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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: February 5, 2008 <br />Action Agenda. <br />Item No. <br />SUBJECT: Public Hearing on Local Revenue Options Referendum <br />DEPARTMENT: County Manager PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) Yes <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />None <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Laura Blackmon or Rod Visser, 919-245- <br />2300 <br />PURPOSE: To conduct a public hearing to solicit opinion from voters regarding which of two <br />local revenue options should be placed on a May 2008 referendum for voter consideration. <br />BACKGROUND: As part of a comprehensive and complicated "swap" of county and state <br />revenue sources approved by the North Carolina General Assembly during its 2007 Session, <br />the legislature authorized county Boards of Commissioners to enact one of two new local <br />revenue sources, subject to voter approval in each county considering implementation of the <br />new revenue source. Counties may conduct a referendum on: <br />• a land transfer tax (up to a rate of four-tenths percent [0.4%], in increments of one-tenth <br />percent [0.1 %]); <br />• a one-quarter cent additional sales tax (this option is available only to counties that levy <br />the first one-cent sales tax [Article 39], the first one-half cent sales tax [Article 40], AND <br />the second one-half cent sales tax [Article 42] - Orange County meets this condition); or <br />• both taxes. <br />County Boards of Commissioners can implement only one of the two taxes if voters approve <br />both. <br />The Orange County Commissioners decided in Fall 2007 that there was inadequate time to <br />properly inform voters about the available local revenue options for there to be a November <br />2007 referendum on the subject. However, the Board did indicate its intent to hold a May 2008 <br />referendum on one or both revenue options. Although there is no statutory requirement for a <br />governing board to hold a public hearing ahead of such a referendum, the BOCC's timeline <br />since last fall has contemplated that the Board would conduct a public hearing on the matter <br />prior to deciding what question to place on the May 2008 ballot. <br />The form of the ballot language that would appear for each of the revenue options is specified in <br />the State statute, as follows: <br />[ ] FOR [ ] AGAINST <br />Local sales and use tax at the rate of one-quarter percent (0.25%) in addition to all other State <br />and local sales and use taxes.