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million in improvementsJ2 In November 1992 county voters approved a $52 <br />million school bond issue. Most of the proceeds were earmarked for a new <br />high school for the Chapel HilI-Carrboro City Schools and a new middle school <br />for each of the two units. However, proposals from Chapel HilI-Carrboro for two <br />additional elementary schools and from Orange County for one additional <br />elementary school were left unfunded. When the Orange County Board of <br />Commissioners rejected the idea of funding one new elementary school for <br />each unit with yet another bond issue, this time one for $20 million, it became <br />clear that other funding sources would have to be used if these school <br />construction needs were to be met. <br /> <br /> The Orange County 1993-94 budget, adopted in June 1993, included a <br />9.35 cent increase in the county property tax rate, the largest increase in almost <br />a decade. The impact fee ordinance, which became effective July 1, 1993, to <br />coincide with the beginning of the 1993-94 fiscal year, is projected by the <br />county to raise $6.4 million in impact fee revenue over the next five years--S4.2 <br />million for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools and $2.2 miIlion for the Orange <br />County Schools.~3 The Orange County' 1993-98 Capital Improvements Plan, <br /> <br /> 12 Report of the School Capita/Needs Advisory Committee, prepared for the Orange County <br /> <br /> Board of Commissioners, Dec. 2, 1991, p. 2. <br /> <br /> ~3. Revised Report on School Impact Fee Calculation, supra note 9, p. 16.2, Table 15. During the <br /> <br />first six months (July through [~ecember of 1993) that the fee was in effect, revenues from Ihe fee <br />for the Chapel HilI-Carrboro Schools were only $9,000. Early projections indicated thal it would <br />raise $294,188 for the city system in the first year alone. In the same period $40,000 was <br />collected for the Orange County Schools. Greg Easterly, 'Fees Have Low Impact to This Point," <br />News andObserver(Raleigh), Jan. 25,;1994, lB, col. 1. The paltry revenues may reflect <br /> <br />inaccurate projections, a rush among builders to obtain certificates of occupancy before the fee <br /> .14 ~ .-~ <br /> <br />29 <br /> <br /> <br />