Minutes 05-03-2022 Business Meeting

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36 they are aware of the information included in the bill. She said mortgage companies get information electronically. Commissioner McKee said he wondered if people who hold mortgages would be in the economic range of the program. Chair Price thanked Corey Root and Nancy Freeman for their work in getting the pilot off the ground and reaching out to the community. She said the money was included in June, and they only had a few months to get the program off the ground. She said they did a lot of leg work along with community members to get it going. She wondered what the criteria would be for the program. She asked if the program considered a household's tax burden. She asked that with or without revaluation, are people still having difficulties with their taxes. She said that looking at the percentage of income fails to reflect other living costs. She said it seems like they are working the numbers rather than determining what would help households and the situations people are in. Staff said other costs to a household were not considered. Chair Price said that would be her suggested addition to the program. Commissioner Hamilton said the key thing is who pays the bill for the property tax, but maybe there is not a way to get to that. She said we are looking to get relief for low-income homeowners who pay their property taxes. She asked if there was a way to capture that information, because someone else may be paying the property tax. Nancy Freeman said they could look at prior year tax bills for that information. She said if a person pays in cash, they would not capture that information. She said some properties had mortgages and qualified for the program. She said in those cases, the mortgage company paid the lowered amount to the benefit of the owner. She said that anyone can pay a tax bill. She is not sure if there is a way to determine this information. Commissioner Hamilton said she understood, she just wanted to discuss the idea that there may situations where a person pays the tax for another person. PUBLIC COMMENT: Christine Abernathy said she is the director of housing justice at the Marian Cheek Jackson Center. She said she wanted to give the context of the group present and the conversation they want to have. She said it has been a pleasure to work with county staff, along with Justice United, Empowerment, Inc., the NAACP, leadership in northern and central Orange County, alongside people in Northside, Pine Knolls, and Tin Top neighborhoods. She said it was important take some time to do deep listening in community, incorporating that information into the presentation at the meeting. She said she and her coworker Kathy Atwater, did a lot of outreach for the program. She said they had conversations with residents and mobilized people to do the applications. She appreciated the Board's thoughtful questions on the program. She said they they will continue to share information and feedback with staff as things move forward. She said that they hoped they could center the idea that while they see inequity, they have to have a wholesome approach to how it is addressed. She said there is not one silver bullet. She said the increases in recent valuations stand on systemic inequity that existed prior. She said it is already on the back of a lot of things that have happened throughout history. She said that the program sought to address systemic inequity to a degree, but when the county thinks about continuing the work, they must come at it from a systemic approach. She said they must address it from all areas to get help to the most people when they can, as soon as they can. She said that looks like supporting this program to continue to do the work. David Remington said he has lived on the edge of Hillsborough for two decades. He said his congregation heavily involved with Justice United over the years and has partnered with