At 7 p.m. at Town Hall, the Chapel Hill Town Council will host a budget forum, where you can offer input before the council sets priorities for the fiscal year that starts in July.

Already, the town is trying to cut spending for the current fiscal year by 5 percent. It has frozen hiring and eliminated out-of-state travel unless approved by Town Manager Roger Stancil.

Stancil also wants to present the Town Council with a budget proposal no larger than this year's.

Also at 7 p.m. in Carrboro, a group of citizens will meet to discuss ways to fight the countywide revaluation, which increased the taxable value of property by an average of 22 percent and will take effect with next summer's tax bills.

Some Orange County commissioners have called for a "revenue-neutral" tax rate. If the whole board agrees and Carrboro, Hillsborough and Chapel Hill follow suit, then the tax bill for homes that increased by the average rate should stay the same because the county would lower the tax rate to correspond to the higher assessed values.

It's uncertain whether local governments will be able to maintain their current services without increasing taxes. Stancil said that depends a lot on sales-tax revenue that comes in from the state.

It makes up about 15 percent of the town's operating budget, and the latest disbursement was about 10 percent lower than a year ago. Since that disbursement reflected sales in October, the beginning of the most serious economic turmoil, the town's business service manager Ken Pennoyer said it's too early to tell whether the decreases will continue.

Stancil has asked department heads to submit two different budgets -- one maintaining current services regardless of cost and one maintaining the current bottom line.

He has also asked for suggestions for increasing revenues without affecting the typical taxpayer. For example, he may ask the Town Council to consider selling ad space on Chapel Hill Transit buses and increasing fees paid by developers or users of recreation facilities such as swimming pools.

Carrboro resident Bryan Berger doesn't have much faith in local officials to strike a balance. So while the Chapel Hill Town Council is discussing its budget, he will host taxpayers from all over the county to brainstorm about how to fight higher taxes.

"The purpose is to bring people in and to begin to develop a movement to fight this crisis here in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County," said Berger, 63, a semi-retired real-estate investor. "It's taxation without representation. ... It could end up bankrupting some people. It's going to force many people to move out of the area."

Lawyers from the Everett Law Firm in Chapel Hill will be on hand at Berger's home at 101 Rainbow Drive, at the corner of Hillsborough Street in Carrboro. They will advise taxpayers on how to appeal their new tax assessments, which Berger called absurd.

"I feel almost helpless at what these bureaucrats are doing to our community," he said. "They're taking our community from our regular citizens and they're giving it away to super-rich people."

Berger questioned Carrboro's spending about $500,000 on a two-thirds-mile sidewalk on James Street between West Main Street and Hillsborough Road and more than $900,000 on a new ladder truck to be delivered to the fire department this summer.

David Poythress, Carrboro's street superintendent, said James was among 67 streets that voters approved for sidewalks through a 2003 bond referendum and a smaller group of 22 prioritized by town officials with public input. He said James is an important connector from "old Carrboro," including Carrboro Plaza and the U.S. Post Office, to "new Carrboro", including the McDougle schools and neighborhoods north of Hillsborough Road.

"The town and its residents chose to spend this money," he said.

Deputy Fire Chief Trey Mayo said his department is replacing an 18-year-old ladder truck. Such "aerial" trucks costs two to four times a regular engine because they are larger, can carry more gear and include 100-foot ladders that help reach across parking lots and into the middle of large buildings such as supermarkets.

"When your grass is on fire, we send an engine. When your house is on fire, we send a ladder," Mayo said. "They go on the big calls."