Minutes 05-03-2022 Business Meeting

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38 an appeals application. She said her tax value went from $93,000 to $233,000 after her appeal. She said she appealed a second time. She said she received a letter reducing the value of her home back to $93,000. She said she asked why her tax value went back down to $93,000 and she was informed that there were two levels that had to be considered, and when they looked at those two levels, it caused the value to come down. She said there is something wrong with the process. She said that if she had left the higher value after the first appeal, she would be paying taxes on $233,000 when her home is not worth that much. She said there is still a problem with the calculations and homeowners don't know it. She said the deeper problem is understanding what the tax bill means and what the levels are that can change a valuation. Horace Johnson said he was frustrated by the lack of communication with Northern Orange County. He said they did not find out about the program until mid-November, and the deadline was December 15t". He said there is a problem with the way values are decided. He asked if his neighbor Commissioner McKee buys a Mercedes Benz, but he is driving 1975 Ford, should his car taxes go up on his car? He said that is what happens when someone builds a new house in the neighborhood next to a house that has been there for 50 years. He said there is something wrong with the logic. He said that it is amazing to hear that for the first time the county is looking at the problems. He said oversight was poor, no one followed up. He said he represented the Piney Grove neighborhood with Justice United, and he represented all of the people they don't get to see. He said people asked him why they didn't find out. He said implementation was poor. He said the Board should go to the neighborhoods and see if the people need tax assistance. He said the county should tax the builders building all of the new neighborhoods in the county, and then use the revenue to help the people who cannot afford to pay their property taxes. He said people do not have broadband internet and lack access to information. He said that when the bill is sent, also send out the resources. He said that Durham has an assistance program that doesn't necessarily rely on tax increases. Chair Price said that all of the commissioners received an email earlier that day from Julia Sendor on behalf of Orange County Justice United Affordable Housing and that it would be included in the meeting record: Dear Board of County Commissioners, I am sending this message from the Orange County Justice United Affordable Housing research team. Orange County Justice United is made up of 20 member organizations countywide, and a 25-person research group has been working to identify areas for making specific, tangible improvements in the affordable housing crisis, especially focused on preserving existing affordable housing. Please include this message in the official meeting minutes, as coming from the Orange County Justice United Affordable Housing team. At tonight's County Commissioners meeting, several members will speak, along with partners in this work from the Jackson Center and EmPOWERMENT, Inc., in support of expanding the access to and impact of the property tax assistance program. As context, we first heard during listening sessions last year with fellow Justice United members, including many in Hillsborough and Northern Orange, that high property taxes are making it hard for people to stay in their homes and hold onto family land. Even for properties that didn't have the steep increases in their assessments like neighborhoods in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the tax burden is still inequitable for households with lower incomes.