Orange County has hired a marketing company to help communicate with residents before the largest bond in the history of the county comes to a vote in November.
Sheer Associates founder Joel Sheer presented his company’s plan to the Board of County Commissioners in a meeting Tuesday night.
“We were careful during this entire process not to advocate a yes or no position,” he said. “We understand our legal position here, to educate not advocate.”
If passed, the bond could be worth up to $125 million, with $120 million going towards repairing schools in Orange County and the rest going towards affordable housing.
According Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools, many of the older buildings are in desperate need of health and safety repairs.
The initial bond was only supposed to provide funding for schools, but after insistence from members of the community, the board added additional funding for affordable housing.
Passing the bond could result in a property tax increase for Orange County residents.
“We did advocate for citizen understanding,” Sheer said. “We did advocate for people to vote.”
The campaign to raise awareness will include a number of different aspects including advertising in print and radio, videos and a website dedicated to providing information about the bond.
Sheer said the campaign struggled with providing information about voting because of the recent court decision that struck down some of North Carolina’s voting laws.
“We waited and waited until about as long as we could,” he said. “And then when we felt like it was about to jeopardize the campaign we moved forward.”
Voting times and places will be posted on the county’s newly-created website.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 8, 2016.
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