Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy calls them the “associated costs” he says come with Chapel Hill’s quality of life. But there’s a case to be made that the “associated costs” of the town’s new aquatic complex is just over-spending on things that are clearly “wants” and not “needs.” According to this Herald-Sun story, Chapel Hill residents are facing a 5 cent hike in the property tax rate to pay for, among other things, the debt and increased costs of two major new facilities. It is the aquatics complex I find most interesting.

The operations center and aquatics facility doubled the town’s debt load and “significantly increased the operating budgets” for the parks and recreation, public works and transit departments, Pennoyer said.

Town debt increased from $32 million to $70 million in 2005. Service on outstanding debt has increased from $2.4 million in 2004 to more than $6 million now.

In Chapel Hill, a swimming pool facility requires public art. Here’s a portion of the town’s January 2007 news release. (emphasis is mine)

The public art planned for the center will be created by artist Ray King. The main lobby floor will be transformed into a luminous mosaic promenade with more than 2,000 light-responsive, laminated, dichroic glass elements. The glass will appear to emanate from a source within the ground and create a magical feeling of walking on light. The $55,000 art project is funded in part through the Town of Chapel Hill’s Percent for Art Ordinance, which allocates 1 percent of selected capital projects for public art.

I enjoy art just as much an anyone, but is this really the appropriate role of local government? In Chapel Hill, they say yes, and now residents get to pay for that choice.