The Orange County Board of County Commissioners met Tuesday to discuss its Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, its 2025 priority legislative issues and tax revaluation.
What's new?
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Mauldin & Jenkins Audit Director LeAnn Bagasala presented the results of the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the end of the financial year, which was June 30, 2024.
- The ACFR reports on all of the country’s financial activity for FY July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.
- “We perform our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards as well as government auditing standards, and our objective is to provide reasonable but not absolute assurance that the basic financial statements are free of material misstatement,” Bagasala said.
- She said there was a $6.1 million increase in property taxes from 2023 and a $750,000 decrease in sales tax. The BOCC had almost $20 million intergovernmental revenue, with 17.5 percent being federal and state grant money.
- According to the report, Orange County is in an overall strong financial position.
- The ACFR reports on all of the country’s financial activity for FY July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024.
- The board discussed Orange County’s Proposed 2025 Priority Legislative Issues for the 2025 North Carolina General Assembly session.
- Commissioner Amy Fowler said the agenda was similar to past years.
- Commissioner Phyllis Portie-Ascott proposed adding another goal to the agenda for the board to seek legislation to provide recurring funding to state affordable housing programs, including the workforce housing loan program.
- “I know that when I, a couple years ago, went around and met with the different departments, there were folks that said they loved working for Orange County, they just wished they could afford to live here,” she said.
- Orange County Tax Administration Director Nancy Freeman gave a presentation on the upcoming 2025 reevaluation.
- She said reevaluation is the process of updating real property tax assessments in Orange County to reflect market value.
- Freeman said Orange County’s estimated overall county increase in property value is 52 percent, which is nine percent lower than the average property value increases of a survey of 21 other North Carolina counties.
- Reevaluation notices will be mailed to residents in mid-March, she said, and will include valuation, an FAQ and a simplified appeal form that can be done on paper or online.
- “Our appeals process is so important because if someone sees that we’ve assumed based on the information that we have that this is what their house or their property is made of or should be valued at, they may see that it's not correct, and we need their information so that we can make those corrections and know to go out and do a field visit,” she said.
- Orange County Housing Director Blake Rosser presented the 2024 results of the Longtime Homeowner Assistance Program, the county’s tax assistance program.
- He said the impact of the program has increased since 2023, with 502 out of 604 applications awarded. $323,824 was awarded in total and the average awarded amount was $498.
What decisions were made?
- The Board unanimously approved the Audit Services Contract Amendment for the fiscal year 2024 audit services, which increases the fiscal year 2025 expense from $120,000 to $135,000.
- The Board unanimously approved Orange County’s Proposed 2025 Priority Legislative Issues with Portie-Ascott’s addition.
What's next?
- The BOCC will meet for its next business meeting on Thursday, March 6 in the Whitted Human Services Building in Hillsborough.
