N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160A-491

[All cities shall have the power] to levy taxes and appropriate tax or nontax funds for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, extension, maintenance, improvement, or enlargement of groins, jetties, dikes, moles, walls, sand dunes, vegetation, or other types of works or improvements which are designed for the control of beach erosion or for protection from hurricane floods and for the preservation or restoration of facilities or natural features which afford protection to the beaches or other land areas of the municipalities or to the life and property thereon.