Chatham may raise taxes, hold development

PITTSBORO -- Chatham County's tax rate could rise 2 cents, and residential building could come to a halt. The Chatham County Board of Commissioners is considering both.

On Monday, County Manager Charlie Horne proposed a budget that would raise the county's tax rate to 61.7 cents per $100 of assessed property value, a 3.35 percent increase. The owner of a home assessed at $200,000 would pay $1,234 in county property taxes, a $40 increase.

The tax increase would generate $1.36 million, all of which would go to the county's schools, Horne says in the $76.5 million general fund budget proposal.

In total, the budget would give the schools $24 million, about $1.6 million less than the school system has requested.

The budget also calls for 16 new positions, including a domestic violence investigator now funded by a grant in the sheriff's department, a full-time animal shelter attendant, and a second erosion control officer.

The commissioners did not discuss the budget or whether they would support a tax increase. The budget is posted on the county's Web site, www.co.chatham.nc.us.

Also Monday, the commissioners scheduled a public hearing on a proposed residential development moratorium, for 6 p.m. May 21.

In the last few years, the county and town of Pittsboro have approved more than 15,000 new homes. A moratorium would last as long as 12 months and would apply to new residential subdivisions of 25 or more lots or units. Commercial developments, as well as development in Pittsboro and Siler City, would not be affected.

Commissioner Tom Vanderbeck said he wanted to include most commercial development to avoid more "big box stores."

But Commissioner Patrick Barnes said that would undermine the county's push for more economic development and hinder the new director for the county's Economic Development Corp. "I don't want to stifle economic development in any way," he said.

"The moratorium is not meant to be in place any longer than needed," Commissioners Chairman Carl Thompson said in a press release. "The goal is to give us time to update our land use ordinances to more effectively address the impact of rapid growth in certain parts of the county. Once the revised ordinances are in place, we can lift the moratorium."

Now that a public hearing is scheduled, all new development applications received by the planning department will be held until the moratorium issue has been decided.

Previously commissioners have said the county needs a moratorium because the existing growth rate has caused overcrowding in the schools, strained the county's water and wastewater supplies and other county services, and has threatened the county's watersheds, which affects the quality of water supplies.