Mayor's Island Review Column

Island Review January 2007

By now you have probably received a notice from the County Finance Office with significantly increased values for your real estate in Emerald Isle. Tax revaluations are always a big shock, but it needs to be done to try to maintain equity between property owner values.

Bear in mind that the County and Town will strive to maintain a revenue neutral rate. Even at revenue neutral, all Emerald Isle property owners will see an increase in their County tax bill because values increased more in Emerald Isle than they did county wide. For those that feel the valuation for their property is incorrect, please contact the County Tax Office as soon as possible. There is an appeal process, but appeals must be filed by a certain date.

I have served as Chairman of the Carteret County Tourism Authority for three years. In that position, I am constantly reminded of how important tourism is to all of us in Carteret County. Without the demand for services created by tourism in the summer months we would not have many of the convenient services that we enjoy daily.  Restaurants, grocery stores, drug stores, and many other businesses cannot make it off of the full-time residents alone. Many residents that have been here 20 years or more will tell you that it was nice when it was less populated, but it sure was inconvenient with very few service businesses.

In addition to the services, our visitors help carry the tax load. In 2006, visitors to Carteret County paid more than $4,400,000 in Occupancy Taxes. Half of this will be  used for beach nourishment projects and the other half was used for tourism promotion. In addition, Tourism generates an economic impact for the County of  $246 million, creates over 3,000 jobs, accounts for additional local tax receipts of $16 million, and additional State tax receipts of $11 million. Some of these taxes are used to fund the extra services required to accommodate the visitors, but most of the additional taxes are used for services that we all enjoy.

The goal of the Tourism Authority is to increase tourism in the spring and fall months when occupancy levels are relatively low and the weather is great. We can all help increase Carteret County tourism by referring our friends to crystalcoastnc.org the web site for Crystal Coast Tourism.

I hope you are off to a great start in 2007 and I look forward to seeing you around town.