Chapel Hill Council Moves Toward November Bond Vote, Holds Budget Public Comment

The Chapel Hill Town Council met on Wednesday, May 15 to hold a public hearing on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-2025 budget and consider a resolution for having a bond referendum in November. Council Member Melissa McCullough was absent from the meeting. Here are the highlights:

The 2024-25 Chapel Hill Town Council poses for its official portrait. (Photo via the Town of Chapel Hill.)

Public Hearing on the Recommended Budget

Town Manager Chris Blue highlighted key points on the budget totaling $156 million, a four percent increase compared to last year’s budget. He reiterated points he made during his May 1 presentation, including the budget’s property tax rate increase of two cents per $100, totaling a 0.592% property tax rate. The proposal also includes a six percent cost of living raise for Town of Chapel Hill employees.

“Our people are always our number one priority,” Blue said. “Our excellent team members are the way we get everything done. From our core services to our big projects to advancing your goals, with this budget, we continue to show them that we value those employees who make this organization run every day.”

The recommended budget increases pay for town employees and funds public transportation, infrastructure, and affordable housing. The two graphics below show the effect the recommended budget would have on funding several of those areas and the tax increase impact on taxpayers.

On the left is an estimate of the impact of the two-cent property tax rate increase on the town’s priorities. On the right is the tax increase’s prospective impact on taxpayers based on various property valuations.

Chamber of a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro President Aaron Nelson also presented the council with findings from the chamber’s recent study on the impact of the tax increase on local businesses.

“The bottom line is the impact on businesses is inconsistent,” said Nelson. “It sort of depends. First, it depends on the type of enterprise – retail, or office, or the property owner. It depends on whether you’re existing [or] you’re already there, in which case you are seeing small increases. In most cases, those are incremental. Or [the business] is new – it’s a barrier to your entry. And then the uneven impacts of regulation. Revaluation is inconsistent across our community.”

The council will vote on adopting the FY25 budget on June 5. To read the proposed budget, click here.

Adoption of resolution to proceed with a bond referendum

The town council unanimously adopted a resolution stating its intent to proceed with a bond referendum in November 2024 for a bond amounting to not exceed $44 million. Since the bond will be a general obligation bond, public approval is required for it to take effect.

Business Management Director Amy Oland said the town arrived at the 44 million dollar value by determining its debt capacity over the next five to six years without increasing taxes to pay for the bond.

The resolution states the council’s plan to publish notice of intent to file the bond with the Local Government Commission (LGC), make a legislative committee filing, file the LGC application, and give notice to the County Board of Elections.

The bond would designate $15 million for affordable housing, $15 million for public facilities, $7.5 million for streets and sidewalks, $4.4 million for parks and recreation facilities, and $2 million for open space and greenways.

Here are the next steps in the bond process, according to Oland:

The town council introduces the bond orders and schedules a public hearing for the council’s June 5 meeting.
The town publishes a notice of the public hearing.
The council holds a public hearing, adopts bonds orders, and sets ballot questions and a referendum date at its June 17 meeting.
The town publishes the bond orders and referendum notice twice.
Voters vote on the bond on November 5, 2024, ballots.

To watch a full video recording of the Chapel Hill Town Council’s May 15 meeting, click here.

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