Minutes 10-05-2021 Virtual Business Meeting

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2 Arts Moment— No Arts Moment was available for this meeting. 2. Public Comments a. Matters not on the Printed Agenda Delores Bailey said she is the owner of a home located at 203 N. Graham Street in Chapel Hill; a stone house built in 1942 by the Campbell brothers. She said her family has lived there since 1975. She said she is speaking tonight due to the taxes on this home. She said the tax assessor and her staff responded to the distress of families living in Northside, and she is one of those people. She said she completed an appeal application for her home and participated in several talks with residents of Northside, and other areas of Orange County, who were experiencing high tax increases. She said she followed all the appropriate steps, and in her letter, she requested someone come by her home while she was there so she could walk through her home and property with them to understand the tax value. She said she did not get a visit and did not receive notification of anyone having come by her house. She said when her tax bill came she called the tax office because she knows and followed the process. She said her concern is that in 2019 her house, which is a 3 bedroom stone house that has not changed very much in its lifetime, was valued at $192,000. She said when she received the letter from the county on August 26, her home is now valued at $233,000, which is a 21% increase. She said she called the tax assessor and was told staff did what they were supposed to do. She said she told the tax assessor that she did not receive a visit and did not have anyone talk to her. She said she appreciates the tax assessor's office efforts around the matter, but this process did not help her and she does not understand why her 1400 square foot house on of an acre is valued that high. She said there is something wrong with that. Chair Price said she is sure staff will follow up with Ms. Bailey about her comments. b. Matters on the Printed Agenda (These matters will be considered when the Board addresses that item on the agenda below.) 3. Announcements, Petitions and Comments by Board Members Commissioner Hamilton said she attended the Eno Arts Mill grand opening on Friday, October 1 st, which was a great time. She said there were lots of people and beautiful art, and she is looking forward to see how it grows and the county's ability to support local artists and increase access to the art for residents, especially in the Northern part of the county. She said on September 29, she attended the board meeting for the Orange County Partnership for Young Children. She said, just like the school system, preschools are facing shortages of teachers and struggling to deal with COVID. She said she was surprised to hear the price of cybersecurity insurance is going up because of more hacking, and some of the funding issues make it hard for providers to survive. She said all should be aware young children are at risk of not getting the services they need and the Partnership is doing everything it can to make sure there is funding and support for providers and children. Commissioner Hamilton petitioned to have a subcommittee of the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC)work with staff to establish a temporary workgroup of community partners to look at how Article 46 Sales Tax money has been spent and determine the county's priorities moving forward. She said the BOCC agreed, in 2011-2012, to split Article 46 sales tax proceeds 50-50 between schools and economic development. She said 10 years is up and it is time to look at how the money is being spent.