Agenda - 03-06-2008-6b - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: March 6, 2008 Action Agenda Item No. (o- SUBJECT: Local Revenue Options Education Effort DEPARTMENT: County Manager/Budget PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Sample Advertising Rates Laura Blackmon or Rod Visser, Additional materials to be submitted 919-245-2300 under separate cover following 2/28/08 Donna Coffey, 919-245-2151 Meeting of Local Revenue Options Education Advisory Committee PURPOSE:. To discuss alternative approaches, and prospective budgets for those alternatives, regarding the County's planned effort to educate voters about the purposes for and implications of the land transfer tax measure that the Orange County Commissioners have placed on the May 6, 2008 ballot. BACKGROUND: At the February 19, 2008 regular meeting, the Board of Commissioners adopted a resolution calling an advisory referendum for May 6, 2008 on the question of whether to levy a land transfer tax. This tax of four-tenths percent (.4%) on eligible real property transactions was provided for in the 2007 Session Laws enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly as a local revenue option available to county governments. In Fall 2007, the Board of Commissioners appointed a Local Revenue Options Education Advisory Committee comprised of up to twenty members representing various constituencies in the community. Among the elements of the Committee's charge were the following tasks: ^ Develop appropriate informational materials for the local revenue options ^ Design and implement an educational component to distribute relevant factual information about the local revenue options to Orange County voters in the most effective and efficient manner possible ^ Design and implement a process for informational meetings with civic groups, business organizations, non-profit agencies, neighborhood associations, and other interested parties in the community ^ Ensure that equal access to factual information is provided to all individuals and groups, regardless of their position for or against the referendum ^ Encourage all eligible voters to participate in the May 6, 2008 election At the February 19 meeting, the Board discussed the possibility of an extensive television/radio/media advertising effort. The Board then directed the Manager, staff, and Committee to provide the Board at the March 6, 2008 regular meeting with several land transfer tax referendum educational effort proposals, including proposed budgets. The Committee met