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81 <br /> Sales tax revenue of the County for past five fiscal years is shown in the following table: <br /> Fiscal Year Sales Tax Increase Over <br /> Ended June 30 Revenue Previous Year <br /> 2015 $25,021,116 9.1% <br /> 2016 26,207,817 4.7 <br /> 2017 28,004,172 6.9 <br /> 2018 29,403,519 5.0 <br /> 2019 31,832,526 8.3 <br /> Source: Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports of the County. <br /> The Article 46 one-quarter cent sales tax (the "Article 46 Sales Tax") was approved by Orange <br /> County voters in a November 2011 referendum, and became effective April 1, 2012. A Special Revenue <br /> Fund was established to account for the Article 46 Sales Tax. The Article 46 Sales Tax was initially <br /> estimated to generate $2,500,000 annually. Article 46 sales tax revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, <br /> 2019 was approximately $4.0 million, and the County has estimated Article 46 sales tax revenue for the <br /> fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 to be approximately $3.9 million. The Board of County Commissioners <br /> approved a ten-year commitment which authorized equal distribution of the one-quarter cent sales tax to <br /> support Schools and Economic Development. Fifty percent of the one-quarter cent sales tax is allocated to <br /> both County school systems on an average daily membership percent basis to fund capital projects. The <br /> other 50% is allocated to economic development initiatives including supporting water and sewer <br /> infrastructure funding in the County's three economic development districts. <br /> The County's other sales and use taxes(Articles 39,40,42,and 44 Sales Taxes)are reported in the <br /> County's General Fund and are included in the above table with Article 46 Sales Tax. <br /> The County's Articles 40 and 42 one-half cent local option sales and use taxes, which were <br /> authorized by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1983 and 1986,comprise significant funding sources <br /> for the County's school capital requirements and school debt retirement. <br /> Employment <br /> The North Carolina Department of Commerce has estimated the percentage of unemployment in <br /> the County to be as follows: <br /> 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 <br /> January 4.8% 4.4% 4.2% 3.5% 3.8% <br /> February 4.5 4.3 4.0 3.6 3.6 <br /> March 4.4 4.3 3.9 3.3 3.6 <br /> April 4.1 3.9 3.3 3.0 3.0 <br /> May 5.0 4.1 3.6 3.1 3.6 <br /> June 5.1 4.6 4.0 3.7 4.0 <br /> July 5.4 4.6 4.2 3.6 3.9 <br /> August 5.1 4.7 4.3 3.5 3.9 <br /> September 4.2 4.0 3.4 2.7 2.9 <br /> October 4.4 4.1 3.3 3.0 3.0 <br /> November 4.3 3.9 3.4 3.0 2.7 <br /> December 4.3 4.0 3.3 3.1 2.7 <br /> Note: Not seasonally adjusted. <br /> Source:N.C.Department of Commerce:Labor and Economic Analysis Division. <br /> 27 <br />