
{"id":23819,"date":"2012-02-16T10:27:29","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T15:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=23819"},"modified":"2012-02-15T17:30:58","modified_gmt":"2012-02-15T22:30:58","slug":"county-postpones-decision-on-transit-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2012\/02\/16\/county-postpones-decision-on-transit-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"County postpones decision on transit tax"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Rose Laudicina<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Before the Orange County Board of Commissioners decides on adding a half-cent transit tax to the November ballot, they say they need more time to nail down details and receive public input. <\/p>\n<p>The commissioners heard in-depth presentations at their work session on Tuesday about the next steps for constructing light rail, Chapel Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s development plans as they correspond with a future light-rail line along the N.C. 54 corridor and reasons for pursuing both light rail and bus improvements instead of just an expansion of bus transit. <\/p>\n<p>While the commissioners agreed they had a better understanding of the light-rail plan, they said they still needed to work out the details of agreements between the Triangle Transit Authority, the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s municipalities and Durham.  <\/p>\n<p>However, if the county wants to add the transit tax \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which would help fund the light rail and bus improvements \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to the November ballot, the commissioners are going to have to work quickly to determine specific language for the agreements, cost-sharing ideas between Durham and Orange County and how to ensure that the transit program benefits the entire county. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think we are being highly optimistic to think that we can nail down three agreements in the time necessary to put this on the ballot,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Commissioner Barry Jacobs said.<br \/>\nCommissioner Alice Gordon agreed with Jacobs, adding that it might be more practical simply to create the outlines of the agreement so the project can continue to move forward on schedule. <\/p>\n<p>If the commissioners don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t add the transit tax to the fall ballot, it could have serious repercussions for the New Starts grant application that could provide federal-government money to help fund the plan. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If we do not put the sales tax on the ballot, that would be a negative for the New Starts application, because they want to see a commitment of local monies,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Chair Bernadette Pelissier said. <\/p>\n<p>In his presentation about Chapel Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s development plans in relation to the construction of a light-rail system, Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt ensured the commissioners that the economic growth light rail could create would help sales-tax revenues, benefiting the entire county. <\/p>\n<p>Kleinschmidt referenced studies done by the town in the \u00e2\u20ac\u212290s showing that light rail along U.S. 15-501, a corridor the commissioners have indicated interest in exploring, would not be beneficial for the county, citing cost and station location issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We determined that 15-501 would not be appropriate for light rail, but enhanced bus transit would be important for it, and we still believe that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. <\/p>\n<p>However, Commissioner Earl McKee again expressed his opposition to the light-rail costs and the possibility of a transit tax, saying that he was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153adamantly opposed\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to asking county residents to vote on the tax. <\/p>\n<p>The board agreed to create a timeline for public meetings that would allow for citizen comments on the transit tax. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before the Orange County Board of Commissioners decides on adding a half-cent transit tax to the November ballot, they say they need more time to nail down details and receive public input.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23819"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23843,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23819\/revisions\/23843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}