Chapel
Hill Budget
The Town
Manager is recommending an increase of 1.9 cents to the tax rate,
which translates into $57 for a $300,000 piece of property. Increased
costs associated with the town’s operations center, new aquatics
facility and the reopening of the community center highlight major
capital project expenses. The town must also cover an increasing amount
of costs associated with affordable housing as federal funding decreases
in this area. Additionally the town’s debt service is expected
to increase in coming years due to debt incurred on downtown development
initiative and the library expansion. Chapel Hill also expects less
revenue from retail sales tax. Actual revenues for this year are ten
percent less than projected, equaling a $700,000 shortfall.
Email jdervin@carolinachamber.org
for a copy of the Herald-Sun’s coverage of this story.
Carrboro
Budget
Carrboro’s preliminary budget calls for an increase
of 2.86 cents on the tax rate. That equates to an increase of $85.8
on a $300,000 home or piece of property. The Town Manager also presented
an alternative proposal with no tax increase, although increases are
needed to cover capital improvements for the town. For the News and
Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
Tree
Ordinance
The
Chapel Hill planning board is proposing changes to the Town’s
existing tree ordinance. The current ordinance requires residents
to submit tree protection plans and tree surveys if they intend to
remove trees as part of a building project affecting 5,000 square
feet or more of land. Changes would require a permit to remove trees
in a cumulative area more than 5,000 square feet (1/8 of an acre)
even if a building permit is not involved. The Town plans on hiring
a consultant to develop more substantive changes to the Tree Protection
Ordinance.
For
the News and Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
Local
Schools Face Potential Cuts
As the Orange County commissioners try to hold property
tax increases down this year, both school districts have prepared
their initial lists of budget cuts.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools released its potential cuts
today. The list includes: reducing clerical staff by one position
per school ($551,696), eliminating participation in Middle College
($50,000) and eliminating teacher assistants across all grade levels
($1,517,935). A full list of proposed cuts can be found at http://www.chccs.k12.nc.us/.
Orange
County Schools Superintendent Shirley Carraway released its initial
list last week. It includes: eliminating all 4th and 5th grade teachers
assistants district-wide ($615,864), reducing one staff position each
for ESL/EC/AG ($181,555) and eliminating all high school JV sports
($168,133). A full list of the cuts can be viewed here.
For additional coverage of this story in the News and Observer, click
here.
Jordan
Lake Pollution
The
Division of Water Quality will hold two public hearings, one of which
will be held on July 12 at the Carrboro Century Center, concerning
“nutrient overload” in Jordan Lake and the measures that
will be taken to prevent this in the future. The overload from “non-point”
sources, or non-water treatment facilities, has been attributed to
fertilizing private lawns, as well as golf courses and other large
developments. The State will ask the local governments to eventually
reduce nitrogen and phosphorous levels in the lake by 35 percent and
5 percent, respectively.
For
the News and Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
Email jdervin@carolinachamber.org
for a copy of the Herald-Sun’s coverage of this story.
Chatham
County Budget
Chatham
County’s preliminary budget calls for an increase of two cents
on the tax rate which translates into a $60 increase on a home assessed
at $300,000. County Manager Charlie Horne is committing the extra
$1.36 million generated from the increase to go to the county’s
schools. For
the News and Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
Chatham
Schools “Stuffed”
Chatham
County’s schools grow at a rate of 110 to 120 students every
year. Within five years, the system could be 700 students over capacity.
Officials hope to use a one percent land transfer tax to pay for the
new schools that will be necessary in the near future. Currently,
a new high school is slated for 94 acres off of Jack Bennett Road
in Northeast Chatham. However, Northwood High in Pittsboro may simply
be expanded if the plans for a new school fall through. For
the News and Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
Chatham
Water Woes
Chatham
County Commissioners voted to opt out of their $32 million contract
to buy water from Harnett County. They have instead opted to invest
more in their own plant as well as ask the state for more water from
Jordan Lake. It is possible that the state may not allocate more water
intake for Chatham County because other communities like Cary are
already placing high demands on water levels at Jordan Lake. Citizens
in the northeastern portion of Chatham County are already on water
restrictions because of water shortages. Northeast Chatham is served
by the county’s water treatment plant, while the rest of the
county relies on water supplies purchased from other local governments.
For
the News and Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
Cost
of Lot 5 Development Increases
Chapel
Hill Town Council approved an increase of $460,000 toward the Downtown
Development Initiative on municipal lot 5. The increase is due in
part to $240,000 needed to dispose of 13,000 tons of contaminated
soil beneath the current site. An additional $150,000 will go towards
design review of the project. Town Manager Roger Stancil noted that
the additional cost will help ensure that the parking structure the
town is contracting RAM to build will meet Town objectives and limit
risk. Total Town investment in the project will now reach $8.4 million.
For
the Chapel Hill News' coverage of this story, click
here.
Carrboro’s
“Green” Winmore Development
The Winmore
development is Carrboro’s first “green” development
project to be approved under the town’s new “village mixed-use”
zoning. The development will feature 66 acres of mixed commercial
and residential space to create a village style, walkable neighborhood.
Plans call for 96 single-family homes, 86 town homes and 56 rental
apartments. Average single family home price is expected to range
from $300,000 to $900,000. The development design contains green features
including a dozen retention ponds to inhibit runoff from the creek,
nature trails, community garden and orchard. For
the News and Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
Chapel
Watch Condominiums
Chapel
Hill Town Council approved 120 condominiums for the Chapel Watch Village,
off Eubanks Road. Council approved the project at the same meeting
in which it enacted a moratorium for northwest Chapel Hill and denied
the University Station project located in the same area. Pressured
by neighbors the council scrapped a potential plan for a new road
through the project into the Larkspur neighborhood off Weaver Dairy
Road extension. For
the News and Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
The
Triangle
Triangle
Sees Increase in Rent and Apartments
Rising
employment growth, interest rates, construction costs and land prices
are raising rent as the demand for apartments increases relative
to that for homes. Average rent increased to a record $780 in the
Triangle as apartment vacancy rates drop to an eight-year low of
7.8 percent. This has caused developers to build at a fast pace
with at least 4,429 new apartments units under construction at the
end of March. However, cap rates have not kept up meaning that landlords
are absorbing much of this financial success. For
the News and Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
Triangle
Home Sales
April 2007 Single Average Residential Closing Price
| Orange |
- |
$319,394 |
| Durham |
- |
$194,259 |
| Wake |
- |
$253,649 |
Number
of Single & Multi-family Homes Sold
April 2007
| Orange |
- |
149 |
| Durham |
- |
400 |
| Wake |
- |
1,697 |
Source data from www.trianglemls.com;
Chatham County statistical information can be found here.
Durham
Penny for Affordable Housing
A group
of affordable-housing advocates are pushing city leaders to raise
the property tax by 1 cent in order to help create more low-income
housing. This increase would tack on $20 to the current $1,206 currently
paid annually by the owner of a $200,000 home. There is concern over
Durham’s ability to handle large funds effectively following
the Rolling Hills debacle during which Durham lost $860,000 and acquired
only a fraction of the homes it had planned to receive. Currently
Durham has plans to build 150 units over the next five years for low-income
homes. For
the News and Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
State
State
Employment Drops
As the economy
slows nationwide, March showed an increase in the state unemployment
rate from 4.6 to 4.8 percent after seven months of improvement. 2,209
fewer workers were employed in March than in February, the first time
that number has decreased in eight months. Experts say the drop is
due in small part to rising fuel costs and a struggling housing market.
For
the News and Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
Growth
in Hispanic Population
Between 2005
and 2006, a quarter of North Carolina’s new residents were Hispanics.
They continue to be the largest minority in America as well as the
fastest growing. Hispanics make up approximately 603,000 of the state’s
8.9 million residents. North Carolina ranks 19th in the nation with
respect to its proportion of minorities with 33 percent of the total
population. For
the News and Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
Mortgage
Foreclosures up in NC
Foreclosures
in NC are up 56 percent relative to March of last year as falling
house prices made it more difficult for borrowers to refinance mortgages.
Some have blamed the increased use of adjustable-rate mortgages while
others look to the so-called 2/28 loans which provide low fixed rates
for two years and then switch to a higher adjustable rate for the
remainder of the mortgage. The National Association of Realtors forecasts
that the median price of a home will fall 0.7 percent this year to
$220,300, the first decline since the group began tracking prices
in 1968. For
the News and Observer's coverage of this story, click
here.
National
U.S.
Economy Continues to be Sluggish
The
Conference Board announced that its leading economic indicators suggest
a slowing of the US economy in the coming months blaming higher gas
prices, low housing figures, and a sluggish construction industry.
Only two of the ten indicators, stock prices and real money supply,
gave any reason for optimism.
For
additional coverage of this story, click
here.
Links
Town of Chapel Hill
www.townofchapelhill.org
Town of Carrboro
www.townofcarrboro.org
Town of Hillsborough
www.ci.hillsborough.nc.us
Orange County
www.co.orange.nc.us
Chatham County
www.co.chatham.nc.us
TMLS Statistics
http://trianglemls.com/tmls-stats.html
