Agenda - 06-07-2022; 8-a - Minutes

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36 1 Commissioner McKee said he wondered if people who hold mortgages would be in the 2 economic range of the program. 3 Chair Price thanked Corey Root and Nancy Freeman for their work in getting the pilot off 4 the ground and reaching out to the community. She said the money was included in June, and 5 they only had a few months to get the program off the ground. She said they did a lot of leg 6 work along with community members to get it going. She wondered what the criteria would be 7 for the program. She asked if the program considered a household's tax burden. She asked 8 that with or without revaluation, are people still having difficulties with their taxes. She said that 9 looking at the percentage of income fails to reflect other living costs. She said it seems like they 10 are working the numbers rather than determining what would help households and the 11 situations people are in. 12 Staff said other costs to a household were not considered. 13 Chair Price said that would be her suggested addition to the program. 14 Commissioner Hamilton said the key thing is who pays the bill for the property tax, but 15 maybe there is not a way to get to that. She said we are looking to get relief for low-income 16 homeowners who pay their property taxes. She asked if there was a way to capture that 17 information, because someone else may be paying the property tax. 18 Nancy Freeman said they could look at prior year tax bills for that information. She said 19 if a person pays in cash, they would not capture that information. She said some properties had 20 mortgages and qualified for the program. She said in those cases, the mortgage company paid 21 the lowered amount to the benefit of the owner. She said that anyone can pay a tax bill. She is 22 not sure if there is a way to determine this information. 23 Commissioner Hamilton said she understood, she just wanted to discuss the idea that 24 there may situations where a person pays the tax for another person. 25 26 PUBLIC COMMENT: 27 28 Christine Abernathy said she is the director of housing justice at the Marian Cheek 29 Jackson Center. She said she wanted to give the context of the group present and the 30 conversation they want to have. She said it has been a pleasure to work with county staff, 31 along with Justice United, Empowerment, Inc., the NAACP, leadership in northern and central 32 Orange County, alongside people in Northside, Pine Knolls, and Tin Top neighborhoods. She 33 said it was important take some time to do deep listening in community, incorporating that 34 information into the presentation at the meeting. She said she and her coworker Kathy Atwater, 35 did a lot of outreach for the program. She said they had conversations with residents and 36 mobilized people to do the applications. She appreciated the Board's thoughtful questions on 37 the program. She said they they will continue to share information and feedback with staff as 38 things move forward. She said that they hoped they could center the idea that while they see 39 inequity, they have to have a wholesome approach to how it is addressed. She said there is not 40 one silver bullet. She said the increases in recent valuations stand on systemic inequity that 41 existed prior. She said it is already on the back of a lot of things that have happened throughout 42 history. She said that the program sought to address systemic inequity to a degree, but when 43 the county thinks about continuing the work, they must come at it from a systemic approach. 44 She said they must address it from all areas to get help to the most people when they can, as 45 soon as they can. She said that looks like supporting this program to continue to do the work. 46 David Remington said he has lived on the edge of Hillsborough for two decades. He 47 said his congregation heavily involved with Justice United over the years and has partnered with 48 organizations in the Fairview community. His said he has had a lot of conversations with 49 generous, hardworking people about the burden of homeownership and tax burdens. He said he 50 has had a lot of conversations about low wage jobs and fixed incomes. He said that even if tax 51 rates haven't gone up, what they have to pay is a substantial portion of their income. He said