Orange ponders revenue options

HILLSBOROUGH -- The Orange County Board of Commissioners indicated Tuesday it would be willing to tell residents that property taxes will have to increase or construction projects be delayed if voters don't approve another revenue option.

"People understand 'Pay me now or pay me later,' " Commissioner Moses Carey Jr. said.

The board held a work session to discuss the revenue options approved last year by the legislature, a quarter-cent sales tax increase or a 0.4 percent land transfer tax. The board is scheduled to decide next week to put one or both options on the May ballot. It can impose only one, should both pass. The board also discussed what to tell voters about how it will spend the money.

"I think we need to say we're going to spend it on the schools," Commissioner Mike Nelson said.

Commissioner Alice Gordon said she feels the money should be allocated for schools and parks, and that the board should be specific about what projects the funds would pay for.

County figures indicate that the land transfer tax, imposed when somebody sells property, would bring in about $4 million a year. The sales tax increase would generate about $3 million a year.

Board Chairman Barry Jacobs said money should be split equitably between the county's two school systems, and he said he felt the county needed to try to address its funding needs without increasing property taxes. "Otherwise we're going to drive people out of Orange County that we believe are essential to having a heterogenous community," Jacobs said.

The board also discussed opposition that a transfer tax referendum would face from real estate and homebuilders groups, who showed before the November election that they were willing to spend to defeat land transfer taxes.

"I want to beat these people," Nelson said. "I really don't like the rhetoric they use."

Nelson said he'd thought about delaying the referendum until November to give the county more time to educate voters. The county is prohibited from advocating the revenue options and is allowed only to educate voters.

Carey and Gordon both said they felt the county needed to move forward now. The board asked County Manager Laura Blackmon to draft a proposal for its meeting Tuesday.

Board members said they want to tell voters the money will go for school and park construction.

"The parks you might delay," Blackmon told the board.