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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: March 23, 1993 <br /> SUBJECT: Resolution to Support Funding for Local Recreation and Parks <br /> DEPARTMENT: Recreation and Parks PUBLIC HEARING YES: NO: XX <br /> ATTACHMENT(S) : . INFORMATION CONTACT: MaryAnne Moore <br /> ext. 2664 <br /> Resolution TELEPHONE NUMBER- <br /> Hillsborough - 732-8181 <br /> Chapel Hill - 968-4501 <br /> Mebane - 227-2031 <br /> Durham - 688-7331 <br /> PURPOSE: <br /> A resolution to support the modification of proposed legislation affecting <br /> the Recreation and Natural Heritage Trust Fund and to establish a Park <br /> Fund in North Carolina. <br /> BACKGROUND: <br /> The Association of County Commissioners ' Adopted Legislative Goals for the <br /> 1993 and 1994 General Assembly includes "supporting legislation which <br /> provides that a portion of the Recreation and Natural Trust Fund will be <br /> made available to local governments for land acquisition, renovation and <br /> development of local parks systems. " <br /> In the 1991 session of the General Assembly, a bill was introduced that <br /> proposed raising the excise tax on land transfers by one dollar per <br /> thousand. The bill would have dedicated the approximately $12 .8 million <br /> raised by the tax to the Recreation and Natural Heritage Trust Fund <br /> (RNHTF) and would have made the RNHTF available to local units of <br /> governments and the Department of Cultural Resources. The bill was never <br /> reported out of committee, but the tax was increased and 15% of the <br /> revenues were dedicated to the RNHTF. The other 85% of the revenue, <br /> however, went into the General Fund and local governments were not <br /> included in the RNHTF. <br /> The Legislative Study Commission on Parks and Recreation has drafted <br /> legislation that would dedicate the 85% of the revenue that is currently <br /> going to the General Fund to a proposed Park Fund of North Carolina. <br /> Although the proposed draft outlines that the funds would benefit only the <br /> development of State Parks, the Legislative Study Commission is willing to <br /> consider making the funds available to local units of government as well <br /> as State Parks. This modification to the proposed legislation would then <br /> make the funds available for acquisition of land with significant natural <br /> heritage value, for local park land acquisition, and for the development <br /> of state parks. <br />