Finding a 'plan B' for Orange County Schools

When voters defeated the county’s proposed sales tax increase, they did more than save themselves a quarter for every $100 purchase.

Schools, emergency services, libraries and economic development plans were all slated to receive a portion of the annual $2.3 million the increase would have generated.

The Orange County Schools district alone has nearly $58 million in structure improvement needs lined up for the next 10 years, and projects for both the county’s systems could be delayed as school officials tighten their belts in expectation of another year of heavy budget cuts.

Some residents questioned the difference such a small tax increase would have made. Others said the tax raise would have encouraged a county spending habit already out of control.

Now county officials must explore new revenue channels to fund their projects, a feat that could prove difficult in a challenging economic environment.

‘What it stands for is more’

Winton Smithwick, a 56-year-old Hillsborough resident, said he voted against the sales tax increase because he’s tired of seeing the county waste money.

“It’s just a function of mankind that you can never give someone enough of anything,” Smithwick said.

“No matter how much we give them, they will always spend it and want more.”

Smithwick said the services the sales tax revenue would have gone toward did not influence his decision. The government has enough money, he said, and spending cuts — not small tax increases — are the answer.

“I didn’t care what they said it was going to be raised for,” he said.

“It was a quarter-cent tax increase. That means absolutely nothing except what it stands for, and what it stands for is more.”

County commissioner Steve Yuhasz said he thinks the difficulty in reaching the rural voting precincts accounts for the tax increase’s defeat.

“It passed generally in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough —the urban precincts — but failed in almost all of the rural precincts,” he said. “Part of that is the difficulty that we have in reaching the rural residents.

“There’s not a newspaper that regularly reaches those people, there’s not a radio station the equivalent of WCHL, the internet access is much more sketchy in the rural parts of the county.”

Freshman Ashcon Livingston said he didn’t see any literature on the increase, one of the reasons he voted against it.

“I looked up all the candidates, but then I got to that part, and I hadn’t heard anything about the tax increase, and I just voted against it.”

He said the county should have advertised the tax increase through more mediums like Facebook and fliers.

“I really didn’t know what the money was going to,” he said.

What it means for schools

Central Elementary School was built in 1952. It needs more that $1.8 million in improvement projects including window, tile, drainage and roof replacements.

“Most of our schools are close to 50 years old, and they are in need of repairs,” said Donna Coffey, vice-chairwoman of the Orange County Schools board of education.

The district, which covers northern Orange County, would have received as much as $489,000 per year had the increase passed.

While the board hadn’t determined what specific projects the revenue would have funded, the district keeps a running list of improvements to be completed over the next 10 years that totals nearly $58 million.

“Those projects still need to be done,” board member Eddie Eubanks said. “We may have to do less of those.”

Eubanks said the board does have some funding in place for the most pressing projects, and though some could occur as early as this year, others are more long-term.

“Any additional revenue that would have been directed at the school system would have certainly been beneficial,” he said.

Stephanie Knott, spokeswoman for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said the amount of money allotted to the district for capital improvement projects has declined over the years as a result of the poor economic climate.

She said the district’s allocation of $27 million for construction projects is almost half of what it was the 2008-2009 school year.

“It means it’s going to be harder for the school district to do some basic health and safety and energy conservation projects,” Knott said.

“Asbestos removal, updating fire and security alarms, projects related to in door air quality — those are going to get pushed back.”

What happens next

Yuhasz said county commissioners haven’t discussed ways to make up the revenue the sales tax increase would have brought if movement failed.

Commissioners were scheduled to discuss how to spend the future revenue at tonight’s meeting.

“We have not had any board discussions of Plan B,” he said. “I think Plan B is that we’re going to have to look at what kind of budget expenditures we can make and what kind of adjustments we’re going to need to make in order to fund some of these things we hoped to be able to fund through the sales tax.”

Commissioner Vice-Chairwoman Bernadette Pelissier said it’s too early to talk about raising property taxes to enhance the county’s shrinking budget, something commissioners have resisted doing for the past two years.

And Smithwick said he doesn’t think they can.

“They will not have the nerve to raise property taxes,” he said. “I think if they do, each of them will be looking for another job.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.