AG 1997 05 19 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Presentation on behalf of Habitat for Humanity Cabarrus County to Cabarrus County Commissioners Monday, May 19, 7:00 PM Ihank2mu for granting refunds for Habitat's building permit fees in 1995 and 1996. We received refunds in the amount of $784 in 1995 and $1,343 in 1996 (with a cap of $3,000 for each year). We do expect to finally reach $3,000 in permit fees in 1997, and hope you will continue this rei~nburse~neut, in support of affordable home-ownership in our county. I wish 1 had the time to tell you about all the wonderful things that happen to children when they have a stable home in which to flower and grow into all God intends them to be, but in order to tnake the best use of the few minutes you can devote to this issue, I'll get right to the point of the co~nmissioners' main concern--the county's bndget. There are an estimated 7000+ individuals living in substandard situations in Cabarrus county, representing about 7 % of our population. This is a number that merits the cotmty's involvement--especially when we realize that not only do children in a stable home environment do better in school and make fewer demands on health and social services--but the taxes these families would pay on new homes of their own are 10 times the amount coming to the County from the vacant land where the homes are built. That represents a 1000% increase. Even ~nore to the poi,!, if you don't hear anything else about affordable home-ownership from me, please hear ibis: dmO~b_e_m~lead by those who tell you that homes built through affordable ownership programs add to the County's burden on schools and other public services. The families who purchase homes through Habitat and other affordable home- oua~ership programs are long-thne Cabarms residents, already using schools and utilities-- they just haven't been paying property taxes to help support that us~. Your support of Habitat by forgiving our building permit fees helps turn that around. You might also like to know that besides the 120 plus individuals for whom home- ownership has become a reality through the 25 Habitat homes built to date and the eight homes planned for this year, that approximately 10 %, or 10,000 of the County's adult population have been involved in one way or another in supporting Habitat in the seven years it has been in operation. I mn confident that all of these would look favorably on the County refunding Habitat's building permit fees--through a continuation of the grant you have provided the past two years, or through some other exemption process. 4-