County to vote on school tax

Taxes and consensus rarely go together.

The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 on Aug. 16 to put a referendum on the ballot this fall that, if passed, would create a special district tax for Orange County Schools.

Chairman Moses Carey Jr. cast the only dissenting vote.

“We’re not endorsing it or opposing it, we’re just putting it out there,” Vice Chairman Barry Jacobs said Friday.

Jacobs said that while implementing such a tax would not be an end-all solution, it would help to address the well-documented funding inequities between the county and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City school systems.

According to an educational excellence report released by a UNC professor last year, city schools had about $12 million more in available funds than county schools.

“I think it’s a means,” Jacobs said of the tax. “I think the more options you have at your disclosure, the more flexible you can be at your solution.”

City schools have had a special district tax for years — the rate was set at 18.34 cents per $100 of property valuation this fiscal year.

The city school board also has advocated for a similar tax for county schools.

In an October 2003 memo, city schools Superintendent Neil Pedersen recommended that the board go on the record endorsing such a tax for county schools.

“In my opinion, this is the fairest and most democratic approach to equalizing funding between the two school systems,” the memo states.

Pedersen’s memo was intended to provide alternatives to the idea of merging the districts — a controversial proposal brought into the public eye by Carey that same year.

Pedersen said Friday that the city school board has not taken a different position since that time.

The county school board, however, is not behind the idea.

County school board member Liz Brown said Friday that she doesn’t think the tax could raise enough money to equalize the districts.

She said it would fall short because rural land is often appraised at lower values than urban land and because the tax would be capped at 10 cents.

Instead, Brown suggested increasing the ad valorem tax levied countywide while decreasing the city schools’ district tax.

“I’m not saying that I’m not willing to pay more taxes,” she said, reiterating that the two school districts must be on equal ground.

“We’re one county and state law says we have to fund our school systems equally,” she said.

For county school board Chairman Randy Copeland, funding equity is not the factor driving his opposition to the tax.

“I’m opposing it because it’s going to be an increased tax on the rural citizens of Orange County,” he said.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.