Agenda - 02-19-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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8 1 of property covered by the district, the net impact for the new district is a revenue increase of 2 $31 ,441 from $213,325to $244,766. 3 4 5 6 Greater Chapel Hill Fire Service District 7 Attachment M is a projection of property values and revenues for the New Greater 8 Chapel Fire Insurance District. 9 The result of these changes is that the homeowners on Attachment B in yellow will save 10 considerable money on fire insurance. It is very likely that the new district will keep a rating of 3 11 or no worse than a 6. 12 Commissioner McKee said that it is critical to get these 112 homeowners out from under 13 that 10 insurance rating. 14 Frank Clifton said that there are no real issues with North Chatham or the Town of 15 Carrboro with this proposal. The real issue is that by giving fire protection to this area it would 16 not allow Chapel Hill to annex this area in some future time. He said that while they have 17 negotiated with staff on this issue, it still has to go before the elected officials of Chapel Hill for 18 approval. 19 Commissioner Yuhasz asked what would happen if the County said no to a tax increase. 20 Frank Clifton said that the fire department could say no to providing service. 21 John Roberts said that if the fire department says no, then the County would have up to 22 a year to find another service provider. However, it was pointed out by staff that since the 23 existing fire service contracts had been canceled, the County only had until June 30, 2013 to 24 negotiate and sign new contracts. 25 Commissioner Yuhasz said that it might be better to take the tax burden off some 26 individuals and spread it around to all residents in that area. 27 Commissioner McKee said that the great majority of these people in Southern Triangle 28 will go to 8.8 cents because North Chatham has to charge them the same as they do in their 29 own district. He said they are not going to discontinue fire service anywhere in Orange County. 30 From February until now the Emergency Services work group has run various scenarios with 31 this proposal. This is not an ideal option and many will get an increase in taxes but with little or 32 no benefits, with the exception of these 112 homes. He said that the 112 homes will get a 33 financial benefit, but the County has to do something to correct the situation. He would have 34 preferred to keep the service district. 35 Commissioner Gordon said that the County will continue to facilitate fire protection. She 36 said that Commissioner McKee is right in that there will be winners and losers. She asked why 37 the fire chiefs did not want the service districts. 38 Commissioner McKee said that his perspective and personal opinion is that fire tax 39 districts are set up by vote of the citizens and are very difficult to set up or change. This 40 prevents meddling by any board. Fire service districts are much more easily changed by a 41 board. He thinks that politics can play a much larger role in the service districts. He likes the 42 certainty of where the districts are and what the districts serve. 43 Commissioner Jacobs asked if the homeowners would be invited to come when this 44 comes back for a vote. 45 Michael Talbert said that the process would be to come back in December to move 46 forward on this issue and try to get it on the calendar as an informational issue for Chapel Hill 47 and Carrboro. If everyone is on board, there could be a public hearing in January. If everyone 48 is in approval, it will move forward through the budget process to establish the tax rates. 49 Frank Clifton said that staff could develop a notice or letter to the residents in these 50 areas affected letting them know about the public hearing.