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

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COMMENTS/OBSERVATIONS ABOUT LAND TRANSFER TAX FROM LOCAL REVENUE OPTIONS EDUCATION ADVISORY COMNIITTEE MEETING February 28, 2008 The following list records various points raised and discussed during the February 28 Committee meeting regarding potential elements of and approaches to the public information effort for the May 6 land transfer tax (LTT) referendum. The Committee did not attempt to reach consensus or provide specifzc recommendations at this meeting. Rather, this document is intended to serve a similar purpose for the Board of Commissioners, as did the Committee's initial report on Februaryl4 that provided pros/cons/observations about the local revenue options available to the County. ^ Consider "Southern Neighbor" as a newspaper to publish in (circulated in Northern Chatham and Southern Orange); also The Independent and The Daily Tarheel ^ Speakers' Bureau should be a useful vehicle for covering the land transfer tax topic ^ Some concern about whether community civic groups, clubs, etc will meet often enough to be able to take advantage of using the Speakers' Bureau; need to develop initial versions of public information so clubs can pick up speakers during their April meeting cycles ^ Expectation that there will not be any organized effort funded in support of the LTT, that there is already organized opposition, and that will put this Committee in a tough position ^ Maybe different points of emphasis and different amounts of information in different educational materials, depending on what type of media is being used ^ One of biggest challenges is explaining why the County is doing this and getting across what the alternatives are; not just because the State is allowing counties to do this, but long term why the County is doing this ^ Need succinct, factually based answers to these kinds of questions ^ As soon as you mention the word "tax", nobody wants new taxes in any form or manner; many long-time residents in northern part of the County have said the Board should lower expenses not increase revenues ^ If somebody has that viewpoint, that's a perfectly legitimate viewpoint for people to have; this group needs to share factual information and let people and groups. make their own informed choice about whether they will vote "yes" or "no" on this; some people, for lots of legitimate reasons - "this isn't the right time, this isn't the right tax, I'm not convinced of the additional revenue needs" -will not support this; others will support it because they have the opposite view of all that; this group's role is to give people the best possible, most factual information available and let them make their choice ^ With regard to who will speak on behalf of this, there's no prohibition on Commissioners saying they support this, they think people ought to vote for it for these reasons ^ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list is a living, breathing document that will evolve because people at community meetings will ask great questions the group hasn't thought of, and those should be added to the FAQ list ^ Group's earlier pros and cons list gives a lot of the questions and answers ^ Thomas Mills (friend of Committee Member Kathie Young) is a media consultant in Carrboro who spoke with Committee Chair Mark Peters; he estimated that if you want to do TV, radio, and direct mail in the timeframe we've got, you're looking at an investment of $75,000 - $100,000; he indicated a willingness to work with the group whether the County hires him or not; regardless of how much the Commissioners decide to spend he could give feedback; given the timeframe, if the County spends $15,00-$25,000, the public wouldn't really be educated on the topic; he explains that media consultants make their income, for example, of 15% on certain