Earlier this year, Orange County commissioners approved using up to $40,000 in public funds to “educate” citizens on why a sales tax hike is good for them. The quarter-cent hike appears on the Nov. 2 ballot. The Chapel Hill/Carrboro Chamber of Commerce has signed on to push the hike.
And now, County Manager Frank Clifton has put on paper his 10-point “education” plan. It is included in the agenda for tonight’s commissioner meeting. The agenda is here — see page 5 of the pdf file for the entire memo from Clifton, but here are the 10 points as they appear in the body of the document.
1. Email and telephone call lists for election notification messages.
2. Working with School Systems for contact with parents.
3. Developing handouts and public ads (via Tourism Marketing contact) that will be used as the basic message about the referendum.
4. Establishing web site connections and appropriate links.
5. Using Cable TV for basic information on the referendum.
6. Connecting with Library and Senior Citizen support groups via newsletters, etc.
7. Interacting with the Volunteer Fire Departments.
8. Developing a scheduled ad for local newspapers that will run during October reminding voters of the referendum.
9. Hand outs will be available at all county office locations.
10. A letter from myself to County Employees advocating that they vote in the referendum.
Carolina Journal’s Amanda Vuke reports here on the tips being given to local officials across the state by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners about how to sell the sales tax hike to citizens.
