Alamance, Orange County Commissioners hear county line concerns

Ann Robbins votes, pays taxes and serves jury duty in Alamance County.

But according to county lines, she lives in Orange County.

She is one of many citizens pushing to redraw county lines to include her neighborhood.

Commissioners from Alamance and Orange counties met Nov. 9 to hear presentations from both counties about the re-establishment of the county line.

The location of the dividing line could make a big difference for residents, who would pay property taxes of 85.8 cents per $100 in property value for Orange County compared to 52 cents per $100 for Alamance County.

The commissioners were presented with two options. The first involves adopting the line established by the North Carolina Geodetic Survey. The second involves rejecting that line and establishing a new line.

The commissioners, except Alamance County commissioner Tim Sutton, reached a consensus to adopt a modified version of the second option.

The option would allow Mebane’s Mill Creek community and the Ninth Street community, including Robbins’ neighborhood, to become a part of Alamance County.

Sutton said he was displeased at how the meeting went and said he doesn’t think option two will pass.

“We have a perfectly good line, established by a state institution, that we have used for 160 years,” Sutton said.

A complicated process

Alamance County Attorney Clyde Albright said getting the line changed is a complicated process.

A new line must be established by a surveyor, he said. The county commissioners must approve the new line and draft a bill. Then a group of N.C. General Assembly representatives from local districts must approve it and present it to the rest of the House.

Albright said the purpose of the meeting was to firmly establish a line, not to move it.

“The line has been skewed by tax collectors who want to collect taxes from a certain county for convenience,” Albright said.

He said the state government might think changing the line could set a bad example for other counties.

“If you allow one group of people to move a line for convenience purposes, then you open it up for all 100 counties to change their lines,” he said.

Craig Benedict, planning director for Orange County, said he is unsure whether legislators will approve the new line.

“We’ll talk with our legislators about our unique situation,” he said. “Hopefully, our solution will be looked at independently.”

He said the planning board is currently conducting an analysis of how the new line will affect taxes but said he believes it will be minimal.

Most citizens in favor

The line would formally establish a division that tax collectors have made unclear.

With the current line, some residents don’t know what school or firehouse to use, Benedict said.

At the Nov. 9 meeting, citizens stood up with petitions in favor of option two, Benedict said.

Robbins, who has been a member of the Ninth Street community for 44 years, said she has a letter from 1977 that allowed her to pay taxes in Alamance County.

“When you vote and pay taxes in the county, I consider you part of the county,” she said, adding that the property tax difference is an important incentive.

She said the issue of the line had come up several times but has been ignored.

When she circulated a petition in her neighborhood asking for the community to join Alamance, she found most residents already considered themselves part of it.

Residents of her neighborhood are willing to take on the cost for the new survey, up to $3.20 per yard of their property, she said.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.