GRAHAM — Two local bills in the N.C. General Assembly designed to solve a 160-year-old disputed boundary line separating Alamance and Orange counties were approved by the state Senate and are under consideration by the state House this week.
Alamance County Manager Craig Honeycutt said on Monday that he believes state Senate bills 200 and 201 will be approved by the General Assembly this year. This would allow county officials to move forward with plans to set new criteria for the remaining 9 percent of the disputed boundary outlined in state Senate bill 200 while implementing the agreed upon 91 percent boundary line discussed in state Senate bill 201.
“We see no problem with passing both bills,” Honeycutt said. “Our next step would be to set criteria for the 9 percent.”
If both bills are approved soon by the N.C. House, Honeycutt said officials will work to make sure that both counties’ school systems, boards of elections and emergency medical service providers were aware of the new boundary line change and how it would affect their coverage areas.
The state Senate approved both bills on a third reading on May 16 while the state House approved both bills on a first reading on May 18. The bills were scheduled to be considered for additional readings at the state House this week.
The existing line separating the counties was established in 1849. According to the bill, during the past 160 years the two counties entered multiple taxing agreements in which properties have been taxed in one county by the adjoining county.
If state Senate bill 201 is approved, then 91 percent of the boundary line established by a survey this year will be officially recorded at the register of deeds in both counties. The new boundary for the 91 percent would become effective in January 2012.
Orange County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Bernadette Pelissier sent a letter on April 20 to the Alamance County Board of Commissioners regarding the unresolved 9 percent disputed boundary line.
“Residents of the Morrow Mill Road and Mill Creek areas repeatedly expressed their desire, as a group, to be assigned to either Alamance or Orange County to avoid being placed in a county in which they did not want to reside just because the local bills were such that not all residents’ concerns were addressed,” Pelissier’s letter stated. “These residents were and remain particularly concerned about emergency response times and taxation issues. Once the two bills are adopted I suggest that we then separately address the concerns of the residents of the Morrow Mill Road and Mill Creek areas.”
Alamance County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Linda Massey responded on May 18 to Pelissier’s previous letter.
Massey wrote “It is our opinion at this time before we confuse the current issues with the Mill Creek and Morrow Mill Road area, we need to resolve and implement the new line as originally approved by both boards first with the local legislation. Once these issues have been resolved, then we will be willing to talk about the possibility of other areas.”
The disputed 9 percent line boundary includes more businesses than residential developments. State Senate bill 200 doesn’t change the boundary line for the remaining 9 percent but extends the time provided for the counties to further review the issue and establish criteria for the line.
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