BC 2011 10 17 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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October 17, 2011 (Regular Meeting) C) RECOGNITIONS AND PRESENTATIONS Page 633 (C -1) DSS - Recognition of Betty Jean Prewitt for Service on Social Service Board Chairman White recognized Betty Jean Prewitt for her six (6) years of service on the Social Service Board. Ms. Prewitt was unable to attend tonight's meeting. Ben Rose, Social Services Director, accepted the certificate on her behalf. (D) INFORMAL PUBLIC COMMENTS Chairman White opened the meeting for Informal Public Comments at 7:08 p.m. He stated each speaker would be limited to three minutes. Evelyn Barbee, resident of 9668 Ravenscroft Lane NW in Concord, stated she is enrolled in the current County Government 101 class, which has been very informative. Jason Oesterreich, resident of 800 Towncreek Place in Concord, presented the following comments on the draft 2012 Schedule of Values: First, I want to commend you on your rejection of the federal stimulus funds. By that action, the County is emphatically stating that it is attempting to do its part to reign in out of control spending. Leadership must start somewhere. However, I do note that at the same time this Commission is condemning out of control federal spending, out of control spending at the County level is now driving out of control tax increases. I ask you, will you apply the same fiscal principles that you unanimously voted for in terms of the Federal Government to our budget here locally? This Schedule of Values is still nothing more than a tax increase on the citizens of Cabarrus County. As noted in your last Commission meeting, the residential base rate went up 18 percent to match the housing price increase in 2008 but, even with the additional $2.00 reduction, has come down only 4 percent despite a 15 percent decrease in home prices. At your last meeting, Mr. Weisner stated that the index was based on building cost, not on home sales values. However, at your work session, in announcing a minimal $2.00 reduction, Mr. Weisner stated, "In explaining to him how we did go about it, we noticed that in the past few months the price of single family homes has continued to drop slightly and that's where we came up with the $68.00 ". This statement shows that the base rate is of course tied to market values. In addition to the reduction for market values announced, the rate contains a major error overstating construction costs. When I met with Mr. Weisner, I noticed that in his calculation of the per square foot price his office was double counting some expenditures. These items were included in the per square foot price but then additionally as an add -on after the generic square foot price is established. For instance, fire places are included in calculating the per square foot price but then once that value is determined, an additional sum is added to that value up to $6700 for a fireplace. Thus, including a fireplace in the per square foot price artificially inflates the per square foot price because it is a separate add on. Mr. Weisner said he was going to fix this error, but it was not addressed. Worth of note though is that Mr. Weisner said "I could move the base rate up $2.00 or down $2.00 and we would still get to the same value because we use multiple factors to get to 100 percent of market value so if we move down on base