Orange County NC Website
4 <br /> County. They would not include public health emergencies. The recommended <br /> changes to the Water and Sewer Boundary Agreement are as follows: <br /> D: ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES <br /> 1. Remains the same <br /> 2. Reads as follows: Planning and growth management issues are <br /> influenced by the location of water and sewer. This agreement is not intended to <br /> supersede any land use agreements, e.g., regarding utility service within the Rural <br /> Buffer. Joe Capowski suggested adding the following sentence. "We recognize that <br /> land use decisions are made by elected boards not utilities. <br /> 3. Reads as follows: Equity Issues: When Orange County uses general <br /> County-wide tax revenues to pay for water or wastewater facilities, including the <br /> remediation of privately owned systems, the County will recover the costs from the <br /> benefiting or responsible parties through mechanisms such as assessments, service <br /> fees, special district revenues, etc. And such costs shall be recovered over time with an <br /> appropriate interest rate. It is understood that when the Health Director determines that <br /> a public health emergency exists, it may be necessary for the County to use general tax <br /> revenues in hardship cases. <br /> The remainder of#3 would be deleted. <br /> Ms. Andresen's stated outcome was that there would be some limitation on <br /> general county revenues used. For example, the $50,000 of General Revenues spent <br /> by the county each year as pilot projects for companies expected to generate income <br /> within the County would be capped. Second, the County would rely on private, public <br /> utilities, not the County, to provide water and sewer service except in the case of public <br /> health emergencies. Lastly, if the County does get involved in a water and sewer <br /> project , a service district, or some other agreement, would be formed so that the <br /> benefiting parties would pay. <br /> Chair Carey thanked Ms. Andresen and Jay Bryan for putting together the <br /> August 22, 1996 memorandum. However, he felt that it expressed basic philosophical <br /> differences in his perception of the objective of this Task Force and the proposal <br /> presented by Councilmember Andresen and Alderman Bryan. He asked for clarification <br /> of the term "general County Revenue" as it was used in this proposal. He felt that it <br /> was granting to the Towns the right to approval the county's expenditure of funds for <br /> economic development purposes. <br /> Alderman Bryan indicated that all OWASA users are County taxpayers. They <br /> have a problem with the County spending money generated within the OWASA district <br /> to be spent on a water and sewer project that is not in the OWASA district. That is <br /> being taxed twice. <br /> Chair Carey indicated that the County Water and Sewer Policy applies to the <br /> entire county and they would consider a project within the OWASA service area the <br /> County would consider it. <br />