Southern Shores conducting fire department study

Published 12:35 pm Monday, January 27, 2025

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Southern Shores hired consultants from the North Carolina Fire Chief Consulting Organization to conduct a feasibility analysis in the event that the town must move from a volunteer fire department to a paid one.

Currently in the fire department, there are three full-time paid positions and two part-time paid positions. Volunteers make up the remainder of the department. Chief Limbacher has mentioned that it is becoming increasingly challenging to fully staff the department with volunteers, and the town should be prepared for the possibility of fully funding the department.

Town manager Cliff Ogburn said at the January 7 town council meeting that the town appropriates about $1.2 million from the general fund to the fire department each year. Of this, $314,000 goes to pay the debt service on the building, and the remainder funds the five employees. This equals about 7.15 cents of our taxes, Ogburn said.

Get the latest headlines sent to you

In addition, the county is conducting tax reevaluation this year. Ogburn said he expects tax rates to “change tremendously.”

If the town hired two firefighters, Ogburn said it would be equivalent to a 1.15 cent tax increase. “I say that to share the significance,” he said to the council. “I also share that to say that there could be an impact. The idea is to keep the volunteers as long as we possibly can but at some point, as the chief’s been telling us, and we all know, there’s going to be an impact to our budget.”

The consultants conducting the study have individually interviewed 15 members of the Southern Shores Volunteer Fire Department and all five members of the town council to assess challenges and gather information. They are collecting state data and financial data, and will be surveying all members of the department. The consultants will present their observations and recommendations to the town next month.

Another possibility discussed at the meeting was moving the offices of the two homeowners associations to 13 Skyline Drive, the flattop cottage that the town purchased and renovated. While there was not a definite plan for the building, it was remodeled for the possibility of offering it as an incentive for a new police officer hire. Though several officers were hired in the last year, none needed the rental.

Currently, the Southern Shores Civic Association and the Chicahauk Property Owners Association are both located inside the Pitts Center and pay rent for space. The town has been evaluating the building for space needs in the last several months. According to Mayor Elizabeth Morey, town staff came up with the idea to move the HOAs into the flattop.

“Chief Kole did an incredible job renovating 13 Skyline for which we are very, very grateful, and he also offered it as much as he could as an incentive to get an officer hired. We spent more than a year trying to do that and we were unsuccessful,” said Mayor Morey.

She said that because the building is underutilized, she thought it made good sense to have the two homeowners associations occupy the historic flat top.

READ ABOUT MORE NEWS HERE.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE COASTLAND TIMES TODAY!