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For the Record: Ouch

Posted on June 5, 2008 by Staff

During this season of budgets there is a lot of concern about what looks like a big year for tax hikes. Many of us as well are already digging deeper to cover fuel costs directly and inflation driven by them indirectly. Then there’s the simple fact that the making and selling of housing, now in a serious slump, is a key enterprise around here.

Other costs of operating the public sector are going up as well. This month, the Orange Water and Sewer Authority will be holding a series of public hearings on a rate increase that would raise the average bill by 24 percent.

While we applaud (in a light golf-clap way) the frugality that has kept Carrboro’s tax increase a few cents lower than our neighbors next door, the cumulative effect of the privilege of living in southern Orange County has become much more dear this fiscal year.
Going into its meeting tonight (Thursday) Orange County commissioners are considering ways to reduce their budget or face raising the main property tax by 9 cents and the school district tax by more than 2 cents. Along with the municipal tax hike that would mean residents of Carrboro and Chapel Hill face jumps of roughly 15 cents and 18 cents respectively.

For a home valued at $200,000 that would mean an additional $300 here and $360 for living those in the big city next door.

If the family living in that home uses 5,000 gallons of water monthly, the total bill goes up another $170.

We are far into ‘unsustainable’ territory when even a family living in a modestly valued home is looking at an additional $400 to $500 in costs for government and services. While it is our hope that the economy turns around and that Orange County and its towns can present taxpayers a much different picture next year, there is not a lot on the immediate horizon to indicate that will happen.

The long term solution has long been known: it will take an intense, sustained focus on economic development to turn this around and shift a share of the revenue burden off of homeowners and onto a nascent commercial sector.

The attempts we’ve seen to improve the local economy and to spur investment have produced a lot of ideas, but as yet not a lot of results — certainly not enough as evidenced by this year’s hikes. We hope taxpayers and policy makers alike will take a hard look at their tax bills this year and be inspired to hasten.

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