Orange County NC Website
Pam Hemminger said that the SAPFO numbers show that the school is needed in 2010. <br /> The collaboration group has talked about postponing it to 2011. There is a capital lease <br /> program that can be investigated further. <br /> Lisa Stuckey said that in February the school board will be before the Town going <br /> through the approval process. <br /> Chair Jacobs said that he read where one of the candidates for Governor wants to <br /> mandate one school system per county. <br /> Lisa Stuckey made reference to the Medicaid Sales Tax Swap and said that it was <br /> supposed to be revenue neutral for the counties, but it is not for Orange County. She asked if <br /> this was because Orange County has less sales tax generally than other counties. <br /> Laura Blackmon said that there is an additional amount that the State has been given to <br /> try and balance this. <br /> Donna Coffey explained this in detail. She said that sales taxes have not grown and <br /> there will be further reductions in 2010-11 based on all of this. The ones who are truly held <br /> harmless are the cities and towns. Part of the County's sales tax money is going to hold the <br /> cities and towns harmless. There are lots of gray areas regarding the ins and outs of sales tax <br /> distribution. <br /> 2. Education Facilities Impact Fee Reports <br /> Planning Director Craig Benedict said that this concerns the update to the educational <br /> facilities impact fees. The last time the County conducted a study was in 2000-2001. In 2001, <br /> the County Commissioners adopted the current fees. This resulted in single-family rates for <br /> CHCCS of$4,400 per single-family home, and in OCS about$3,000. The study found the <br /> maximum supportable impact fee. The present fees are about 56-60% of the maximum <br /> supportable impact fee. Construction costs have increased dramatically since 2000 as has the <br /> student generation rate. There is a compounding type of factor in play. He made reference to <br /> page 4 of the abstract, which shows that the maximum supportable impact fee for single-family <br /> detached in CHCC would be $19,000 and in OCS would be over$9,000. <br /> The process before the Board of County Commissioners is to set a public hearing to <br /> discuss the material in this report that was done by Tischler and Associates, the same <br /> consultant that did the work in 2001. This would come back after October 21st and the Board <br /> would deliberate on what percentage of the maximum supportable impact fee might be <br /> desirable. The Board would then ask the staff to prepare a modification to the Education <br /> Facilities Impact Fee Ordinance, which would set the new rates and the effective date. <br /> Commissioner Nelson asked for an explanation of the 56-60% numbers. Craig Benedict <br /> said that his recollection was that the Orange County School board thought that a rate of$3,000 <br /> for a single-family impact fee in its district might be something that would not dramatically affect <br /> the cost of housing. The $3,000 limit was around 56-60% of the maximum supportable impact <br /> fee. <br /> Commissioner Nelson asked if the County staff was going to bring a recommended <br /> impact fee and Craig Benedict said that a chart would be given to show the different <br /> percentages. <br /> Laura Blackmon said that the staff could give some background. The decision will be <br /> based on what the community can support. <br /> Commissioner Nelson asked if this would be taken to the Affordable Housing Advisory <br /> Board for input. It was answered no. <br /> Commissioner Nelson said that he has heard about the potential increase for <br /> manufactured homes, and this is an issue that the AHAB reported to the Board a couple of <br /> weeks ago. <br /> Chair Jacobs said that last time the manufactured housing was separated out. <br />