Orange County NC Website
6 <br /> Future Actions Recommended: <br /> Even with all of the current and previous projects,the Board of Orange County Commissioners (BOCC) <br /> recognize the need for further investment in energy efficiency to reduce our impact, renewable energy <br /> to power the necessary services we provide, and offsets for any unavoidable emissions. <br /> Many current climate change mitigation projects will extend into the future, and entirely new <br /> opportunities will arise as well. With that in mind, on June 11t", 2019,the Board levied an additional <br /> cent property tax to provide an estimated $469,272 dedicated to accelerating climate change mitigation <br /> through the new Climate Change Mitigation Project in the Capital Investment Plan. During the approval <br /> of this Climate Action Tax,the BOCC requested that the CFE provide their feedback on initial project <br /> ideas in advance of BOCC review using a formula that prioritized social justice and racial equity.The <br /> BOCC has regularly emphasized the need to consider justice and equity, so that those who benefit most <br /> directly from the County's actions and investments are the people who most need assistance.This <br /> scoring formula was created to assess project ideas and a rubric reflecting that formula was used by the <br /> CFE to rank order the climate action projects (see Appendix A). <br /> Table 1: Orange County Racial Distribution and Poverty Status by Race <br /> 80% <br /> 70% <br /> 60% <br /> 50% <br /> 40% 00verall Racial Makeup <br /> 30% <br /> 20% ■Racial Makeup of Orange <br /> 10% Co. residents below <br /> 0% federal poverty level <br /> �a <br /> Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2013-2017 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. <br /> Assessment Criteria: <br /> Projects were assessed by the CFE based on 6 key criteria. Bullet points below each criterion help to <br /> describe how the CFE was directed to apply them along with their relevant expertise. Social justice and <br /> racial equity is the criterion that holds the highest weight. <br /> Low-income households have fewer resources to help them avoid or adapt to the impacts of climate <br /> change, and recent census figures show that racial minorities make up a more significant portion of the <br /> Orange County's residents below the federal poverty line (see Table 1). <br /> Not all County residents below the poverty line are people of color. Both socio-economic status and <br /> racial identity are key factors that will be used to target and track the positive impacts of these <br /> programs. <br />