It's not official until next week's formal vote, but the Orange County Board of Commissioners voted 6 to 1 tonight (Thursday) to approve a resolution of intent to pass a $177.6 million budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Only Pam Hemminger, the former Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board chairwoman, voted against the budget. County Manager Laura Blackmon's budget cuts school funding to 48.1 percent of the county's general fund.
The tax rate falls to 85.8 cents per $100 of assessed property value to reflect revaluation. The new tax rate is revenue neutral, meaning the county should take in the same amount of property tax revenue as this year. That doesn't mean your tax bills stay the same, even if your home appreciated at the county average. Most taxpayers will see a property tax bill increase because of expected drops in revenue on other taxable property such as cars.
Still, the commissioners praised Blackmon, who got strong applause on her last budget before leaving county government.
"We are being fiscally conservative, and we are doing the best we can," Commissioner Barry Jacobs said.
The budget is down from the $183 million budget originally proposed for the current fiscal year. Commissioner Alice Gordon noted. "That's real dollars," she said. "We've cut the budget more than $5 million."
