Orange County NC Website
The Town of Chapel Hill staff is prepared to make this recommendation to the Chapel <br /> Hill Town Council, and the North Chatham Fire Chief has indicated a plan to make this <br /> recommendation to the North Chatham Board of Directors. Attachment J shows a potential <br /> new Chapel Hill Fire Service District which includes hydrants. <br /> Attachment K is a projection of property values and revenues for the New North <br /> Chatham Fire Insurance District. Attachment L is a map of the proposed New North Chatham <br /> Fire Insurance District. With a property tax increase from 5 cents to 8.8 cents and a reduction <br /> of property covered by the district, the net impact for the new district is a revenue increase of <br /> $31,441 from $213,325 to $244,766. <br /> Greater Chapel Hill Fire Service District <br /> Attachment M is a projection of property values and revenues for the New Greater <br /> Chapel Fire Insurance District. <br /> The result of these changes is that the homeowners on Attachment B in yellow will <br /> save considerable money on fire insurance. It is very likely that the new district will keep a <br /> rating of 3 or no worse than a 6. <br /> Commissioner McKee said that it is critical to get these 112 homeowners out from <br /> under that 10 insurance rating. <br /> Frank Clifton said that there are no real issues with North Chatham or the Town of <br /> Carrboro with this proposal. The real issue is that by giving fire protection to this area it would <br /> not allow Chapel Hill to annex this area in some future time. He said that while they have <br /> negotiated with staff on this issue, it still has to go before the elected officials of Chapel Hill for <br /> approval. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz asked what would happen if the County said no to a tax <br /> increase. <br /> Frank Clifton said that the fire department could say no to providing service. <br /> John Roberts said that if the fire department says no, then the County would have up to <br /> a year to find another service provider. However, it was pointed out by staff that since the <br /> existing fire service contracts had been canceled, the County only had until June 30, 2013 to <br /> negotiate and sign new contracts. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz said that it might be better to take the tax burden off some <br /> individuals and spread it around to all residents in that area. <br /> Commissioner McKee said that the great majority of these people in Southern Triangle <br /> will go to 8.8 cents because North Chatham has to charge them the same as they do in their <br /> own district. He said they are not going to discontinue fire service anywhere in Orange <br /> County. From February until now the Emergency Services work group has run various <br /> scenarios with this proposal. This is not an ideal option and many will get an increase in taxes <br /> but with little or no benefits, with the exception of these 112 homes. He said that the 112 <br /> homes will get a financial benefit, but the County has to do something to correct the situation. <br /> He would have preferred to keep the service district. <br /> Commissioner Gordon said that the County will continue to facilitate fire protection. <br /> She said that Commissioner McKee is right in that there will be winners and losers. She asked <br /> why the fire chiefs did not want the service districts. <br /> Commissioner McKee said that his perspective and personal opinion is that fire tax <br /> districts are set up by vote of the citizens and are very difficult to set up or change. This <br /> prevents meddling by any board. Fire service districts are much more easily changed by a <br />