BC 2008 05 22 Recessed - Laserfiche WebLink

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May 22, 2008 (Recessed Meeting) Page 838 The Board of Commissioners for the County of Cabarrus met in recessed session in the Multipurpose Room at the Cabarrus County Governmental Center in Concord, North Carolina on Thursday, May 22, 2008, at 3:30 p.m. Present - Chairman: H. Jay White, Sr. Vice Chairman: Joni D. Juba Commissioners: Robert W. Carruth Grace M. Mynatt Coy C. Privette Also present were John Day, County Manager; Mike Downs, Deputy County Manager; Kay Honeycutt, Clerk to the Board and Lori Hinson, Deputy Clerk to the Board. In addition, numerous members of the Cabarrus County Board of Education (BOE) were present, including Chairman Holly Blackwelder and Dr. Barry Shepherd, Superintendent. Call to Order Chairman White called the meeting to order at 3:31 p.m. He announced that Commissioner Carruth is held up in traffic and will arrive shortly. Commissioner Carruth arrived at 3:51 p.m. and was present for the remainder of the meeting. Approval of Agenda UPON MOTION of Commissioner Mynatt, seconded by Vice Chairman Juba and unanimously carried, the Board approved the Agenda as presented. Hudget Overview - Budget Message John Day, County Manager, briefly reviewed the following budget message for FY 09 and responded to several questions from the Board. Honorable Chairman and Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners: I have good news and bad news this result of recent strategic planning great strides in initiating growth techniques which, in the long term, life and lower tax increases. year. First, the good news: As a efforts, Cabarrus County is making management strategies and planning can contribute to better quality of In my last budget message I wrote: There is no single way to moderate this trend of steadily increasing population and taxes, but there are several steps that, taken together, might have the desired effect: 1. Increase the amount of the voluntary school adequacy mitigation payments. 2. Encourage the municipalities to place considerable limits on utility extensions. 3. Maximize the amount of land zoned for employment purposes and reduce the amount zoned residential across all jurisdictions. 4. Consider placing annual caps on residential development across the entire county. 5. Consider reducing permitted residential densities in targeted areas across all jurisdictions. I'm pleased to report that one year later, great progress has been made toward completing these five steps. First, the Board of Commissioners increased the voluntary school adequacy mitigation payments for single family residential construction from $9,039 per unit to $8,617. This more than doubling of the fee will produce millions more in revenue over time and help defray the amount of debt required for school construction. Second, a land use planning effort for the county's Central Area (one of five county planning districts) is under way. This effort, which includes extensive public participation, also involves representatives from the cities of Concord and Kannapolis, since those cities' utility service areas extend into the unincorporated portions of the Central Area.