Agenda - 05-26-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Li \-j DISTRIBUTED WHICKER ENTERPRISES D II QUALITY HOMES /C 237 SOUTH CHURTON STREET v'-" • IQ J HILLSBOROUGH, NORTH CAROLINA 27278 �- �0�✓1 L /nk' (919) 732 -7532 Dear (�Orf\m\Ss � acw r: As an Orange County resident, parent and business person, I'm greatly concerned about the proposed impact fees. I believe these fees would cause serious hardship to large segments of the population in this county. I own and operate Whicker Enterprises i.n Hillsborough and sell manufactured homes: single -wide, double -wide and modular. Each year we help 40 to 50 families achieve the American dream of owning their own home. These are low- and moderate - income families, like the majority of Orange County residents. If the proposed impact fees had been in place, most of these families would not be in their homes today. They simply could not afford to pay the extra upfront cost. They're like so many families around here: it's all they can do to come up with enough money for the down payment and closing costs. Having to raise several thousand extra dollars would knock them out of the home market. What's more, denying home ownership to so many people would have a negative ripple effect on our area economy. It would hurt all businesses in one way or another and would stifle the economic growth and development of this county. Think how it would put Orange County at a competitive disadvantage with neighboring counties that don't have impact fees. If the proposed impact fees are adopted, I would be forced to move my business and,my family out of Orange County. My business couldn't survive here. Although only a small business, I paid out more than $485,000 in wages last year alone. Those are wages earned and spent by families here in Hillsborough. Also the county would lose more than $10,000 in permits each year- -just from my business moving out. I strongly support the need for having good educational facilities. My wife and I have three children in Orange County schools and are ourselves graduates of the school system here. It's everyone's responsibility to help provide for a good education for each child. But first, let's make sure we've explored all reasonable options - -such as cutting expenditures in other areas and expanding existing schools rather than building new ones. If new schools and additional revenues are truly needed, then let's raise that money in a fair and equitable way. I would favor an across -the -board tax hike, for example. But it's grossly unfair to shift the burden to those who can least afford to bear_it. And that's exactly what the proposed impact fees would do.