Orange County avoids property tax increase, fights climate change in unanimous votes
Orange County’s commissioners voted Tuesday to spend more than $550,000 in climate change tax dollars and $12 million set aside from last year’s budget surplus.
The pandemic years brought more sales tax dollars into the county’s coffers than anticipated, Deputy County Manager Travis Myren told the board. Some of the surplus money was used to hire emergency responders and increase salaries to stem turnover in county departments and compete in a tight labor market, Myren said.
The extra money also proved a buffer against inflation, which hit a 20-year high last year, he said.
The commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to set aside $6 million of the surplus to repay county debt over the next three years. That will avoid an expected one-cent per $100 in property value increase in the county tax rate, in part, to repay a $120 million school construction bond.
Another $3.5 million will go to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Orange County school districts to meet one-time expenses and hire a consultant to plan for millions of dollars in critical school repair and renovation needs, Myren said.
The remaining $2.5 million will meet one-time county expenses and pay for another consultant to plan for the county’s future construction projects and big-ticket purchases.
Commissioners Vice Chair Earl McKee commended staff for using the money to give taxpayers some relief.
“I think with the rapid and significant increase in just day-to-day living expenses, a lot more of our residents are starting to live on the edge and anything we can do to help that situation will be to our credit,” McKee said.
Climate Action grant awards
The commissioners also voted unanimously Tuesday to allocate $550,150 in climate action money to six community projects and one city school district project.
The Community Climate Action grant program is funded with a quarter-cent property tax rate. The goal is to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 26% by 2025 and transition the county to a 100% renewable energy-based economy by 2050.
Grant money is available to nonprofits, governments and small businesses, and must be spent in Orange County. Projects that repair and replace existing equipment must be completed within five years of the grant award.
Previous winners include the Orange Water and Sewer Authority, which used $75,000 in climate change funding to build a 352-kilowatt solar array at Cane Creek Reservoir on N.C. 54, west of Carrboro.
Commissioner Sally Greene noted how difficult it was to get the grant program approved. Former Commissioner Mark Marcoplos proposed the tax rate increase during the 2019 budget talks, drawing ridicule from some residents for his suggestion that a windmill might be built in downtown Hillsborough.
“This quarter-cent tax allocation was frankly hard to get into place, and it was controversial, and a lot of people thought it was useless, but I never thought it was useless,” Greene said.
“Compared to our budget, it is a relatively small amount of money, but for some of these groups, it is a large amount of money that enables them to do important things and things that are visible in the community,” she said.
McKee, who did not initially support the idea, said he was “pleased” with the program now.
“I will admit that I was wrong,” McKee said. “These projects are something that will move us forward to where we’re going to need to go, and it will move us forward in a very fiscally responsible manner.”
Solar, composting, energy efficient
This year’s grant recipients are:
▪ Habitat for Humanity: $100,000 to install rooftop solar on 14 new affordable homes in Chapel Hill and Hillsborough
▪ Rebuilding Together of the Triangle: $25,000 to help the county’s lower-income homeowners weatherize their homes, from making repairs to installing more efficient heat pumps, stoves and water heaters
▪ Eno River Farmers Market: $4,500 to hire two compost monitors for the food waste program
▪ Town of Carrboro: $40,575 for a solar project at 203 S. Greensboro St., where the county and town are building a new county library branch and civic spaces. The town also received a $40,568 grant for the project last year.
▪ Town of Chapel Hill: $50,000 to replace older equipment with an electric garbage truck and an electric commercial mower. The town will report back to other local governments about the results of its pilot electrification program.
▪ The ArtsCenter: $55,000 to add solar panels to the roof of its newly renovated building at 400 Roberson St. in Carrboro.
▪ Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools: $275,075 to reduce greenhouse emissions by updating a cooling tower at Phillips Middle School and 16 air-handler units at McDougle Elementary School, and replacing 17 heat pumps at Culbreth Middle and Seawell Elementary schools.
