How municipal districts at North Topsail Beach could shoulder $16M for beach nourishment

With a plan to create new municipal districts for beach nourishment, homeowners in North Topsail Beach are concerned about how those taxes will be divided, while others want aldermen to focus on other improvements – instead of bringing more sand to the beach.

The town is looking at establishing two municipal service districts to cover beach erosion control, and protection work for floods and hurricanes from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. According to a map, the districts will consist of a soundside and an oceanside, divided by Island Drive. Taxes from the district will help cover costs.

The estimated cost of the project, according to the Corps of Engineers, is more than $670 million for portions of Topsail Island, with cost being shared by the Corps, North Topsail Beach and nearby Surf City.

“We honestly don’t know the cost of this because basically, what the Corps told us is that the cost will be what they tell us it will be,” said Alderman Richard Grant during a public hearing in May. “That is a very big concern for the board in terms of what we got going forward."

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Also in the hearing, residents voiced their concerns about people not paying their fair share of taxes and questioned if the project was needed. Resident Rebecca Dickson said a 50-year commitment was a ridiculous consideration. She stressed money would be better spent on improving buildings such as the south end fire hall, instead of sand that’s not permanent.

“Go to the south end,” she said. “The steel beams are rotting through. Our firemen have to get buckets to get the water when it seeps. Look at the ceiling in this building. Look at town hall.”

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According to officials, the initial storm damage mitigation project and future beach nourishment will probably last for 50 years. The 4-mile area begins at the border of Surf City and extends north to the Coastal Barrier Resources area and include about 12 million square yards of sand, a new protective dune, and a wider beach berm.

According to a press release from town officials, when the project was approved in 2020 following discussions from two decades ago, the costs were $237 million for the initial construction and $893 million for periodic renourishment. It went down to $672 million. After federal and state contributions, the initial project cost to North Topsail was listed at $16.5 million - nearly twice as much as original estimates.

"To be clear, the Board was never opposed to participating in the project but rather set about deliberately to find a way to afford to participate," officials stated in a notice. 

The North Topsail Beach Board of Aldermen determined creating two municipal districts for erosion control would help maintain the aesthetic, environmental, protective and physical value of the beach. Once established, the districts will allow the town to allocate the project costs for the storm damage mitigation project.

More:North Topsail Beach looks at paid parking, raising taxes to fund beach nourishment

But residents are worried that homeowners living closer to the beach will have to pay more. Former alderman Bob Swantek believes everybody, regardless of where they live, should pay the same amount since the “beach” is part of the town’s name.

“It should all be 50/50, all the way across the board,” he said. “We all share that beach.”

Resident Perry Green thought about future generations of people having to pay for the project, while pleading for everyone to coming together to accomplish a goal – even if that means getting outside help.

“My sons are going to have to pay for this and I think we got to do a better job of planning and working together, and not throwing sand at each other,” Green said.

Along with commitments about raising money, one resident suggested to tax tourists who visit the area to collect more funds instead of people already living in the area. During his remarks, Grant said about $2 million a year are collected from accommodation taxes.

“There’s also a restriction on what we can use those funds for and what we can use parking funds for,” he said. “They generously have to be for beach nourishment stuff.”

Alderman Tom Leonard added that they tax tourist to the max amount allowed by law with a 6% occupancy tax. Half of that is sent to Onslow County. Town officials reached out to the State House Local Government Committee get an additional 1% occupancy tax rate for the town.

“It doesn’t look good, I can tell you that now,” he said. “The tourism lobby wants percentages to remain where they are now. That’s why we went to paid parking. The revenue on paid parking is really exceeding expectations.”

Alderman Susan Meyer said the town will be chipping in some sort of way because of the parking money and occupancy funds going to the project.

“The only thing that we have to make it up is homeowners’ taxes,” Meyer said. “So, I would gladly pay a higher tax if I was getting that project in front of my house.”