Last month Orange County Manager Frank Clifton proposed a budget with no tax increase. Since Orange County residents are the most heavily taxed in the state, the county has a long way to go to become competitive as a place to buy a home for those who have a choice where they want to live. But this budget reflects the sort of discipline that is needed to change the perception and reality that our county is out of touch with homeowners’ struggles.

Meanwhile, our elected officials in Chapel Hill plan to raise property taxes yet again. In a stroke of policy genius, the decision was made that to offset the costs of operating a free bus system, the residents who don’t use it should pay more. Chapel Hill property taxes are already twice as high as some cities in the state. The cost of basic services (property taxes plus water) is 80 percent higher than the most efficient city in the state and at least 40 percent higher than every other municipality in the top 25. Yet despite being in a league of its own when it comes to charging residents for essential services, taxes are going up again. Perhaps this uncontrollable impulse is a product of drinking OWASA’s priceless water.

Both Orange County and Chapel Hill should implement a moratorium on property tax increases until they are at least tied with any other jurisdiction in the state as the most expensive, rather than owning that distinction alone. Cheers to Orange County Commissioners Chair Bernadette Pelissier and the staff in Orange County for taking a step in the right direction!

Michael Jacobs

Chapel Hill

Protect the lake

As a resident of Lake Forest community I would like to add my name to those who oppose the Charterwood project.

Several years ago when Weaver Dairy Road Extension was being developed with many homes and subdivisions, I saw with great dismay what the heavy siltation did to Eastwood Lake. The silt traps which were put in place, supposedly to stop siltation along Booker Creek feeding into our lake, did nothing to prevent mud coming downstream, especially with heavy rains.

We have experienced the cumulative effect of siltation necessitating repeated lake dredging at great expense to Lake Forest homeowners. Our neighborhood is proud of this jewel, and having another project development close to our watershed would harm the beauty of the lake, not to mention the wildlife.

Gracia Barry

Chapel Hill

Gobbledygook

Recently, the North Carolina Senate’s Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Committee approved a version of a bill that regulates the way that agencies are allowed to predict sea-level rise as they plan for the future. The science and math requirements in the “NC Sea-Level Bill” are basically a bunch of gobbledygook. As a result, the bill does exactly what it is trying to avoid: it requires that the State not follow “generally accepted scientific and statistical techniques”.

The statements that only “statistically significant” data or calculated rates may be used are bogus. It is not possible for data to be statistically significant. Data can be tested, and the results of statistical tests may be deemed to be significant, but that depends on the significance level that was chosen for the test. It is hard to even know what exactly the bill is trying to do, because the words in it don’t make any sense.

The bill says that future projections of sea level may include a condition of “accelerated rates of sea-level rise”, but that the rate must be “consistent with historic trends”. This is nonsense. By definition, an accelerated-rate scenario is not consistent with a historic trend – that’s the point!

As a result of all of this, the bill does exactly what it is trying to avoid. The bill requires that both data and results are hand-picked, an act that goes against “generally accepted scientific and statistical techniques”. The State is telling citizens, the free market, scientists, engineers, and corporations how to carry out science, and they are getting it dead wrong.

Todd A. LaMaskin

Wilmington

Thanks from Fairview

The Hillsborough Police Department would like to thank the businesses that contributed to making Fairview Live 2012 a successful event.

This year’s event at Fairview Community Park had more than 500 attendees throughout the day. Two new partners also joined the Police Department and Fairview Community Watch in hosting the biennial event: Chapel Hill/Carrboro YMCA and the Orange County Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation.

Highlighting the afternoon were the door prizes donated by many businesses in and around Hillsborough.

The generosity that these businesses show is encouraging to us as law enforcement for it shows that we serve a town which is not only supportive of others but also sincerely cares about the progress of its communities.

Thank you to the following businesses for making donations: Walmart; Domino’s Pizza; Wagner Tire and Automotive; Kelsey’s Café & Catering; Don Lacefield Automotive; Cliff’s Meat Market; A Southern Season; Mayo’s Unisex Hair Styles; Big Bob’s City Grill; Kutz & Fades Unlimited; Karen’s Hair Salon; Professional Touch; Kalip Moore; Mount Bright Baptist Church; Lloyd’s Pharmacy; PHE; Thompson Court Community; Maria Gabriela Reyes; Purple Crow Books; Dual Supply Co.; Carolina Game & Fish; Subway; Paws at the Corner; Eurosport; Hillsborough Yarn Shop; Play It Again Sports; Antonia’s; Randy’s Citgo; Lloyd’s Quickie Mart; Saratoga Grill; Barrie Wallace; AutoZone; and Klean Cuts

If you missed Fairview Live, you can still see a part of the fun. Two brief videos of demonstrations that Hillsborough’s K9 officers and their handlers did at the event are available for viewing on the Police Department page of the town website. The videos also will be available soon on the town’s government access channel, cable Channel 18.

Cpl. Tereasa King

Community policing coordinator