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Wat Hatlu ®ar Brel Bus p ■fl 104 jean of editorial freedom Serving the students and the University community since 1593 Taxing * QUESTION^) BY REYNOLDS RICHTER STAFF WRITER Property taxes hide in monthly checks to the landlord. They come from houses, businesses, practically everything that takes up space on land and the land itself. And taxes lurk at the base of local elections. Chapel Hill residents pay proper ty taxes in some form. Homeowners and land owners pay taxes directly on ELECTIONS 'www: The Daily Tar Heel asked students which five elections issues were most important to them. The DTH now presents a five-part series detailing the issues students chose. Issue 5: Taxes Issue 4: The environment Issue 3: Education Issue 2: Town-gown relations Issue 1: Crime Officials debate campaign finance ■ Council member Joe Capowski said candidates should list all contributors. BY JON OSTENDORFF ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR Chapel Hill Town Council candidates who have not filed an itemized list of campaign finances have caused some local leaders to cry foul. Council member Joe Capowski said he had filed an itemized list of contrib- utors with the Orange County Board of Elections every time he had run for a seat. Capowski is not up for re-election this year. ELECTIONS 'kkk: “I presented an itemized list of every one who gave me a dime,” Capowski said. “Asa citizen of Chapel Hill, I want to know who is funding die candidates. Asa voter I would like to know this information before the election." Committee studying RHA opens communication lines ■ Alena Hall, Residence Hall Association president, says the study could help. BYEVANSAUDA STAFF WRITER A Student Congress committee met for the first time Monday to establish the best way to communicate with and learn from the Residence Hall Association. Speaker of Student Congress James Hoffman has pushed for an examination of the RHA all semester to see if officers have been accountable for how they spend money. Until now the RHA was not contacted. Committee member Alex Bass, Dist. 15, said the committee could now move forward. “This committee will provide us with the opportunity to really learn about the RHA,” he said. RHA President Aliena Hall said she hoped the RHA could learn something as well. “Hopefully we will be able to learn what residents think and improve par their property. Chapel Hill Town Council candidate William Lindsay said the $4,000 in taxes he paid on his Chapel Hill home is excessive.“lf my house were in Pittsboro, N.C., I’d be paying S6OO a year in taxes,” Lindsay said. Occupants of apartments, duplexes and triplexes have rent levels that change with the ebb of the tax rate. Chapel Hill duplex resident Rex Coughenour pays property taxes second-hand through his landlord. “The taxes are often reflected in rent,” he said. “If I rented the same thing in Hillsborough, I’d be paying less.” However, Coughenour is satis fied with the amount of services he receives for his tax money. Sanitation workers enter his side yard to collect his trash. “I get good garbage removal, and the streets are well-maintained,” Coughenour said. “I have maybe a problem with crime, but the police at least try to do some thing about it.” While downtown resident Caroline Martens described her prop erty taxes as “steep,” she said the high tax level was a necessary cost of liv Capowski said campaign contributors show whom the candidates support. “It is important for the voters to know who has a vested interest,” he said. “As elected officials we make decisions. We need to be sure the decisions we make are not being influenced by our contrib utors.” Edith Wiggins, who is running for re election, did not present an itemized list of contributors to the elections board. But in a press release she stated that she received 135 contributions, ranging from $lO to SIOO with the majority falling between $25 and SSO. For contri butions less than SIOO, the elections board does not require candidates to submit an itemized list of contributors. Wiggins said her contributors include homemakers, University faculty and staff, developers and renters. Wiggins also said members of orga nizations including Alliance for Neighborhoods and the Sierra Club have contributed. Wiggins said she did not submit an itemized list to the elections board because in many cases only the largest contributors were reported. Greg Gangi, political chairman of ticipation at area events,” Hall said. “I guess they’ll be doing a little bit of our work for us,” since these duties are normally carried out by the RHA alone, she said. Rep. Bill Heeden, chairman of the committee, met with Hall and spoke after the committee meeting Monday night. At this meeting, Hall invited the entire committee to the RHA executive board meeting Tuesday. “The invitation has been extended and as many members as are available will be in attendance,” Heeden said. Hall said she was glad that she was being kept up to date on the progress of the committee. “I was very happy that (Rep. Heeden) did give me a copy of the report and let me know what they were planning,” Hall said. The RHA Enhancement Committee plans to create an e-mail address to serve as a place where residents and RHA per sonnel can give their comments and sug gestions, Heeden said. The address has yet to be determined, but Heeden said it would be finalized by Friday. Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught Hell for. Earl Warren Wednesday, October 29,1997 Volume 105, Issue 99 The facts about tax Most candidates have identified property taxes as one of the most significant issues facing the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Some have questioned whether the money is being used efficiently regarding local construction projects. 7oe r* -*** 83.75 C 5 60* ® t s&*e • 53.75 C 64* I ” 04 BHH W ——L ///y/' ing in a progressive community. “It’s the price that you pay for living in an enlightened place that educates its kids well and wants to be sure that all of its citizens are well-treated,” Martens said. However, Lindsay said the town uses tax money inefficiently in its construction projects. “If you’ve ever been by a job site watching the (Town) of Chapel Hill work the way they work, there’s one guy down in a the Orange-Chatham Group of the Sierra Club, said candidates who had received contributions from developers should be barred from voting on issues where their contributors have an inter est. “I think ethically they need to excuse themselves from development issue votes,” he said. Richard Franck, who is running for re-election and submitted itemized con tribution list, said it was the voters’ right to know who would contribute. “On a national level we have seen so many problems with campaign finance, I think voters could make better deci sions when they know who is support ing a candidate,” he said. Lee Pavao, who is also running for re election and did not submit an itemized list, said the only reason to divulge cam paign finance information would be to expose large contributions. “One hundred dollars is not going to buy a vote,” Pavao said. Franck said it was important to list all contributors regardless of the size of the contribution due to the nature of fund raising in local elections. Franck said, “I don’t think large donations have a place in this election.” Aldermen stand behind agreement ■ One alderman called the deadline for the interlocal landfill agreement flexible. BY BARRETT BREWER STAFF WRITER As Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and Orange County wrestle with the adop tion of the Interlocal Agreement con cerning solid waste matters, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted to formally approve the agreement in a let ter addressed to the Assembly of Governments. The Interlocal Agreement is an offi cial agreement among Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and Orange County governments on how the future Orange County landfill will be managed and where it will be located, among var ious other conditions. The current controversy surrounding the agreement arose when officials learned the Duke University-owned site under consideration for the future land fill had been released to NASA for a research easement. Without a future site, officials are scrambling to find anew location for the landfill by the Dec. 1 deadline. DTH/ANDRES FERNANDEZ ditch working his tail off while four people are standing there looking at him,” he said. Because UNC is located on state owned land, dormitory prices do not reflect tax increases, said Mike Beery, UNC property officer. This year the Council lowered the property tax rate in Chapel Hill from 59.6 cents per every SIOO of proper- See TAXES, Page 4 Bbb zSBKBm : i"' JB&Xy foUBK *-^5 :X wg§£r ■ Jr DTH/LORME BRADLEY Stephen Keith, left, and Bob Chamberlain add finishing touches to a gazebo roof in Coker Arboretum. The wisteria arbor of the Arboretum is being renovated as part of the 1997 Senior Class Gift. The Carrboro Board of Aldermen, at its Tuesday night meeting, decided to take a pro-active role in the adop tion of the Interlocal Agreement on waste manage ment by formally approving the agreement with the 14 points and the compensation package. The board did not approve the sewer Carrboro Mayor MIKE NELSON said it was important for the town to keep the momentum going as the Dec. 1 deadline nears. section due to the $lO million it would cost. “It’s really important for us to carry this ball forward,” said Mike Nelson, mayor of Carrboro. “We ought to show some leadership on this issue.” The fate of the agreement is sched uled to be voted on by Dec. 1, but the Orange County Board of Commissioners said the deadline could be unrealistic considering this latest set back. But Alderman Diana McDuffee said Service fraternities’ parties unregulated ■ Professional and service fraternities follow the University alcohol policy. BY B. FORREST ANDERSON 111 ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR As the University continues to crack down on alcohol use on campus and within social fraternities and sororities, service and professional fraternities are not subject to the same scrutiny. The University alcohol policy states that student organizations cannot use group funds to purchase alcohol. Professional and service fraternities follow the University alcohol policy, but they are not regulated. “We don’t have anybody that checks on us, or guidelines for that concern,” said Margot Mahon, social chairwoman for Alpha Epsilon Delta, the pre-med ical fraternity. Ron Binder, director of Greek Affairs, said social fraternities and soror ities managed their own affairs with the assistance of the Office of Greek Affairs. Alpha Epsilon Delta does not have a policy on alcohol, Mahon said. “We don’t stress (alcohol) as part of (the fra ternity), but it is a part of it. “We don’t usually use group funds for alcohol, or we try not to.” “Our national policy in the document we go by neither encourages nor dis courages alcohol use,” said Jennie Perey, RAISING THE ROOF “I think the deadline is self-imposed, and it can be changed. If Dec. 1 comes and we haven't made (a decision), we won’t die.” Dt/UU MCDUFFEE Carrboro Alderman she felt the deadline for the adoption of the agreement was flexible and could be changed by the Assembly of Governments in order to accommodate any changes or complications that could arise. “I think the deadline is self imposed, and it can be changed,” she said. “If Dec. 1 comes and we haven’t made (a decision), we won’t die.” Alderman Alex Zaffron said the deci sion to formally approve the Interlocal Agreement stemmed from county com missioners’ apparent change in position. Zaffron said the commissioners appeared to shift their role with the new landfill site now that site OC-17 could no longer be used. “It has to be remem bered that the commissioners originally suggested taking responsibility,” Zaffron said. “Their position appears to have changed suddenly..." News/Feature!/Ara/Sports: 9624245 Busmen/Atherismi: 9621163 Chapel HiH North Carolml C 1997 DTH Publishing Cotp. All ngbß reserved. 1 president of Phi Sigma Pi, an honor, service and social fraternity. Alcohol use is left up to individ ual discretion, she said. “We all have to understand what actions we take, whether drinking or not, reflects on the fra ternity,” she said. When drinking occurs at parties, it is usually held at a member’s house, so it is not techni- Greek Affairs Director RON BINDER said social fraternities and sororities were able to manage their own affairs wilh Greek Affairs' help. cally a Phi Sigma Pi party, Perey said. “If we have a party, we ask that our pledges take their pins off for that time,” she said. She said that if something were to go wrong, she didn’t know what the liabil ity would be with the national fraternity. “In the worse-case scenario, we would lose our University recognition,” Perey said. Amrish Patel, social chairman of Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity, said their parties catered to all types of people. They have potluck dinners, go ice skating and go bowling. “Technically, there is no alcohol (when we have par ties),” he said. See FRATERNITY, Page 4 INSIDE Beyond black and white jppp**" Public colleges facing court criticism for affirmative action programs must move past preference policies. But what comes next? Page 5 Today's weather Sunny, mid 60s Thursday Partly sunny mid 60s Calling campus events The Daily Tar Heel is expanding its campus calendar capabilities through its City Search web site. Post campus events as far in advance as you want by e-mailing them to DTH6unc.edu with the subject line ‘campus calendar.' Submission rules for the printed campus calendar remain the same.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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