Agenda - 12-01-2008 - 4a - Laserfiche WebLink

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10 . , rl`J 1 this issue in Alamance County on September 3~d and 4th. One was at the Herndon Baptist 2 Church and the other was at the Arts Center. Prior to the meetings, staff sent out 422 letters to 3 potential homeowners that would be affected by the relocation of the original line. The 4 concerns expressed at the meetings included taxes, schools, emergency services, etc. He said 5 that Orange County is not trying to draw a new line, but only trying to find the original line from 6 1849. If the County decides to support the line done by the surveyor, the County may lose 7 some property tax revenue. This line would provide a certified way to determine exactly where 8 the line is. The money for the survey was provided by the State. 9 He said that the staff has proposed that Orange County would use mutual aid 10 agreements to do emergency services and fire protection. There is also discussion about 11 grandfathering the children into the schools where they attend at this time. The issue with that 12 ~ is that the school board would have to agree to this. 13 He made reference to Attachment 1 b, which was a table of the numbers of households 14 that would go from Alamance to Orange and from Orange to Alamance. Orange County would 15 receive the most number of students from the switch. He said that both counties would 16 hopefully hold public hearings on this matter in December. 17 18 Chair Jacobs reiterated that this is only a report and the County Commissioners are in 19 the process of establishing the next steps and are not wedded to any particular idea. 20 Commissioner Gordon asked clarifying questions about the maps and Willie Best 21 answered. 22 Willie Best pointed out that nothing can happen with the line unless both boards agree. 23 24 PUBLIC COMMENT: 25 Ann Robbins said that she has lived at 312 N. Ninth Street in Mebane for 43 years. She 26 said that in 1978, she was allowed to start paying her taxes to Alamance County without the 27 boundary line being moved. She spoke on behalf of the North Ninth Street Mebane Area 28 Boundary Line Dispute. She realizes that all information is received from the GIS mapping 29 department, Tax department, and other departments. She said that they are more than 30 numbers or parcels, but they are residents that have lived in their homes and raised their 31 children their whole lives. She said that the residents are at the County Commissioners' mercy. 32 She said that the residents did not know anything about the boundary line coming up again. 33 When she took the petition in May, no one knew anything about it. She said that no one knew 34 that in 1978 the residents in this area were allowed to pay taxes in Alamance County without 35 the boundary line being moved. She asked the County Commissioners to use the original for 36 tax purposes only line, which would put their property in Alamance County once and for all. ~, 37 She quoted one of the Commissioners, Economic times are not good and the timing is not right 38 during a recession, even if it's not officially a recession." She asked that the County 39 Commissioners have compassion for them. 40 Everett Green is a Mebane City Councilman and said that he has had more comments 41 and concerns from people that live along Ninth Street. He said that the demographics on Ninth 42 Street include retired people, people on fixed incomes, people with health issues, and they 43 would be greatly affected by this. He asked the County Commissioners to look at this from the 44 perspective of who it will affect. 45 46 Laura Blackmon said that this was a report to update the Board of County 47 Commissioners and the staff is looking for direction from the Board. There is a concern that 48 this be resolved before the new Board composition. 49 Chair Jacobs said that he would like to know what Alamance County is saying about 50 this.