SUMMARY MINUTES OF A BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING
OF THE CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL
WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1999 AT 7:00 P.M.
Mayor pro tem Joe Capowski called the hearing to order at 7:00 p.m.
Council Members present were Flicka Bateman, Joyce Brown, Pat Evans, Lee Pavăo and Kevin Foy. Mayor Rosemary Waldorf and Council Members Julie McClintock and Edith Wiggins were absent, excused.
Staff members present were Town Manager Cal Horton, Assistant Town Managers Sonna Loewenthal and Florentine Miller, Finance Director Jim Baker, Assistant to the Manager Ruffin Hall, Personnel Director Pat Thomas, Public Works Director Bruce Heflin, and Town Clerk Joyce Smith.
1 — Presentation by Town Manager
Mr. Horton explained that this was the third public hearing on budget issues and noted that the staff’s original proposal would have required a tax rate increase of 3.3 cents. He said that the Council had reduced this tax increase to 2.54 cents by various means, such as raising fines for overtime parking, changing the Tarheel Express ticket rate, and changing the implementation date for Town employee salary changes. Mr. Horton presented Council Members with a table that showed what the additional property taxes would be at various levels and at various tax rates. He explained that a 2.54-cent increase, for example, would mean a $37.50 tax increase on a $150,000 home. Mr. Horton noted that he had provided the Council with a brief budget working paper summarizing the changes that they had suggested.
2 — Comments by Citizens
Jerry Passmore, of the Council on Aging, asked the Council to find a way to continue providing transportation to the Human Services Center on Homestead Road. He said that he agreed the cross-Town connector route should be discontinued due to low ridership, but recommended adding a stop to either the A Route or the T Route so that low-income people who needed social services would have a means of getting to the Center.
Alison
Weiner, representing ABODE, urged the Council to demonstrate the Town’s
commitment to housing diversity by helping to establish a permanent fund for
affordable housing in Orange County. She said that both ABODE and the Martin Luther King
Coalition had been working for passage of NC Senate Bill 708, which would allow
each county in North Carolina to levy a special tax for housing. Ms. Weiner
reported that the Senate already had passed the bill and that ABODE members
were hoping the House would pass it as well. She pointed out that if the bill
was passed the County would not be able to levy the tax before the beginning of
the next fiscal year and asked the Council for a good faith commitment of local
tax dollars for 1999-2000. Ms.
Weiner reiterated ABODE’s former request that the Town allocate an amount equal
to one penny on the property tax rate for the coming fiscal year to establish a
permanent fund for affordable housing. She noted that this would yield
approximately $650, 000.
Kathleen Lord, Chair of the Downtown Commission, argued against raising fines for downtown parking violations. She said that the University charged high fines because it wanted to discourage people from parking on campus, and pointed out that business owners had the opposite objective since they wanted people to park downtown. Ms. Lord suggested increasing the fines, if desired, on non-meter parking violations, while leaving meter violation fines as they were. She also recommended increasing the meter time on Franklin Street’s 100 block to two hours, and suggested changing the ordinance, if necessary, to allow issuing multiple tickets to those who abuse the system.
Beth Springfield, a client advocate with the AIDS Service Agency of North Carolina, said it was important to maintain a bus stop at the Human Services Center on Homestead Road. She said that a number of her clients would not be able to come to the Center otherwise. Ms. Springfield noted that the nearest bus stop was a mile away and pointed out that many of the Center’s clients had trouble walking. She added that others were ill, elderly, or had children with them and would not be able to come for services if there was not a bus stop near the Center.
Peter Hallenbeck, Chair of the Orange County Chapter of the American Red Cross, asked the Town for $75,000, over three to five years, to purchase a 7,600 sq. ft. building. He said that the Red Cross was counting on County, Town and citizen help with this one-time cost, adding that not purchasing the building (which they were now renting) would mean that the Red Cross would have to go back to a 2,000 sq. ft. building, such as the one it formerly occupied in Carrboro. Mr. Hallenbeck reviewed the many services and volunteer hours that the Red Cross provided and said that the Town would have to pay more than $15,000 per year for five years if the Red Cross were not able to provide such services.
Robert Humphreys, Director of the Downtown Commission, asked the Council to consider an alternative to selling the downtown trolleys. He suggested keeping and maintaining them for the enjoyment of citizens, and funding their maintenance by increasing the charter rate by 15% or $10 per hour.
Robert Borgesi, Chapel Hill Firefighter, asked the Council to raise Town employees’ salaries on schedule rather than delaying it as they had discussed. He also requested that the Town fund the requested mini pumper for nine months, rather than six months as the Council had recommended. Mr. Borgesi said that the Fire Department needed that equipment for safety reasons.
Samuel Erwin, Chapel Hill Firefighter, also asked the Council to consider the Fire Chief’s request for the mini pumper and six personnel to staff it, and to do so for the entire year. He added that, since this was necessary for safety reasons, it should be a priority to the community.
Blair Pollock, of the Bikes and Walkways Task Force, said that the estimated total cost of projects which the Task Force had recommended and the Town had adopted on its project list was about $15.2 million. He noted that the current budget for Bikes and Walkways was about $172,000, primarily consisting of carry-over money which had not been spent in previous years. Mr. Pollock, pointing out that having unspent funds indicated a need for more focus, recommended hiring a half-time bike planner and paying for that by delaying the landscaping of the median on Airport Road for one year. He noted that this would yield $50,000 that the Town could use to build some of the bikeways and walkways that the Council approved on its priority list in October 1997.
Chris Rice, co-owner of Carolina Brewery and Vice Chair of the Downtown Commission, asked the Council to reconsider the proposed auction and sale of the downtown trolleys. He suggested that the Town turn its focus instead to expanding the trolleys’ chartering service, which was used for weddings, private groups, elementary school groups, historic tours, and so forth. Mr. Rice suggested raising the service fee to pay for the trolleys’ high maintenance costs.
Chris Belcher, a Franklin Street merchant and a member of the Downtown Commission, said that the downtown parking fines already were high enough to control parking. He stated that it would be a misuse of fine money to use it to build up the General Fund, and suggested using it instead to address the future parking needs of the downtown area. Mr. Belcher also recommended encouraging the University to work toward providing for their own parking needs.
Scott Maitland, owner of Top O’ the Hill Restaurant and Brewery, noted that the trolleys were a charming Town asset. He said that they were the mode of transportation that he recommended most for weddings and other special occasions. Mr. Maitland also said that the $10 parking fines were high enough and recommended keeping them as they were.
Council Member Evans asked Mr. Horton to bring a report back on separating the costs between the fire lane parking and other parking violations.
Council Member Brown said that she assumed the Manager would respond to all of the comments made that evening.
COUNCIL MEMBER EVANS MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCIL MEMBER FOY, TO ADJOURN THE HEARING. THE MOTION WAS ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY (6-0).
The hearing was adjourned at 7:38 p.m.
The minutes of May 12, 1999 were adopted on the 28th day of June, 1999.
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