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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: February 19, 2008 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. ?- <br />SUBJECT: Local Revenue Options Referendum Decisions <br />DEPARTMENT: County Manager PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />2/14/08 Report from Local Revenue Laura Blackmon or Rod Visser, <br />Options Education Advisory Committee 919-245-2300 <br />2/14/08 Report from Hertzog Research <br />Resolution Regarding Advisory <br />Referendum (Versions A, B, and C) <br />Draft Statement of Intent Regarding <br />Uses of New Revenue Source Proceeds <br />PURPOSE: To make decisions regarding what local revenue option(s) to include in a <br />referendum to be placed on the May 6, 2008 ballot. <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. Commissioners may conduct a referendum on a land transfer tax (of up to <br />four-tenths percent, in one-tenth increments), a one-quarter cent additional sales and use tax, or <br />both. Commissioners may implement only one of the two taxes if voters approve both. <br />Decision Points: In Fall 2007, the Orange County Commissioners indicated their intention to <br />place one or both revenue options on the May 2008 ballot for voter approval. The established <br />timeline for the Board to make a decision on what to include as the subject of a May 6, 2008 <br />referendum is at this February 19, 2008 regular meeting. The BOCC must communicate its <br />decision to the Orange County Board of Elections before the end of February in order to meet <br />practical and statutory requirements regarding the calling of elections and the availability of <br />ballots for absentee voting. <br />Citizen Advisory Committee: In October 2007, the Board created the Local Revenue Options <br />Education Advisory Committee. In keeping with the charge from the BOCC, this fourteen- <br />member Committee has focused during the first phase of its work on the following tasks: <br />o Becoming familiar with the history that led to the 2007 General Assembly granting <br />counties the authority to enact new local revenue options - either a .4% land transfer <br />tax or an additional'/4-cent sales tax <br />o Becoming familiar with the impacts that each of the new revenues would have on <br />Orange County residents and Orange County's revenue stream