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Draft 10/8/99 <br />- General obligation bonds may be submitted for the public's <br />.approval for a variety of purposes:. parks, natural resources, <br />cultural resources, or open-space preservation. <br />- General fund' appropriations could- be made on an annual <br />basis from the County's general fund, to augment or <br />supplement special. projects. This type of appropriation .would <br />be -more compatible. with short-term projects or to augment <br />long-term projects over cone-year timeframe. <br />- Sales tax revenues could be designated from the General <br />Fund. <br />- An impact fee could be instituted under the County's existing <br />special legislative authority for open space preservation. <br />C. New Funding Sources with Legislative Approval <br />Over the past several year, a major topic for local governments at <br />the state legislative level has been the .need for.new local funding <br />mechanisms to address. community needs, to avoid increased <br />reliance on the property tax. <br />These potential funding sources will likely continue to be discussed. <br />Of .particular note are three .types of funding that have been used <br />in other communities for a variety of community purposes, <br />including .land resource acquisition: <br />- A real estate transfer tax that is applied- on the sale of <br />property.- This method attempts to tie funding of programs. that <br />are related to growth to a revenue source that is .generated <br />from growth. <br />- A dedicated surcharge levied on the general tax :base. This is <br />the approach-that- was predominant in the 1998 referenda at <br />-local government and state level in 1998. One difference of note <br />is that in North Carolina, where local governments do-not have <br />'home rule," this would require authority from the N.C. General <br />Assembly. <br />- An impact tax could be pursued for parks or .open. space <br />purposes that would fund new parklands or open space from <br />the permits for new homes. This, like the real estate transfer <br />tax, could tie new parks needed because of increased <br />population growth to the new houses that create the need. <br />Unlike an impact fee, an impact tax could- be .developed with <br />distinctions within the types of housing units created. <br />32 <br />