Orange County NC Website
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Across the Nation <br />Due to state and federal funding cuts and implementation of unfunded <br />mandates, a number of local governments have had to become "creative" in <br />funding services <br />. They have become dependent on one-time budget "fixes" such as borrowing from <br />unspent capital projects, freezing and delaying hiring, and using fund balance to <br />try to keep tax increases low <br />. Most have tapped all of their non-recurring funding sources <br />. True for Orange County as well <br />To that end, analysts predict that the majority of State and local governments <br />will face a budget gap as they begin planning for fiscal year 2005-06 <br />County's Revenue Highlights <br />Revaluation -Appreciation of Property Values <br />^ Factors affecting real property appreciation include location, size and nature of <br />property use <br />. If property owner experienced valuation change that fell below the countywide <br />average percentage and if the tax rate remained at the effective tax rate, would <br />probably experience a decrease in property taxes <br />. If, an other hand, the change increased the value above the average, owner would <br />probably experience an increase in property taxes <br />Property Tax Base <br />^ Overall property tax base approaching $12 billion <br />^ Compared to $10 billion base used to plan 20Q4-05 budget <br />^ Reflects estimated growth rate of about 19% <br />^ Average increase in non-Revaluation years between 3.5 to 4°l° <br />Proposed General Fund Tax Rate <br />^ Recommended tax rate of 86.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation <br />. Represents an increase of nine cents over the equivalent "revenue neutral" post- <br />revaluationtax rate of 77.8 cents <br />^ One cent an property tax estimated to generate $1,187,580 <br />Property Tax Revenues Continue to Be Strang -chart <br />Other Revenue Highlights <br />Revenues such as sales tax reimbursements and investment earnings have <br />slowed or decreased over last few years <br />. Intergovernmental revenues far next year increase by about $1.4 million <br />. 11 % increase tied mainly to Department of Social Services <br />. Offsets expenditure increases such as <br />. Daycare services <br />. Social Worker positions added during the current fiscal year <br />