Agenda 10-07-2025; 11-a - Tax Assessment Work Group – Appointments Discussion

Browse Search

25 Page 2 of 4 Jenn Sykes Please explain how your background, education and experience is relevant to this board Most of my volunteer work has been around housing and planning in Orange County. When I chaired the Affordable Housing Advisory Board one of the biggest things I worked on was having the committee do outreach to the community to help them understand the impact of taxation rates on them, as well as which programs the county had available to assist them. Because of this I became very familiar with the demographics of Orange County and how different pocket communities are impacted by issues such as gentrification, regional population growth, and even how utility access impacts what's allowed to be developed. From my time on various Hillsborough Planning boards, I've been able to see the details and larger-scale impacts that changes to what is developed in the northern part of the county impacts tax revenue and, in turn, what services the area can provide to citizens. Having this experience would allow me to serve the county on this working group by understanding the conflicting goals -- having a county that all can afford to live in but also generating enough revenue to provide even basic services to those residents. Please explain your reasons for wanting to serve on this board Much of my time is spent volunteering in areas for development planning and housing affordability, and through that I ve developed an understanding of how the tax system in Orange County directly impacts how to meet those goals. I'm familiar with how those goals can be in conflict with one another, and tried in the past to come up with solutions to create win-win policies there. (I'm also familiar with what you can and cannot legally propose in North Carolina based on state laws from when I tried to rewrite Hillsborough s utility structure to microtarget specific income brackets when I chaired the town's Water and Sewer Advisory Board.) I also live in one of the main areas that, for the past two tax assessment cycles, has been listed as an area of high taxation growth --West Hillsborough --and am a community resource for information from my direct neighbors and even the more planned communities and farmers in District 2. One big thing I'd like to do with this working group is develop better communications plans around the tax issue, as I've been doing that informally. How would your particpation on this board contribute to the diversity of viewpoints? I live in Hillsborough and would be able to represent the District 2 perspective, particularly with how the changes in development can impact seniors and low-income residents - I was Vice Chair of the Hillsborough Planning Board and very familiar with how the changes to development regulations have impacted residents and the overall ability of the northern part of the county to grow. I can see both sides of the argument from those experiences. As well, I'm a trained statistician so numbers and data are something I'm comfortable around, and would be necessary in any evaluation and recommendation for tax assessments. Do you have any personal or business interest(s)that could create a conflict of interest (either real or perceived) if you are appointed to this board? Boards/Commissions appointments: Human Relations Commission Application Date: 7/13/2022 Background, education and experience relevant to this board: My work on various advisory boards has focused on how policy can be used to create greater equity in the county, from development processes to working on partnerships for reducing costs to residents. I know the HRC has a larger platform to help encourage Reasons for wanting to serve on this board: The HRC has a major platform in the county to advance social justice initiatives, particularly around equity and supporting those in the county who need it most.