$2.9M for two parks would use up special fund; Mebane could be heading for 2¢ property tax hike
What started out as a rambling discussion at Monday night’s Mebane city council meeting about whether the council should buy two properties for future parks evolved into whether spending money for those properties would reduce the timeline for a new (fourth) fire station that is also a high priority for the council, or increase the costs to taxpayers for doing so.
Then it evolved further into the revelation that city manager Richard J. White, III is planning to present the council with a budget with a 2-cent tax increase, taking the property tax rate from 37 cents to 39 cents.
All of these discussions are scheduled to resume today at a special budget workshop meeting of the city council at 1:00 p.m. at city hall.
At its Monday night monthly meeting, Mebane’s city council hit a wall of questions even before its members took up the potential purchases of two separate properties that might be used for future parks that could cost the city $2.9 million.
The two agenda items appeared on Monday night’s agenda – one, for $1.4 million, to purchase 37 acres on the northwest side of the city, and $1.5 million to purchase 50 acres along West Ten Road near Gravelly Hill Middle School in western Orange County.
Neither had been publicly mentioned or discussed at any previous council meeting.
Before the council even got to the agenda items, they heard from two planning board members during the public comment period – one from Orange County and another from the city’s own planning board – who questioned the rush to purchase the properties and felt the public needed more information.
Lamar Proctor, Jr., who lives at 4601 Timberwood Trail in Efland, is the chairman of Orange County’s planning board, although he emphasized that he was speaking personally, not representing any official Orange County position.
Proctor lives beside the property along West Ten Road, part of which is to be considered for a park on the southern side of the interstate. The council’s agenda packet makes clear that one of the corollary conditions to the purchase is that the property owner, Gordon Brown, agree to allow Mebane to annex 500 adjacent acres of his Seven Mile Farm, with a light industrial zoning designation. (The park property would also be rezoned for light industrial use, a category that allows a park.)
Proctor said he feared the park purchase was a backdoor method for Mebane to rezone the land for industrial purposes in the largely rural setting.
Proctor said his concern with the city’s acquisition of the parkland was that it “is the first domino of what is going to be a complete change in the rural character” of that part of Orange County. Proctor asked for a delay in the council’s consideration of the park purchase. On behalf of rural neighbors, he pleaded, “Let us have some more input on this.”
Proctor said that future industrial zoning in the area would be at odds with Orange County’s long-term preservation goals for that area.
Mebane planning board member Colin Cannell also sought a delay, noting that he and other members of the public had only been aware of the item since the council’s agenda had come out last Thursday (and city offices were closed on Friday). Cannell said there had “not been a lot of time to get information about the parks.”
He suggested that, if not a full-blown public hearing, there should at least be an opportunity to have residents, including himself, to be able to ask questions about the proposed park purchases.
Background on land purchases
When the council turned to the two agenda items, city attorney Lawson Brown said that both proposed land purchases were based on the city staff’s attempt to implement the council’s long-range parks and recreation plan adopted several years ago. Brown said the emphasis had been on looking for sites with 20 or more acres.
Brown also told the council that they it is not required to have a public hearing on land purchases, nor to have an appraisal done on the market value of the properties.
Brown also said that while there were “no immediate plans” for developing either park, city officials believe it is important to acquire the land for future park development before an industrial or residential developer comes along to scoop up either or both. He later observed the city might be “out of luck” in wanting to buy land for similar purposes later when available properties might already have been sold to others.
He noted, for instance, that the city had negotiated a purchase price of $1.4 million for the acreage owned by former city council member Jill Auditori. But, Brown relayed to the council, her attorney had advised that if the land is put on the market, they intend to have a list price of $1.8 million.
[Story continues below layouts of the proposed land for new parks.]
It was also revealed during discussion that the property, listed on the agenda as 37.2 acres, would actually be more like 32.225 acres. It might be able to be linked to additional adjacent land – 20.37 acres already owned by the city, from the Cates Farm park, as well as a strip of right-of-way owned by the NC Department of Transportation, .75 acres. Those properties are now separated by the NC 119 bypass – “orphaned,” according to Bradley’s description later in the meeting – and DOT will apparently not allow a separate entrance into the other city-owned property, it was stated.
The $1.4 million proposed purchase price for the Auditori property would thus amount to $43,444 per acre, according to Brown. While he said no appraisal had to be done, he told the newspaper that the current assessed tax value of the property is $584,861.
The price per acre for the 50 acres along West Ten Road (at $1.5 million) would be $30,000 per acre, Brown told the council.
Burkholder also stressed that the city wasn’t “married” to the conceptual drawings that showed potential layout of facilities (primarily various ballfields) that could be built at each location. She said the city would be seeking public input on what should be included, if the council decides to buy one or both properties.
Council discussion
Councilman Jonathan White questioned why there was no public hearing for such significant land purchases.
Brown said state law did not require a hearing and the city had not traditionally scheduled public hearings in the context of purchasing properties.
White said that he thought a public hearing for these land purchases would be a “valuable gesture to the community.”
White also observed that the April meeting represented the third month in a row in which the council was entertaining property purchases on its agenda, which he said he felt the public might perceive as “odd,” or whether it was simply a “unique coincidence.”
Brown acknowledged that the “multitude” of proposed city land purchases this year was “very unusual” in the context of his 11 years serving as the city’s attorney.
Assistant city manager Preston Mitchell added it was “somewhat coincidental” to have three consecutive months with property purchases on the council’s agenda.
Where’s the money coming from?
White also questioned the use of the capital improvement fund for the park purchases. “If we spend the money for that, we won’t have it to spend on something else,” the councilman said.
City manager Richard J. White, III, said his understanding of the 2-cents from each year’s budget that the council opted to set aside in a capital improvement fund was designated for future fire station, future police station, and parkland. (City manager White had not yet come to the city when an earlier council established the special fund about three years ago.)
That “something else” to which councilman White referred soon became a discussion about another council priority, a fourth fire station.
Council member Katie Burkholder questioned whether purchasing the two park properties would diminish the possibility of or timeline for building the fourth fire station.
[Story continues below sidebar on history of the special capital fund.]
Original Purpose/Priorities for Special Capital Projects fund
When the special fund was established during June 5, 2023 consideration of the city’s 2023-2024 budget, the description from then-city manager Chris Rollins was that the priority order for funding projects from the restricted capital reserve fund was a fourth fire station (then estimated to cost $5 million), a new police station (then listed as $15 million), and third was recreation projects, which were listed as more than simply buying land for one or more parks, but rather including a recreation center, potentially with a pool, with a total allocation of $15 million.
As adopted, the 2-cent special fund generates about $1 million per year, finance director Daphna Schwartz told the council Monday night. By press time Wednesday afternoon, city officials had not provided the precise final figure now in the fund, requested by the newspaper, but Monday they used the overall figure of $3 million being available in the fund, almost all of which would be depleted if the council purchased both properties for park land, as proposed on their agenda.
The city manager said construction of the fire station would likely be financed. Some disagreement ensued among city officials on whether the special capital fund could be used for interest payments on a loan for a fire station. The final conclusion was that the city’s own existing policy prohibits it, but the council could change the parameters of the fund to allow it.
Council member Montrena Hadley also stressed the priority of funding the fire station and asked whether the council could postpone a decision on the potential park properties until May or June, depending on the outcome of a budget work session the council already has scheduled for today at 1:00 p.m.
Brown said that the only constraint might be whether one or both properties would still be available. This is when Brown revealed that Auditori’s attorney had advised that her property would go on the market for $1.8 million. “I don’t think they’ll wait” the one or two months Hadley had suggested, Brown said.
Brown said the other property owner might be a “more patient seller” but did acknowledge they’ve had people “knocking on their door,” as well, and that’s in an area where one industrial project across the street had already been approved by the council.
Councilman Sean Ewing originally suggested that the council postpone both park property discussions until the council’s May meeting, but councilman White suggested that the council postpone only until the council’s Thursday “budget workshop” meeting. The council added the possibility that they will make a decision about one or both properties on Thursday. Burkholder noted she would not be able to be present, due to a long-planned family vacation.
The council ultimately voted, 4-1, for that revised schedule. Bradley, who wanted to proceed Monday night, voted no.
Bradley said the key issues were “do we need the land, is it a reasonable price, [and] is it a good location?”
In an interview with The Alamance News afterwards, Bradley acknowledged that he was in favor of having the city buy both properties for future parks and moving forward with the fire station.
White and Ewing were more circumspect about their position on the park properties, each saying they wanted to hear the Thursday discussion in the context of overall budget considerations.
Shared facilities with Orange County?
Also entering the discussion were references to a recent city council meeting with Orange County’s commissioners who had raised the possibility of some “joint” recreational possibilities between Mebane and Orange County.
At a meeting on March 19, Orange County officials outlined the location of a new elementary school, which would be situated to the east of Gravelly Hill Middle School and the current soccer complex.
They suggested that the county and city might be able to work out joint use of a gym.
At that meeting, it also became evident that Orange County now wants to bring the existing middle school and soccer complex, as well as the new elementary school site, within Mebane’s municipal limits.
Doing so would save the county from having to pay the higher (double) rates applicable for out-of-city users of Mebane’s public utilities (water and sewer).
At that meeting, Ewing questioned the wisdom of having schools in such close proximity to industrial areas. Gravelly Hill is already beside the large Medline warehouse, and there are other industrial lots closer to Mebane along West Ten Road. Orange County considers much of the area a part of its Buckhorn Economic Development District, slated for future industrial growth since the early 1980s.
Mebane has already rezoned one area, through a satellite annexation, on the other side of what will be the new elementary school site, for industrial use.
The new elementary school is currently proposed for a 38.41-acre parcel owned by Orange County government, adjacent to the “Soccer.com” complex that is also owned by the county. The soccer complex occupies 34.09 acres, and Gravelly Middle School is on another 65.5 acres, all adjacent to one another.
“This is still in the planning stages, awaiting for other things to fall into place,” Kevin Smith, chief public information officer for Orange County Schools.
“That is the site, as proposed,” Smith told The Alamance News late Wednesday afternoon.
“There may be further considerations,” Smith said, pointing out that the selection of a school site is not within the exclusive purview of the Orange County board of education. “It involves many different entities beyond our school board.”
Property tax increase?
Toward the end of the parkland vs. fire station discussion, city manager White revealed that he is likely to present the council with a budget containing a 2-cent tax increase, in order to fund the new fire station and the additional personnel it would require.
Councilman White said he was concerned that the property purchases could amount to a “backdoor way of forcing ourselves to vote for tax increase without talking about a tax increase.”
Generally, the discussion was that the fire station would cost $6 million; land for the station, at the entrance to the North Carolina Commerce Park, had been given to the city by Crow Holdings, which built two large warehouses on property across the street.
Mayor Ed Hooks said another $1½ million would be needed for the additional firefighters to staff the fire station. [The usual contingent for a new station – 18 employees, according to Bradley, himself a long-time volunteer assistant chief with the department – appears to be closer to $3 million, based on the current salary structure within the fire department, according to an Alamance News analysis of existing fire department salaries and benefits.]
City manager White had not responded by press time to the newspaper’s public records request from Tuesday for exact information on the projected cost of the fire station or of the personnel costs associated with it. Nor had he responded to an earlier request from last Thursday for all public records related to the city’s consideration and correspondence concerning the two proposed park properties.
Nor had the city’s finance director responded to another public records request for information about exactly how much money ($3 million was the general figure) is in the city’s special capital fund, as well as how money in the fund had been spent during the previous fiscal years.
Read the newspaper’s editorial page views on the park, budget, and tax issues: https://alamancenews.com/how-much-should-mebane-tax-for-essential-vs-non-essential-services/
