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Board lends support to transfer tax

Posted on April 24, 2008April 28, 2008 by Staff

With former Carrboro Board of Aldermen member Diana McDuffee asking for help and noting that real estate interests are “spending a small fortune statewide” in an effort to defeat it, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted 6 to 1 to officially support a real estate transfer tax.

At its meeting Tuesday night at Town Hall, McDuffee said the tax is for now the best alternative the county has to take some of the pressure off rising property taxes.

“I believe it is the most progressive option for paying for schools and parks,” she said.

The proposed 0.4 percent transfer tax placed on the May ballot by the county commissioners is intended to replace funds the county will lose as a result of a realignment for paying for Medicaid that was part of last year’s state budget. Since then, the tax has been defeated in all 16 counties that have placed it on the ballot.
McDuffee said given the amount of funds real estate interests have been willing to spend to defeat the measure, supporters “have a real battle on their hands.”

Several board members said they had heard from citizens who were dismayed that the tax supporters have not been nearly as visible as those opposed.

But board member Jacquie Gist said she could not support the measure. If the community wants schools and parks, she said, it should pay for them with property taxes and not rely on the small group of people who would pay the tax.

Speaking against the proposal to adopt a position supporting the tax, resident Robert Kirschner said the tax was a divisive issue and that there was not a consensus in town about whether to support it or reject it.

Board member Joal Hall Broun said she was strongly in support of the tax as a way of keeping up with school and park funding needs. One reason other communities do not have the same quality of life as Orange County, she said, was due to the county’s willingness to support its schools and parks.

Kirschner said he also did not think the schools were adequately funded.

Broun shot back, saying, “But Bob you cannot pay for it with a wish.”
In other action, the board reviewed several proposals to alter its selection and training process for advisory board members.

Among the issues was whether a newly adopted system that has advisory board chairs making recommendations on new members was working.

Several board members wanted to make sure that any changes would not result in a system that reduces the diversity of views on the boards.
Broun said it is important that the board of aldermen appoint people who they don’t necessarily agree with.

“There need to be some intellectual clashes on the advisory boards,” Broun said.

Mayor Mark Chilton agreed, recalling the opposition to appointing Sharon Cook, a resident of The Highlands, to the planning board — an effort the board overruled.

Gist said the town relies on the board of aldermen to sometimes make uncomfortable decisions.

“We need people who disagree with us,” she said. She noted that Abraham Lincoln made an effort to surround himself with people who did not agree with him.

“The guy we’ve got in there now doesn’t do that,” she added. “There was a difference in their presidencies.”

Also on Tuesday, the board heard a presentation as part of a public hearing on changing building rules for day-care centers in the town’s Village Mixed Use zone. The proposed changes are the result of an effort by developers at Winmore to add a day-care center.

— Kirk Ross

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