Town scrutinizes operations center

Chapel Hill officials debated delaying construction on part or all of the town operations center at Thursday’s meeting of the town’s Budget Review Advisory Committee.

Town Manager Cal Horton recommended going forward with the center — the future home of the departments of transportation and public works and housing — saying that delays would cause more debt.

“I believe very strongly that the most prudent thing to do is go through with this project now,” he said. “It’s cheaper to go ahead now.”

The committee convened in January to address Horton’s projection that the town would need to raise its property tax rate by 9.6 cents to meet budget needs from, among other things, building the center.

The possibility of delaying the center, which broke ground in October, arose at the town’s Jan. 13 planning session when council members asked town staff to explore the consequences of delaying all or part of the project.

According to the staff’s report, the cost of suspending construction of the public works and housing portion of the center could cost the town another $4.8 million, while delaying the entire project could cost as much as $6 million.

Council member Cam Hill supported going through with the project rather than putting off construction, saying public reaction to the costs would not be good.

“I think … raising taxes to not build the town operations center would be less palatable,” he said.

There also was some concern voiced on the cost and placement of public art at the new center.

The current plans would be to use 1 percent of the total $43.7 million project costs to pay for public art.

But Aaron Nelson, committee member and executive director of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, said some had questioned whether the money should be used for that purpose.

Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy countered, saying that the cost to taxpayers was minimal.

He said the art would only cost 96 cents in property taxes on a $300,000 house.

“We’re talking about less than a dollar,” he said. “If we’re trying to save people 96 cents a year, I’ll give them 96 cents a year.”

During the meeting, committee members also discussed the findings of an efficiency study of the town’s services.

“By and large, this is a well-run operation,” said Ken Murray, vice president of MAXIMUS Inc., the committee’s consultant. “This town is functioning at or above industry standards in many areas.”

But, Murray said, some departments still showed room for improvement.

In particular, the study suggested reducing the size of the planning department staff.

“It seems to us that you’ve got a lot of staff there,” he said.

But Foy was quick to emphasize that such a change would not result in layoffs. “We’re not going to fire anybody,” he said. “That’s not going to happen.”

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