Voters overwhelmingly defeated the land transfer tax that would have brought in that much, according to county staff calculations.

The 0.4 percent tax on real estate transactions, other than gifts and inheritances, was defeated last fall in Chatham County. Durham and Wake counties haven't proposed it to their voters since state legislators made it an option for counties, along with a quarter-cent sales tax. In Orange, the Board of Commissioners voted in February to put it on the ballot and decided how they would use the money.

When they did that, opponents got to work staking "No Home Tax" signs in front yards, characterizing it as an unfair tax for land sellers. Real estate associations backed Citizens for a Better Orange County, an organization created to defeat the tax. That group had spent a little more than $205,000 as of April 28 with $18,000 left to finish out the campaign, according to the campaign's first-quarter finance report.

Orange Citizens for Schools and Parks, a group created in support of the tax by Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton, who is also a Realtor, spent a little less than $1,350 as of April 26 and had $415 left on hand.

The commissioners set aside $100,000 for an educational campaign about the tax.

The message that the money would go for parks and schools reached Meredith Lassiter, an educator who recently moved back to Orange County from Minnesota.

"I voted for it because it seemed like a good idea to have the parks and build the schools, to preserve the land," Lassiter said.

Lassiter joked that maybe she would feel different once she had bought a home here. She's still house hunting.

But many others leaving the polls Tuesday said they felt strongly that they are paying too much in taxes already.

"To me, it felt like I was getting taxed double," said James Turner, a county resident who works for a product development company in RTP. "I'm already paying tax on the land, and I would get taxed again to sell it."

Jean Bain, an elementary teacher who owns a condo in the county, said it's outrageous that she's paying double in property taxes what her father used to pay for his house on 1.5 acres.

"I think our taxes are high enough for land," she said.