Government
At the May 7th Town Council meeting, Roger Stancil proposed a 1.9% tax increase for the next fiscal year.
This seemed like a pretty good figure, considering other local governments were asking for more. Durham County has a proposed 3.9% tax hike, Wake County is looking at a 3.6% proposed increase, Carrboro has a proposed 2.9% increase. Orange County is proposing a 3.7% increase, and many folks would like for it to be more.
At a Council meeting two weeks later, Mayor Pro Tem Bill Strom pointed out:
"We're getting remarkably close to being able to get to a no-tax-increase budget," said Strom. "I would like to see a flat budget."
He asked for staff to come back with a proposed budget that would not raise taxes.
Last night, that proposal received unanimous support from the entire Council.
I recently received the following question through our contact form. I thought this information would be of interest to a lot of readers, so I hope the writer doesn't mind if I answer it here.
I am wondering what the requirements are for running for local offices in NC. Specifically Hillsborough School board, Town council, and Mayor. I am looking to run for office but I don't know the age restrictions and am worried that I am too young. I am 19. I have looked everywhere for this information and can't seem to find it. Can you help me out? Thank you in advance.
I couldn't find the answer to the age question so I called my friend Mark Chilton, who was 21 years old when he was first elected to the Chapel Hill Town Council, and who is now elected as the Mayor of Carrboro. In addition to the requirement that you must live in, and be registered to vote in, the district that you wish to represent, the state also says that you must be 21 years old to hold office. Chilton pointed out that you do not need to be 21 to run, but you do have to come of age before being sworn in.
The well at Carrboro's MLK park is scheduled for destruction. The community gardeners have researched the possibility of using the well by addressing town, gardening and community concerns. Thankful that the well has not been filled yet, we are hopeful that this new information for the town may lead to the most informed decision for Carrboro.
Tonight at 7:30 p.m. is the Carrboro Board of Alderman meeting. Please come out and support this community effort.
Dear Carrboro Board of Aldermen and Staff,
In addition to being a fascinating drama, the John McCormick saga is also a cautionary tale for us. I never met the man, but I was long aware that something was not right with him. I knew for a fact that he was a slum lord with properties in my neighborhood, and I had also heard rumors that he was involved with the crack trade.
Now of course these were just rumors, and I was in no position to do anything about them. But if I knew a little, I have to think the Chapel Hill Carrboro Board of Education knew a lot more. It's hard to believe that this man, now known for shady real estate deals and thought to be living the life of a fugitive drug kingpin on the lam, was responsible for legally advising our school system. That concerns me. I always wondered why the school board did not take action to remove this questionable character. In hindsight I can now say they absolutely should have done something, and that they may have been putting our schools at risk by continuing to work with him for many years.
According to the Chapel Hill eNews, the NC Department of Transportation and the Town of Chapel Hill will share the cost of "rehabilitation and expansion of the traffic signal system serving Chapel Hill and Carrboro." Part of this project includes the replacement of old copper wire with fiber optic communication cable. This means hopefully sometime in 2011 we'll have a fiber network to deliver broadband Internet connections to people via wireless. Now we need to stop legislation built to prevent municipalities from building networks.
From the Town of Chapel Hill eNews: (subscribe here)
- Rehabilitation and Expansion of Traffic Signal System: The Council approved a plan for the rehabilitation and expansion of the traffic signal system serving Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The $5 million project with the NC Department of Transportation requires a local cost-share of $450,000.
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