By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
Following that — a sharp exchange over annexation
With little fanfare or discussion Tuesday night, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a $19.6 million budget that would raise the town’s tax rate by roughly 3 cents to 65.37 cents per $100 valuation.
Last-minute touches to the plan, reviewed Tuesday night at Town Hall, included a decision to pilot a fee reduction for events at the Town Commons, a sticking point in the last round of budget talks. Alderman Randee Haven-O’Donnell suggested making the commons’ reservations free on a first-come-first-serve basis for events that are open to the public and where money does not change hands. To qualify, the events would also have to not require town staff to be present and not need electricity or access to the bathrooms at Town Hall.
The pilot program, which will be reviewed next year at budget time, cleared the board by a narrow 4 to 3 margin. Aldermen John Herrera, Joal Hall Broun and Alex Zaffron opposed the idea.
In other action Tuesday night, the board heard a final presentation from the town’s New Horizons Task Force.
Task force members relayed continuing concerns among some residents in recently annexed neighborhoods that they did not get a fair shake from the town.
One of the presenters from the task force, Peggy Vincent, said that some of the services the town said it would provide had not been forthcoming. She called the town staff’s presentation misleading and said the town was not forthcoming in its promises to the annexes.
After the presentation, a clearly upset Mayor Mark Chilton, who opposed the annexation, took exception to Vincent’s tone.
His voice rising, Chilton said he was fine with being criticized personally, but “when you accuse my staff of lying, I’m going to take that seriously.â€
In response, Vincent apologized for the characterization, but insisted that the meetings with the neighbors were more about “selling the annexation†than explaining it.
“That’s fair enough,†Chilton replied. “I apologize if I was over the top in making my point.â€
Alderman Dan Coleman, a board liaison to the task force, acknowledged the town had raised residents’ expectations, especially over matters such as road maintenance, and should do a better job of communicating in the future.
Broun noted that while the board has taken heat for slow-going on the fire station, the delay was mainly due to a long period of negotiation with the university over a $1-per-year lease for the fire station site on Homestead Road, a route the town pursued because it did not want to condemn privately held land in the area for the new station.
The board on Tuesday also opted to continue the work of the Smith Level Road task force after a final presentation on their recommendations.
In the end, task force member Tom High along with Heidi Perry, chair of the town’s Transportation Advisory Board, objected to the plan to compromise with the state Department of Transportation over the number of lanes.
But board members OK’d the plan saying that DOT isn’t likely to budge and, with the new high school coming on line, adding bike and pedestrian lanes can’t wait.