Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: June 23, 2005 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. / - Q <br />SUBJECT: Resolution Expressing Orange County's Position on Increasing the State <br />Cigarette Tax To Support County Medicaid Relief and Farmland Preservation <br />DEPARTMENT: County Manager <br />County Attorney <br />PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Resolution <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />John Link, ext, 2300 <br />Geof Gledhill, County Attorney, 732-2196 <br />TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br />Hillsborough 732-8181 <br />Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br />Durham 688-7331 <br />Mebane 336-227-2031 <br />PURPOSE: To consider approval of a resolution expressing Orange County's position on <br />increasing the state cigarette tax to support county Medicaid relief and farmland preservation. <br />BACKGROUND: The BOCC held a public hearing on March 1, 2005 on potential items far <br />inclusion in Orange County's legislative agenda package for the 2005 North Carolina General <br />Assembly Session. After the public hearing, the Board reviewed and approved three <br />resolutions (with associated materials) that requested Orange County's legislative delegation <br />introduce certain bills and that expressed Orange County's positions on various legislative <br />issues. It was noted at that time that the work of the Legislative Issues Task Force had been <br />based on the current information available and that new issues may arise in the ensuing months <br />necessitating additional BOCC review, The Board subsequently took action by resolution on <br />two additional items in April 2005, and, in May, the Board authorized the Chair to send a letter <br />to the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners regarding aforestry-related bill, <br />During the 2005 General Assembly session, there has been substantial discussion on the <br />burden that Medicaid places on local governments in North Carolina. The North Carolina <br />Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) has taken a very active role in these <br />discussions and has recently asked counties to consider adoption of a resolution requesting <br />that the state cigarette tax be increased to support county Medicaid relief, <br />As part of the BOCC's original approval of the County's legislative package in March, one of the <br />resolutions approved included the fallowing excerpts: <br />