Agenda - 04-06-1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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9 raise the property tax which would have an adverse impact on the low income people. The Land Transfer Tax would be easier for people to pay at the time they realize a windfall tax or depreciation tax. Chair Marshall stated the tax brings some relief to those people who buy a house and remain in the house and who see their assessed evaluation rise tremendously because of the buying and selling that occurs. This tax does give a balance and puts pressure on those transfers that take place year after year raising the assessed evaluation. This tax would be reserved for capital improvements and would not be depended upon during periods of nongrowth. Part of this tax may be used for bonding. There are some issues that need to be addressed. It is important that the Board supports the State enabling legislation and, if it is not approved, that the Board request consideration of a local bill. The method of how it will be distributed and the threshold at which it starts needs to be determined. Chair Marshall entered into the record the letter from Town of Hillsborough Mayor Frank Sheffield. This letter is an attachment to these minutes on page Motion was made by Commissioner Hartwell, seconded by Chair Marshall to approve the Real Estate Transfer Tax legislation with an amendment to exempt the first $50, 000 of all transactions. Commissioner Willhoit disagreed with setting a floor in the bill. Legislation would need to be changed if the figure is too high or too low. The allocation of the money needs to be determined. The floor is something that could be determined after the enabling legislation is received. Commissioner Hartwell amended his motion so it does not state a definite figure in the bill for the floor but requested that the bill allow the County to make that determination at a later time. Commissioner Carey stated there are questions that need to be answered before this bill is approved by the Board. There are implications that need to be thought through before enabling legislation is requested. After further discussion, Commissioner Hartwell withdrew his motion and Chair Marshall withdrew her second. Motion was made by Commissioner Hartwell, seconded by Commissioner Carey to table this item until April 15 for receipt of additional information. VOTE: UNANIMOUS. 0.7 ADDED ITEM - REPORT ON THE TELEPHONE FAILURE (originally G-15) Richard Helwig, Chair of the Telephone Technical Task Force, reported that on April 3 , 1987 the Hillsborough telephone system was inoperative for a period of 3 .75 hours. The telephone company does not have a plan to deal with emergencies. He presented a resolution which makes a request to the Utilities Commission to investigate the failure. Bobby Baker, EMS Director, indicated he was unable to get any information on the estimated length of the outage in a reasonable period of time in order for him to make a decision to activate an emergency plan. He does support the task force and the resolution pertaining to the failure that occurred on April 3, 1987. Helwig indicated he would send with the resolution to the Utilities Commission a letter of support from Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass.