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<br />aaoK ~ PAGE 327
<br />The County Administrator brought to the attention of the Board that the
<br />`ABC stores often received whiskey which had been damaged in shipment and that
<br />this damaged merahandiae could not be utilized for sale and that he felt that
<br />this would be a better source of supply for Dc. b4ai.ng rather than the
<br />confiscated court liouor, in that, the lieuor seized by the court was in most
<br />cases only a small amount. Mr. Gattis was instructed to review the matter
<br />with the proper ABC authorities to see if the ABC Board had the authority tv
<br />turn damaged merchandise over to medical research.
<br />Upon motion oP Commissioner William_ C, Hay, seconded by Commissioner Ira
<br />A. Ward, it was moved and adopted, that the Sheriff be authorized to turn all
<br />confiscated alcoholic beverages over to the Center oP Alcoholic Studies sa
<br />requea.ted by Dr, John Ewring.
<br />The County Attorney advised the Board that the State Building Code would
<br />be automatically effective in all counties of the State. That the State Code
<br />did exempt apartment buildings and private dwellings, however, the Board
<br />could adopt a local Ordinance which would include apartment buildings and
<br />private dwellings, The County Administrator was reouested to investigate
<br />the cost factor involved in the administering of the code. He was reouested
<br />to include inspection fees and permit spate in his report to the Board.
<br />Presentation made by Chairman Carl M. Smith on November 21}, 1970, to the
<br />Chapel Hill $iwanis Club. Contained herein is information relative to the
<br />progress of Orange County during the past eight year a.
<br />Tt is good to appear again before the Chapel Hill giwanis Club. Gray
<br />has asked me to talk to you about Orange County. This I am glad to do, because
<br />we live in a time of so many tensions and hatreds that one seldom considers
<br />the progress being made about him. From the stories you read ,in the papers,
<br />you would know some oP ovr problems, many real and a few imagined, and the
<br />intentions of so mang misdirected local pressure groups but you would not know
<br />the exoitement, the growth, and the vibrancy that is Orange County. I asked
<br />for some reports such as highway, register of deeds, election board, many others
<br />would be impressive such as health, mental health, welfare, etc.
<br />In December 1962, after going through the usually trying Orange County
<br />political proaesaea, I started my first term as Orange County Commissioner
<br />:`. and while I know it is hard to keep statistics interesting, I.thought I would
<br />talk to you about what happened in your county during this eight year period. ~
<br />Let me hasten to say that I certainly am not taking credit for these impressive
<br />accomplishments but do have a sense of pride at being a party to them.
<br />Let me start by saying that Orange Count is fiscally sound and thus enjoys i
<br />a good credit rating. Its annual budget is $},759,005 up from $2,189,095 i
<br />in 1962. The last census figures show that our county was second in the
<br />State to Cumberland in the percent of our increase which was 33.6. Chapel I
<br />Bill was first among the aitiea with a population of more than 10,000 by
<br />jumping up 59.6, Our total valuation during this period increased by 105 I
<br />from $10L~.,1~.06,000 to $214,500,000. During 1961, property was revalued under
<br />State Law and our valuation in that year went up 33`g. Thus starting with a j
<br />tax rate oP $1.10 in 1962, we were able to drop this to 90¢ in 1965, due to
<br />the revaluation and for the aurreat year, we are levying $1.20 ar an increase
<br />in the tax rate of 9~ over a 9 year period. Revaluation must be done every
<br />eight years and we are scheduled Por this in 1972.
<br />.~-- 1.
<br />~` Since one oP my major interest has been in our public schools, let me
<br />~ tall you what has happened here. Student enrollment in the county has
<br />increased 20~ during this period and the rate of increase is now slowing
<br />down. We have increased our current expense appropriation from $38 per child
<br />to $88 par child or an increase of over 130, ~In addition, we have increased ~
<br />our annual appropriation for capital outlay from $500,000 to $1,DOD,000 or
<br />100, In 1967, a $3,000,000 bond issue was passed in this county Por school
<br />capital outlay purposes. In addition, the people of Chapel Hill increased ',
<br />their local supplementary tax for schools from 20~ to 35¢ and this together
<br />with the property valuation increase of 113 in Chapel Hill resulted in an ~,
<br />increase per child from $29.58 to $95.$0 or over 222, ; .
<br />i
<br />On November 8th, 1966, the voters in this county approved a $650,000
<br />~" bond issue. In 1967, we spent over $!{.00,000 to provide water and sewer
<br />' facilities for an industrial park in the west-central part of the county
<br />~ near Mebane. This principal plus interest is scheduled to be repaid to Orange
<br />County by Mebane who will than own the lines and the water tank. This has
<br />~-- already attracted some industry within the pork and some near by vn these same
<br />facilities. Additional ones are expected very soon. Alav, in 1967 at a
<br />coat of approximately $272,000 Lake Orange was built. From a gift of 200 acres
<br />by seven civic minded families who retained the recreation rights, the county
<br />built s 150 acre lake behind a 45 foot dam. This lake with a watershed of
<br />6,500 sores has a reservoir of 500,000,000 gallons of water with a daily draw
<br />of !1.,000,000 gallons. This is a tremendous asset for the county and before it
<br />was filled the drought of 1968 hit and this water was used to maintain the
<br />Hillsborough water supply. Dn two recent occasions, water from this reservoir
<br />has been released to augment stream flow for ecological purposes. This coming
<br />year the county plans to build the first of three sediment structure a, as
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