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2. Public Comments a. Matters not on the Printed Agenda Bill Lyons was from Carolina Sons of Liberty and has been a resident of Orange County for over 11 years. He spoke about property tax increases. He said that last year his home was appraised at $205,000 by a private appraiser. In January 2009, he got his tax bill from Orange County for a $242,000 house. This is a $37,000 difference. He said that even in booming economic times, this is unrealistic. He said that Orange County has one of the highest tax rates in the State. He said that the citizens understand that taxes are a part of life and that the government must have money. However, he does not understand how Orange County has worked its way into spending so much money every year that it plans to raise its property taxes, and the 2009-2010 budget still has an estimated $8 million budget deficit. He said that this is a spending problem. He urged the County Commissioners to rein in spending and not raise property taxes. Earl McKee was from the Caldwell community. He suggested some areas for the County to cut expenses. He said that two weeks ago he suggested a $25,000 savings by shelving a study. He suggested that buying almost 200 acres of very expensive land to site a waste transfer station is a waste of taxpayer money. If the idea is to use part of this property not for the waste transfer station and for parkland, then existing land that is already purchased should be used for parks. He said that thousands of dollars could be saved by buying a smaller tract of land or contracting with a private company. He agrees with divesting of County property to save money. He suggested that the audience stay for the entire meeting and listen to the discussions about the millions of dollars of taxpayer money that will be spent. Richard Hill said that he bought a home in northwest Orange County four years ago and it had been on the market for over a year. He paid $133,000 for it. His tax assessment was $154,000 at that time. It then went up to $166,000 and now it is $195,000. There are four homes in that neighborhood that have not been able to sell and some have been foreclosed. He said that there is nothing moving there. He said that he is disabled and on a limited income and he believes in paying his fair share, but he cannot imagine how the County Commissioners can take this revaluation seriously. Tim Duncan submitted copies of the resolution from the Orange County Republican Convention. He read the resolution. RESOLUTION REGARDING ORANGE COUNTY PROPERTY REVALUATIONS WHEREAS, the recent revaluation of properties in Orange County for taxation purposes has resulted in an average increase of 22 percent in assessed property values WHEREAS, with the economic downturn in the housing market in Orange County the average home price is $50,000 less than January 2007 prices and the 22 percent increase in assessed values represents a large gap between the real value of properties and the assessed values; WHEREAS, the median household income in Orange County has not increased nearly as much as 22 percent; WHEREAS, the Orange County tax rate of 99.8 cents per$100 is the second highest property tax rate in all of North Carolina and the rates in Orange County have resulted in 20 straight years of higher property taxes;