Agenda - 09-20-2022; 8-a - Minutes

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7 1 Commissioner Richards said when Article 46 first passed she understood that there was 2 a commitment to economic development. She said she has heard people say the tax was 3 originally passed for economic development. 4 Travis Myren said economic development was not part of the ballot question, but all of 5 the information publicized at the time discussed Economic Development and the schools, so 6 there was some context. 7 Commissioner Bedford asked what the legal ballot said. 8 Travis Myren said the ballot read "For or against local sales and use tax at a rate of 0.25 9 of a cent in addition to all other sales and use taxes". 10 Commissioner Bedford asked if it said what the proceeds would go to. 11 Chair Price said no. She explained there was a debate about being more specific on the 12 ballot, but they were told they had to be limited in the wording. She said the community 13 promotion for the tax was specific about what it would be spent on. 14 Chair Price asked if the Board needs to do another resolution for the next 5-10 years. 15 Travis Myren said he thinks this discussion is for the Board to decide next steps. 16 Commissioner Bedford asked if there are any limitations on what the tax can legally be 17 spent on. 18 Travis Myren said he will find that out. 19 Commissioner Hamilton said she has been wanting to take a look at Article 46 and have 20 a process for determining if the current 50-50 division between education and economic 21 development is appropriate. She said there are significant needs for school facilities and the 22 funding is limited, this money was specifically designed to promote both economic development 23 and school needs. She asked if it is time to rebalance the split in light of the need. She clarified 24 that she does not think the Board needs to decide this now, but should determine what process 25 to take to get feedback from the community on this. 26 Commissioner Greene said when she reviewed the list of where the money is going for 27 discretionary items, she said she believes $5,000 could be moved here or there, but they are all 28 worthy causes that she would want to fund another way in the budget. She said when reading 29 the agenda attachment "Overview of Orange County's Key Economic Development Programs, 30 Expenditures & Return on Investment Measures Tied to Article 46," there is a lot of bang for the 31 buck. She said the money is already being spent on what the community wants. 32 Commissioner Fowler asked where the funding for these programs came from prior to 33 Article 46. 34 Travis Myren said prior to the adoption of the tax, the economic development programs 35 didn't exist. He said the Economic Development Department funding was moved to Article 46 36 during the pandemic, but used to be funded by the general fund. 37 Bonnie Hammersley said they were following the model of the visitors' bureau when 38 making that decision, which is funded by occupancy tax. 39 Commissioner Bedford said she appreciated receiving more information on this during 40 budget discussions. She said she agrees with Commissioner Greene that there are a few things 41 that could be changed, but to still fund them would be a quarter cent tax increase. She said as 42 much as she wants to provide more money for schools, she doesn't want to spend more time 43 looking at this. She said she really wants to get the sewage done North of 1-40 in Efland, which 44 will increase the debt. She said they are fortunate that some companies like Thermo-Fischer are 45 coming in and are not asking for incentives. She said she is surprised that even with all the 46 development, the gross tax revenue is $3 million. She said they have got to diversify the tax 47 base. She said right now unemployment is so low and there are a wider variety of jobs paying at 48 or above living wages. She said she doesn't want to spend the time to do community outreach 49 and the whole process it would take to split $2 million. She said she would rather continue to 50 focus on economic development and work with the schools boards to get more funding, but the 51 way to raise revenue is more revenue through economic development. She said there she