Area voters support school bonds, local initiatives

ELECTION 2024; GOVERNMENT

By Adam Powell
Correspondent

ORANGE COUNTY—Last week, Orange County continued to build on its reputation as a county that puts its money where its mouth is in terms of public education. Local voters overwhelmingly expressed their support for a $300 million bond referendum package to bring five new schools, including four elementary schools, to Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Hillsborough in the coming years.

More than two-thirds of county voters – 67.49% (55,887 votes) – supported the bond referendum measure, while a little less than one-third of voters – 32.51% (26,902 votes) – attempted to reject the measure.

The funds will be allocated with Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) receiving $175 million for three new elementary schools, and $125 million for Orange County Schools (OCS) to build two new schools, in addition to a series of capital improvements. CHCCS is planning on rebuilding three elementary schools that have served the county for over half a century: Estes Hills Elementary School, which opened for students in 1958, Carrboro Elementary School, which opened in 1959, and Frank Porter Graham Elementary School, which welcomed students in 1962.

Orange County Schools will be replacing Orange Middle School, originally known as C.W. Stanford Middle School when it was originally constructed back in 1970. Three years ago, OCS elected to change the school’s name to Orange Middle School. OCS will replace one of its elementary schools, and is also looking to make nearly $30 million in improvements and additions across the district.

“The average age of school facilities in Orange County is 42 years old,” stated the county on its website promoting the bonds (https://orangecountyschoolbond.com). “Those facilities receive intense use and the building and its major operational components, like heating and cooling systems, electrical systems, and roofing all have useful lives. Due to the age of the facilities, that useful life has been met or exceeded. In some cases, the cost of making all of the necessary repairs rises to a level that justifies replacing the facility with a new one.”

County projections indicate that the average $500,000 home in Orange County will be looking at a property tax increase of approximately $170.50 per year for the life of the bonds. County taxpayers will be paying those extra taxes for at least the next ten years, through 2034, although the county will likely need to have future bonds approved to meet all its capital needs.

After initially conceiving the bonds through a work group in 2021 and 2022, Woolpert Consulting was hired to assess the needs within CHCCS and OCS. Assessments prioritized facility conditions and education adequacy, which determined if classrooms around the county were equipped with all of the necessary educational and safety measures needed.

“The consultant recommended nearly $1 billion of improvements over the next fifteen years to bring facilities up to modern education standards,” stated the county on its bond website. “Since the bond does not fund all the recommended improvements, the projects that this bond will fund reflect each district’s highest-priority projects from the Woolpert report.”

 In addition to the countywide bond referendum for public education, Chapel Hill voters expressed overwhelming support for a series of five municipal bond referendums that will support housing, construction of public buildings, streets and sidewalks, open space and greenways, and facilities for the Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department. The approvals will allow Chapel Hill to borrow over $40 million in general obligation bonds without raising property taxes even more on local homeowners and business owners.

$15 million of the bond proceeds will be allocated toward low- and moderate-income housing throughout Chapel Hill. Including the interest rate, the town will pay back approximately $23,416,800 over the next 20 years to pay back the bond for the affordable-housing component.

“With these funds, the Town’s goal will be to support the development of affordable-housing projects that align with the Town’s Affordable Housing Plan and Investment Strategy,” states the town on its bond website (https://www.townofchapelhill.org/government/departments-services/2024-town-bond-referendum). “Projects funded through this bond order may construct new affordable housing, preserve existing affordable housing, or acquire property to be used for affordable housing.  These funds would allow the Town to leverage state and federal funding as well as local and regional partnerships.”

The same allocation ($15 million with a $23.4 million payback) is anticipated for the approved public buildings bond.

“With these funds, the Town’s goal will be to replace Fire Stations 3 and 4 with new facilities,” states the town’s bond website. “Fire Station 3 is located near the intersection of Franklin Street and Elliott Road and is 54 years old.  Fire Station 4 is located near the intersection of Weaver Dairy Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and is 42 years old.  Both buildings are well past their useful life span by fire industry standards, and both face significant issues that are beyond repair.  This includes failing HVAC and plumbing systems, aging roofs, and significant foundation issues.” 

The streets and sidewalks allocation from the bond proceeds will be $7.5 million, with an anticipated full payback of $11,708,400, while the parks and recreation facilities bonds will add approximately $4.5 million to the town’s coffers, with an anticipated full payback of $7,025,040.

The open space and greenways bond will be $2 million, with a 20-year full payback projected at $3,122,240. This bond allocation is geared specifically toward the construction of the Bolin Creek Greenway extension, which will connect Umstead Park down to the Estes Drive Extension.

“With these (streets and sidewalks) funds, the Town’s goal will be to improve and expand sidewalk connectivity and ADA accessibility,” states the town’s website. “Possible projects include the Fordham Boulevard sidepath from Cleland Drive to Willow Drive and Ephesus Church Road sidewalks from Pinehurst Drive to Colony Woods Drive.  This funding would also support high-priority sidewalk projects in areas close to schools and transit.”

“The Town’s goal (with the Parks and Recreation bond allocation) will be to replace the artificial turf on the playing fields at Homestead Park,” adds the website. “Additional uses for this funding include potentially replacing the climbing wall at Community Center, building a splash pad, or enhancing/expanding pickleball courts.”

“(The open spaces and greenways allocation) will add miles of connected greenways as part of the Town’s Everywhere to Everywhere Greenway Initiative to create a multimodal network to connect schools, shopping, parks, healthcare opportunities, and UNC,” continues the website.

Each of the five measures received over 70% of the local vote, with the open spaces and greenways measure receiving the highest positive support: 80.80% of voters (23,222 voters). Just 5,519 residents (19.20%) did not support the open spaces and greenways allocation.

Chapel Hill’s proposed Parks and Recreation facilities bond also received more than 80% support, as 80.44% of voters (23,059 votes) voted yes to more funds for local parks and recreational sites. Only 5,607 Chapel Hill residents (19.56% voted against the parks and rec facilities bonds.

The streets and sidewalks bond referendum received support from 78.46% of Chapel Hill voters (22,466 votes), while 6,166 voters went against it (21.54%). The housing bonds proposal received 72.87% support (20,911 votes) compared to 27.13 against (7.784%), while 71.51% of voters (20,327 votes) compared to 28.49% (8,100 votes) expressed support for the town’s public building bonds referendum.

Adam Powell is a reporter on local news and sports and an education communications professional. A 2001 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, Powell has served as managing editor of multiple local publications, including the Mebane Enterprise, News of Orange County and TarHeelIllustrated.com. The public information officer for Rockingham County Schools in Eden, N.C., Powell is the author of four books and lives in Mebane with his wife and two children. This reporter can be reached at: Info@TheLocal Reporter.press