a resolution expressing its opposition to H.B. 765, which is designed to usurp local control of development regulations, and other similar bills.
H.B. 765 is an omnibus bill that is making its way through House committees. For a listing of its many proposed regulatory changes, see an analysis by the N.C. League of Municipalities included in the Town Council meeting packet at pages 58-62.
The Manager’s budget presentation is currently on the agenda after a public hearing on Zoning Text Amendment 25-02, which was submitted by Anthony S. Mina of 75 East Dogwood Trail. Mr. Mina has been engaged with the Town since the Planning Dept. denied his request to subdivide his property. He is responsible for savesouthernshores.com.
(We wrote about Mr. Mina’s situation last October when the Planning Board held a five-hour-plus hearing on a variance request submitted by Mr. Mina, and we decline comment now. Mr. Mina will appear at the ZTA hearing by Zoom because the Town Council has banned him from Town property for a year.)
We trust the Town Council will see the wisdom in reversing the order of this new business so that Mr. Ogburn’s discussion of his recommended budget will occur before the ZTA hearing.
The Planning Board voted unanimously at its April 21 meeting to recommend that the Town Council disapprove ZTA 25-02 after it spent nearly two hours in a hearing.
As we previously announced, we will not be covering this meeting, but we will review the budget in a subsequent blog post as soon as we can.
MAYOR’S CHAT SCHEDULED MAY 14, 5 P.M., IN PITTS CENTER
Mayor Elizabeth Morey will host an informal Mayor’s Chat on Wed., May 14, at 5 p.m., in the Pitts Center to discuss “anything Southern Shores,” according to the Town’s notice.
In our experience, other Town officials, including the Town Manager and Police Chief David Kole, attend these chats and respond to inquiries, as well.
With a new budget that is expected to rely upon an increase in the Town’s ad valorem tax rate to be balanced; a new municipal fire department to structure, staff, and fund; and the prospect of the State legislative overreach of H.B. 765 becoming law, there would seem to be much to talk about with Mayor Morey.
In a FY 2025-26 budget workshop this morning that primarily focused on staffing the new municipal Fire Department in its first year, the Southern Shores Town Council discussed a potential general property (ad valorem) tax-rate increase of 4 to 5 cents in order to cover additional costs.
This tax-rate increase would be on top of the revenue-neutral tax rate of 12.16 cents per $100 of property value that Town Manager Cliff Ogburn presented in his report to the Council of a “draft of a Manager’s recommended budget” for fiscal year 2025-26.
“We still have a ways to go” Mr. Ogburn said of the Town’s draft budget, which has expenses exceeding revenues by $1,111,500, an amount that a tax increase of 4 cents would cover.
That budget, however, only includes costs for hiring three new full-time fire captains, who would work 24 hours on and 48 hours off, instead of four new full-time fire captains, who would work 24 hours on and 72 hours off, as recommended by Fire Chief Ed Limbacher and approved by Town Council consensus this morning.
Mr. Ogburn has currently budgeted $1,680,958 for the Fire Department next year, which is about $650,000 less than has been tentatively budgeted for the Police Department.
The four new Fire Department employees would join the Fire Chief, the Deputy Chief, and the Assistant Chief as full-time salaried employees and enable the department to have four people on duty during the busy weekday hours. The department also has two part-time salaried administrative employees.
None of the current salaried employees receive benefits. In FY 2025-26, with the transition to a municipal department, all full-time salaried employees also would receive benefits.
In an extended discussion involving all Council members, Mayor Elizabeth Morey and Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal expressed some interest in eliminating the Assistant Chief position, but Chief Limbacher strongly argued against that as a “quality of life” issue.
Such an elimination would reduce the free time of the remaining two chiefs—increasing weekend work—he said, and the Chief is committed to improving the “work-life balance” of all members of the department, who view it as a major concern.
Mr. Ogburn will submit his proposed FY 2025-26 Annual Operating Budget to the Town Council at its May 6 meeting. The public hearing on the budget will be held at the Town Council’s June 3 meeting, after which the Council will likely vote on its approval, although the Town has until June 30 to adopt the FY 2025-26 budget.
If the Town Council approves a proposed tax-rate increase of 4 cents or 5 cents, property owners would pay 16.16 cents or 17.16 cents per $100 of property value next year, which would be less than the 19.58 cents per $100 that they paid in the current fiscal year because of Dare County’s reappraisal.
Taxes for the beach nourishment project would be additional, of course, but they, too, would have a new revenue-neutral tax rate. According to Mr. Ogburn, the townwide beach nourishment tax rate would drop from 4 cents to 2.48 cents; the multiservice district (MSD) 1 tax rate would drop from 7.15 cents to 4.94 cents; and the MSD2 tax rate would drop from 3 cents to 1.74 cents
(As we explained in our post yesterday, a “revenue-neutral” tax rate is a tax rate estimated to produce revenue for the next fiscal year (2025-26) equal to the revenue that would have been produced by the current tax rate (19.58 cents in 2024-25) if no reappraisal had occurred. See The Beacon, 4/10/25, for more information.)
The last time the Town Council raised the ad valorem tax rate was in 2012. According to Mr. Ogburn, the rate went from 14 cents per $100 of value to 16 cents per $100 of value. All other increases since then, he said, have been revenue-neutral. (We’re unclear about the distinction; certainly, the tax rate has gone up since 2012 to the present 19.58. With the townwide beach-nourishment tax added on, the lowest tax rate in Southern Shores in FY 2024-25 was 23.58.)
Dare County reassessed property values twice during the past 13 years: in 2013 and 2020, observing what was once a fairly standard seven- to eight-year cycle. (We remember the revaluations of 2005, 1998, and 1989.) This year, the County embarked on a new five-year revaluation schedule.
According to Mr. Ogburn, the County-assessed value of all property in Southern Shores in FY 2025-26 increased 74 percent over last year: from $1,628,760,000 to $2,832,200,000.
Longtime Town Finance Officer Bonnie Swain said at the meeting that the Town can expect a downward adjustment to about $2.6 billion when successful assessment appeals are factored in.
Property owners have until April 30 to file appeals of assessments, either by mail or online at Dare County’s website page for revaluations.
Mr. Ogburn’s draft FY 2025-26 Southern Shores budget anticipates $5,641,397 in ad valorem tax revenue and $3,858,358 in occupancy, sales, and land-transfer taxes.
SPEAK TO YOUR TOWN COUNCIL MEMBERS
The Town Council left no doubt during its meeting this morning that the ad valorem tax rate will go up in FY 2025-26, perhaps by as much as 5 cents.
No Council member is very happy about raising taxes, but, as Councilman Rob Neilson said, seemingly for all: “Something’s gotta give somewhere.”
Councilman Neilson and his colleague, Councilman Mark Batenic, met with volunteer firefighters to find out how they feel about the Southern Shores Volunteer Fire Department’s municipal transformation. They encountered a tightly knit group of young people who are dedicated to serving the town and enjoy what they do.
Both Council members strongly supported the higher tax-rate increase to ensure that the Fire Department’s high-quality service reliably continues, and it remains an attractive place to work.
The Council, and the Town Manager, briefly discussed trimming the costs of some Town services, to save some money, but the services that they mentioned, such as recycling, chipping, and limb and branch pickup, are generally well-liked by property owners. No one seemed eager to cut services, but surely there are some costs within the budget that can be eliminated.
In at least the past two fiscal years, the Town Manager has dipped into the Unassigned Fund Balance, which is essentially a multi-million-dollar emergency disaster reserve, to balance the budgets, but doing so again is not favored by the Town Council.
We will pass along Mr. Ogburn’s recommended FY 2025-26 budget, as soon as he has revised and circulated it.
Mayor Morey appealed to all Southern Shores citizens to express their views on the potential tax-rate increase to Council members. They would like to hear from you.
After the budget meeting, The Beacon spoke with the Mayor informally, and she advised us that she is not committed to doing beach nourishment to the extent it was done in 2022-23 every five years just as a matter of course.
Mayor Morey said she would not “do” beach nourishment “just to be doing it”–a view that we find to be refreshing. Dare County Manager Bobby Outten has spoken of the five-year cycle as a given for sand replenishment.
Sharing mobilization costs with other towns might make a five-year schedule appealing, Mayor Morey noted. That remains to be seen.
The Mayor also told us when we asked if she was running for reelection in November that she would give it “serious consideration.”
Town Councilwoman Paula Sherlock’s four-year term is also ending this year.
[On a personal note, I would like to say that May 6 is my birthday, and I do not plan to spend it at Town Hall. If there are any enterprising journalists out there who would like to cover the Town Council’s meeting that night, please contact me at ssbeaconeditor@gmail.com. Thank you!]
By Ann G. Sjoerdsma, The Southern Shores Beacon, 4/10/25
The Town Council’s budget workshop tomorrow at 9 a.m. in the Pitts Center is being held for a preliminary review of the Town Manager’s projected General Fund expenses and revenues for fiscal year 2025-26, according to the meeting agenda posted on the Town website.
Town Manager Cliff Ogburn, who also serves as the Town Budget Officer, will submit his proposed FY 2025-26 Annual Operating Budget to the Town Council at its May 6 meeting. The projected expenses and revenues he presents tomorrow constitute a draft of that budget.
Because FY 2025-26 is a property reappraisal year, Mr. Ogburn also should reveal the revenue-neutral tax rate in the Town of Southern Shores. (See below.)
A public hearing on the proposed FY 2025-26 budget will be held during the Town Council’s June 3 meeting. No public comments will be heard tomorrow.
COUNTY COMMITS TO ‘REVENUE-NEUTRAL’ TAX RATE
Dare County Board of Commissioners Chair Bob Woodward announced at the Board’s meeting Monday that the Commissioners have committed to a revenue-neutral tax rate for FY 2025-26, according to a report Monday by The Outer Banks Voice.
If the Southern Shores Town Council observes the precedent set by previous Councils during property reappraisal years, it will do the same.
A “revenue-neutral” tax rate is a tax rate estimated to produce revenue for the next fiscal year (2025-26) equal to the revenue that would have been produced by the current tax rate (as assessed in 2024-25) if no reappraisal had occurred.
The budget officer of the governing board—in the case of the county, that is Town Manager Bobby Outten—is required by N.C. law to include a statement of the revenue-neutral property tax rate for the proposed budget in a year in which a general property reappraisal has occurred. (See N.C. Gen. Statutes sec. 159-11(e).)
According to The Voice, Mr. Woodward said that the revenue-neutral rate in the county will be 26.32 cents per $100 of property value, a reduction of about 35 percent from the current tax rate of 40.05 cents per $100 of value.
Although N.C. statute requires calculation and publication of this tax rate, it does not require a municipality to adopt it.
The Southern Shores Town Council will hold a fiscal year 2025-26 budget workshop on Thursday, April 10, at 9 a.m., in the Pitts Center.
The special meeting will be open to the public, as well as live-streamed on the Town’s You Tube website. You also may access a You Tube videotape of the meeting after its conclusion.
It is customary for the Town Council to hold its mandatory public hearing and vote on the next fiscal year budget during its regular June meeting. The fiscal year starts July 1.
The Beacon will suspend its publication suspension to attend next Thursday’s meeting and report on any salient issues, including discussion about the Town’s FY 2025-26 ad valorem tax rate.
The Town has not yet posted a meeting agenda on its website. If and when it does, we will provide a link.
Today’s day-long Town Council retreat at the Pitts Center is not being live-streamed, as we earlier reported it would be. We regret making an erroneous assumption. (See The Beacon, 3/1/25.)
We attended part of the retreat this afternoon and were told that the business discussed would only be reported through official minutes. No videotape was recorded.
The Town Manager should be updating residents and property owners soon about the conclusion of the SSVFD study that the Town should incorporate the fire department into the municipal government. Cliff Ogburn told us that the change could occur as soon as July 1.
We also heard considerable enthusiasm by the Town Council for the creation of a Public Information Officer position.
Last night’s Town Council meeting was live-streamed.
The Southern Shores Beacon 