It’s almost always entertaining to follow the semi-monthly meetings of Elon’s town council.
Rarely does one municipality consider so many inane ideas.
But this week’s meeting takes the prize for the volume of crazy ideas that are treated as mainstream.
Where to start?
Let’s begin with the budget. We guess Elon residents should consider themselves “lucky” that their town council is ready to include “only” a 14 percent increase in the property tax rate next year. This increase, which town manager is proposing at an additional 5 cents per $100 valuation (to the existing 35¢ rate), is the highest (at least so far) being considered across Alamance County for 2026.
It is “lucky” because a narrow 3-2 majority of Elon’s town council turned down councilman Randy Orwig’s proposal for an increase of 7¢ per $100 valuation (which amounts to a 20 percent hike) in one fell swoop.
Orwig wants to “beat” a potential limit on future tax increases that is being considered by the North Carolina General Assembly.
At the same time, we have to observe that Orwig’s penchant for ever higher property taxes is precisely why the legislature has been forced to consider putting some limits on annual increases – lest the hapless taxpayer is faced with escalating property tax bills year after year.
Meanwhile, those same unfortunate Elon residents may face a whole other series of increased fees and charges that the town manager has proffered in order to balance the budget, in addition to higher property taxes.
These include an extra $2 per month (or 10 percent) hike to the monthly fee for curbside garbage and recycling services, new fees for removing bulk items and unwieldy yard waste like tree branches, plus a new charge every time they go downtown to eat or shop, since the council now wants to set up a downtown parking fee.
Elon residents might ask themselves, and their town government, what are they getting for the property taxes they already pay – to say nothing of the higher property taxes and additional fees they’re about to be asked to absorb.
Elon doesn’t really have that many “services” it provides; it increasingly charges residents for almost anything it provides.
On top of all these fees and charges, Elon residents will also enjoy another 6 percent hike in monthly water and sewer rates – 5 percent to offset an increase Burlington is passing along; the other one percent “just because.”
We acknowledge that the town of Elon has a major challenge which it needs to continually examine and analyze: much of the town is taken up by two huge non-profit entities, Elon University and Twin Lakes retirement community.
EV charging station
But surely the most bizarre idea at this week’s meeting was that the town should give up one of its public parking spaces at the town’s Beth Schmidt Park so that a Greensboro-based entrepreneur can set up an electric vehicle (EV) charging station.
To us, the problems and insufficient research on this issue are numerous.
First and foremost, why does the town of Elon need to undertake this at all?
There are other charging stations, run by private entities, including eight at the university itself (according to its website), available to town residents. There are also lots of other available charging stations at various service stations and shopping centers nearby.
We don’t think government needs to provide a service that is already being provided by private companies or organizations.
But if, for whatever reason, town officials think it’s such a good idea to use up its valuable parking, why not put the concept out to bid?
Let’s see what kind of return the town might get on the open (i.e., competitive) market.
Instead, the town is granting a monopoly to one man to run one charging station on public property and thereby gobbling up a valuable parking space no longer available to others.
And, in doing so, the town is going to get a measly 5 percent commission – estimated at between $478 to $1,314 per year.
Meanwhile, the businessman will apparently get somewhere between $3,945 to $24,597 during its first year alone for the right to use Elon’s town property.
In what universe does that make any sense for taxpayers?
We don’t mean to pick on him, but surely the most nonsensical defense of this idea came from councilman Quinn Ray, who described this one-way rip-off as “someone investing in our town.”
Investing?
It looks to us more like putting one over on town officials and taxpayers.
