The Chapel Hill town manager presented a very tight budget for the coming fiscal year. As part of covering core services in a time of noticeably lower revenue, he delays for 6 months the 65-cent-per-hour pay raise for the town’s lowest-paid workers that the town committed to in being certified a Living Wage employer. But […]
All posts in category Taxes
Are we really #allinthistogether?
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 25, 2020
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2020/05/25/are-we-really-allinthistogether/
Too simple to understand?
Solutions to town problems seemed so much simpler when I sat in the audience at Town Hall covering Town Council meetings for my Chapel Hill Watch blog. After I was elected and moved to the dais, I learned there are no easy answers. Running for re-election this year, I was disheartened to receive questionnaires from […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 26, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/08/26/too-simple-to-understand/
Late night
I blame the lateness of the hour for someone on the council dais suggesting that a retaining wall designed to mitigate flooding include “breaks” to “engage the street.” The comment came during a concept plan we were asked to review that didn’t being on our overstuffed agenda until after 11:30 p.m. We were all tuckered […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 24, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/06/24/late-night/
Kneecapping our best intentions
Chapel Hill residents take housing affordability seriously. Are we on Town Council poised to undermine progress we’ve made? The budget we passed last week included a property tax increase that would fund the $10 million bond voters approved last year to be spent on increasing the supply of affordable housing. Some years back, council approved […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 17, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/06/17/kneecapping-our-best-intentions/
Wealth gap
I say this every year at budget time. Call it my annual screed: A flat percentage salary increase across the whole pay scale widens the wealth gap. The rich get richer, and the poor end up with comparatively less buying power. This year, the town’s 3% across-the-board pay raise will put an extra $900 (before […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 3, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/06/03/wealth-gap/
The cost of appearances
There we go again. Dipping into our savings to pay for nonessentials. Living beyond our means. Our new town manager presented his recommended budget, a 3.7% increase over what we spent the prior year, which would require only a 1.6-cent property tax increase (per every $100 of property valuation). The hiring process for our town […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on May 20, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/05/20/the-cost-of-appearances/
Whose opportunity?
Trump has come to Chapel Hill. The federal Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, signed into law in December 2017, created an investment vehicle to allow the very wealthy to avoid paying taxes. The idea was presented to the public as a way to attract new development to high-poverty areas. A thousand such areas were identified […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 8, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/04/08/whose-opportunity/
R.I.P. DOLRT
If the Orange County commissioners vote at their April 2 meeting to discontinue pursuit of the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit line, and Durham County commissioners do likewise (the agenda of their April 8 meeting is not yet online), the crushingly expensive light rail project will be packed away, perhaps for good. After GoTriangle spent $137 […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 1, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/04/01/r-i-p-dolrt/
Generous to a fault
Someone needs to cut up Town Council’s credit card. In recent weeks, our new town manager has been educating council on various aspects of the budget. In our work sessions, he has set the expectation that we will need to authorize a tax increase to cover the cost of all the things we want to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 18, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/03/18/generous-to-a-fault/
Operating at a loss
The old joke goes that a naïve business owner admitted he lost money on each product sale, but said, “I make up for it in volume.” Chapel Hill town staff are familiar with that business model, and after the Town Council retreat this past weekend, we are, too. We learned that for the past couple […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 28, 2019
https://chapelhillwatch.com/2019/01/28/operating-at-a-loss/