Orange County Commissioner Moses Carey thinks the land transfer tax suffered a stinging defeat in neighboring Chatham County because “the public didn’t fully understand the implications” of their vote:
In Tuesday’s election, Chatham County residents strongly rejected the proposed land transfer tax. A total of 8,234 Chatham residents voted against the referendum, while 3,670 voted for it.
“That probably means that the public didn’t fully understand the implications of voting it down, so it’s incumbent on anybody who’s going forward in the future to explain to the public what they’re asking them to vote on,” said Moses Carey Jr., chair of the Orange County Commissioners. “It didn’t discourage me because one of the reasons we decided not to put an option on the ballot in November was there wasn’t enough time to fully educate the public.”
I disagree with his characterization, but I agree in part with the following comment from Orange County Manager Laura Blackmon (emphasis is mine):
“After looking at what is funded, if the [commissioners] feel that additional revenue is going to be important, then we’ll try to focus it on things that will appeal to the community,” she said. “If they don’t, they may decide not to move forward with it. We need to discuss it in the context of whether or not the funds are needed and what they’ll be used for.”
And therein lies the ongoing problem with Orange County public policy. Commissioners seem unwilling to distinguish between things that are needs and things that are wants. When these two concepts are blurred, there will always be a cry for more tax revenue that surpasses inflation and population growth.
