Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
1 <br />ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: .March 6, 2008 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. (p ~q <br />SUBJECT: Potential Uses of Land Transfer Tax Proceeds <br />DEPARTMENT: County Manager/Budget PUB<_IC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Draft Statement of Intent Regarding Laura Blackmon or Rod Visser, <br />Uses of Land Transfer Tax Proceeds 919-245-2300 <br />Proposed Resolution Regarding Donna Coffey, 919-245-2151 <br />Uses of Land Transfer Tax Proceeds <br />PURPOSE: To discuss options for the use of proceeds from a .4% land transfer tax, if <br />approved by voters on the May 6, 2008 ballot, and subsequently implemented by the Orange <br />County Board of Commissioners. <br />BACKGROUND: At the February 19, 2008 regular meeting, the Board of Commissioners <br />adopted a resolution calling an advisory referendum for May 6, 2008 on the question of whether <br />to levy a land transfer tax. This tax of four-tenths percent on eligible real property transactions <br />was provided for in the 2007 Session Laws enacted by the Narth Carolina General Assembly as <br />a local revenue option available to county governments. If Orange County voters approve this <br />measure, and County Commissioners implement it subsequently in May 2008 (following a 10- <br />day public notice), the levy of the tax could begin as early as July 1, 2008. <br />The Orange County Commissioners discussed the potential use of proceeds at their February <br />12, 2008 work session and agreed that clarity and simplicity are essential to effectively <br />communicating to the public the Board's plans for using any revenue from any newly <br />implemented revenue sources. Consistent with information presented in late summer 2007 and <br />which the Board has reviewed and discussed on a number of occasions since, the Board <br />expressed the view on February 12 that significant capital needs for both schools and parks that <br />are unfunded in the 2008-18 Capital Investment Plan would be appropriate objects of <br />expenditure for any new revenues. <br />At the Board's direction, staff drafted for the February 19, 2008 meeting a statement of the <br />proposed uses of the proceeds that would reflect the Board's February 12 discussion. On <br />February 19, the Board indicated that it was necessary to postpone a full discussion of that <br />subject until this March 6, 2008 regular meeting. That draft statement -revised to reflect the <br />Board's February 19 decision to pursue only a referendum on the land transfer tax option - <br />accompanies this abstract as a starting point for further Board deliberation on the intended uses <br />of local revenue option proceeds. Staff .have also drafted a resolution on use of proceeds, <br />based upon that document, which if adopted by the Board of Commissioners, would become <br />part of the foundation for educational .materials to be developed and disseminated this spring <br />with assistance from the Local Revenue Options Education Advisory Committee. <br />