Tiny Town, Big Decision: What Are We Willing to Pay to Fight the Rising Sea?
On the Outer Banks, homeowners in Avon are confronting a tax increase of almost 50 percent to protect their homes, the only road into town, and perhaps the community’s very existence.
Avon, N.C., faces a crisis: The main road into town risks being destroyed by the sea.Credit.
March 14, 2021
AVON, N.C. Bobby Outten, a county manager in the Outer Banks, delivered two pieces of bad news at a recent public meeting. Avon, a town with a few hundred full-time residents, desperately needed at least $11 million to stop its main road from washing away. And to help pay for it, Dare County wanted to increase Avon’s property taxes, in some cases by almost 50 percent.