I am increasingly concerned that our County Commissioners seem to lack the vision necessary for Orange County and its residents to succeed.

Almost every year property taxes increase. The recent tax re-evaluation, done during a market downturn, produced property values far above true market value. The results were unfair to Orange County citizens.

Through foresight and long-range planning, our extreme taxation could have been avoided. It is truly unfortunate for us all that our current commissioners do not have this foresight!

On May 4, we have an opportunity to change this. We have the opportunity to vote for Joe Phelps for Orange County Commissioner at-large. Joe is the only candidate running for the at-large seat who has real business experience -- more than 30 yeas as a matter of fact.

Jon DeHart

Letter to editor published in April 30, 2010 Chapel Hill Herald

My name is Clyde Williams. I am 76 years old and live in Chapel Hill Township. Until the recent property re-evaluation, I was never very involved in county affairs. At the age of 76, I am of minimum income and paying Orange County taxes is a tremendous stress on our family. I built my house in 1975 at a cost of $75,000. During this past property tax re-evaluation, the Orange County Tax Assessor increased my home’s value by 22%! According to Orange County, I now live in a $332,000 home — funny how that could be since I still live in the same house! I thought I had trouble paying my taxes before!

Concerned about the unfair property tax re-evaluation, I attended the meetings held by the Orange Tax Revolt group. At those meetings, I had the opportunity to hear Joe Phelps speak and to meet him and speak with him individually. Joe understands that the recent tax re-evaluation was way above real market values.

I was delighted that Joe Phelps decided to run for Orange County Commissioner, At-Large. Joe understands that our current commissioners are out of touch with the people of our county and our needs. I also plan to vote for Earl McKee for Orange County Commissioner, District 2.

More than 1,000 citizens attended each of the two Tax Revolt meetings! I would like to urge all those citizens to vote in the upcoming election. It is time for Orange County citizens to send a strong message to our commissioners — you are taxing seniors out of our homes!

Clyde Williams

Letter to editor published in April 28, 2010 News of Orange County

Winners in the elections for county Commissioners determine what we can and cannot do with what we own and the fiscal well being of those who live here. Orange County has the highest property tax in North Carolina because our County Commissioners have had little concern that folks who were born and raised here are leaving because they can no longer afford to live here. It is amusing to read some of the letters to the editor and the distortions made about certain candidates. Case in point - I have known Joe Phelps for most of my life. While Joe was Mayor of Hillsborough, I owned the old Sinclair at the northern end of town, which had fallen into disrepair due to a contamination problem, and was being targeted by the demolition by neglect ordinance. Joe wanted to know what I could do to help that end of town. His intervention resulted in a beautiful office building on that site. Other accomplishments are approval of the Waterstone development, approval of Durham Tech Community College and the defeating of an asphalt plant. These things along with other things such as enforcing the junk car ordinance making Hillsborough look more appealing, and actions that improved Hillsborough’s fiscal situation confirm he had a very successful term as Mayor, and is well qualified to serve as County Commissioner. I will be voting for Joe Phelps as County Commissioner on May 4th and urge others to compare the records of his opponents.

Ben Lloyd

Letter to editor published in April 28, 2010 News of Orange County

Since I have known Joe Phelps for a long time I was quite surprised when reading the Barry Jacobs’ support letters saying Joe Phelps was a developer. So I went to Joe to inquire about this claim. Joe said the number of individual housing lots that he can take credit for is only 11. So does that make him a “developer”?

Maybe Mr. Jacobs’ letter writers didn’t know this when making such a claim. Wonder if they knew Mr. Jacobs has also subdivided a parcel of land into lots in Orange County. Does that make him a “developer”? Mr. Phelps’ writers have not called Barry a “developer”.

Do these writers realize that everyone (including themselves) who live on land in Orange County, is land that was subdivided “by a developer”. Yes that’s right. At one time there were no individual lots in Orange County. So if it was not for the developer I suppose we wouldn’t be having this election since there would be nowhere for anyone to live.

So if Joe Phelps is a developer what do you call the person responsible for creating Meadowmont and other large developments?

I am proud to be voting for Joe Phelps on May 4th.

Manley Palmer

Letter to editor published in April 28, 2010 News of Orange County