Minutes 04-05-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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� participated with Moses Carey on the districting referendum and there were vital discussions on that. He suggested a citizen review process on the materials that will be distributed to gauge how neutral they will be. He would suggest that 1/3 be used for economic development. He said that the real need is in human services and he suggested allocating 2/3 of this money for human services. He said that the only way he will support this is if a significant amount is spent on human services. James Barrett said that the economic development issue is very important. He said that to drive on I-40 and to see where Tanger is and where the Orange County line lines are a stark example of why economic development needs to be supported. He said that a lot of the schools have huge mold problems and these need to be addressed. He urged the County Commissioners to continue with using these funds for economic development and education. Jeremy Browner said that he wanted to bring to the County Commissioners' attention the issue of emergency services and the response time that is so high. He said that there is a need to increase the capital funding to purchase more capital equipment and to hire more emergency personnel. It is his firm belief that the County is not performing its duty by not fully funding and allowing for these capital items to be purchased. He does not know the insurance issues regarding this. The goal for response time is 12 minutes, but the national goal is 10 minutes. Orange County's average is 17 minutes. Tim Wright is a resident of Orange County. He said that he learned that thousands of dollars were going to be spent to educate the voters of Orange County on the '/4-cent sales tax. He asked how many elections and funds would be spent until a "no" vote against taxes is enough. He made reference to economic development and said that he would like to know the specifics of the uses of the tax for economic development. He is a business owner in Orange County. Chair Pelissier said that this is going to be a topic of a work session on April 12tn Commissioner Hemminger said that the County Commissioners need to be specific on the uses of this proposed tax and they need to do more education of the public on this tax and what it is to be used for, etc. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would like to respond to some things that have been said this evening. Even though he may not agree with the comments, they were good points. One of the points was that if the sales tax creates a certain type of revenue if the property taxes could be decreased. He said that this is pretty speculative, but it is a worthy concept to keep in mind. He made reference to the County tightening its belt and said that the County has divested of land, eliminated some positions, eliminated programs, and cut spending. This should be part of the picture. It is not that the County is trying to feather the nest more. He looks at this proposal as giving more tools without having to raise property taxes. He thinks that people were confused last time with having four different things with different percentages. He thinks that having 50-50 economic development and education will be clearer. He also shares the concerns about the real estate transfer tax education campaign. He agreed that this was too much. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he echoed what Commissioner Jacobs said and this tax is an investment in the County's future. He said that the demand for services is not going to decrease and there is going to be a greater demand on the County to provide these services and the only way to get the revenue is through property taxes and sales taxes. The only way to get real additional money is by increasing the tax base of non-residential property. The sales tax will allow the County to have the funds to make that investment without having to look at other services that are already strapped. Everyone needs to realize that this is an investment that needs to be made now.