Orange County Board of County Commissioners, District 2: Earl McKee

Name: Earl Thomas McKee

Age: 73

Party affiliation: Democrat

Campaign website: www.earlmckee4OC.com

Occupation and employer: Inspector with Summit Design and Engineering

1. In your view, what are the three most pressing issues facing Orange County and—if you are running for a district seat—your district in particular? If elected, what will you do to address these issues?

1) Balancing needs against excessive tax increases
For many of our residents in District 2, tax increase brings them closer to being unable to continue living in Orange County. Of course, funding core services will remain my priority but State and Federal funding cuts and inflationary pressure on goods and services will require that our board make difficult decisions.

2) Balancing growth with affordability
Orange County, inclusive of the District 2 area, will continue to attract new residents. As that growth occurs, I will attempt to focus our efforts on ensuring that all options are considered to increase the housing stock available at price levels that are affordable for working class families.

3) Completion of the 2050 land use plan
This document will control land-use decisions into the foreseeable future and I hope it includes protections for individual property ownership rights. 

2. How would your experience―in politics or otherwise in your career―make you an asset to the county’s decision-making process? 

Having 50+ years of involvement in church, civic and community organizations as well as having served on the Orange County Board of Commissioners for 15 years, I feel that I have developed relationships with people throughout the county and have acquired an understanding of Orange County needs and challenges. 

3. What’s the best or most important thing the Orange County Board of County Commissioners has done in the past year? Additionally, name a decision you believe the board should have handled differently. Please explain your answers.

i believe the decision to approve an amendment to the Broadband Contract that provided additional funding for 500+ properties , which moved us closer to completion, was the best single decision. Conversely, that same decision left another 500+ properties unserved and without current options.

4. Property valuations have risen significantly in recent years, and many Orange County residents are worried about their ability to continue to afford to pay taxes on their homes. What do you believe the county commission should do to make living here more affordable? If you support cutting taxes, where would you reduce government spending?

Affordable housing is a major challenge in the entire Triangle area and I do not see the housing demand changing. Addressing this will require working with and allocating funding for affordable housing providers. Also we should be making changes to sewer and water agreements to allow greater density and development opportunity, as well as, making land use changes to allow additional housing options. 

As to tax cuts, which this question speaks to, sometimes holding back on yearly budget increases and delaying implementation of proposed projects will allow reallocation of funds for uses such as this. 

Also, greater efforts on growing the commercial tax base, especially retail, can and does increase net revenue to offset the need for tax increases.

5. In 2025, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners fell short of funding the stated budget needs of both Orange County Schools and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. Did those budgets meet the needs of students and the districts? Describe something you think the school board should have prioritized differently in the current budgets. 

The Orange County School system is fourth and the Chapel Hill Carrboro School system is at the top of the list of North Carolina school system funding. Orange County used their fund balance and Chapel Hill Carrboro received an increase in their District Tax in order to meet their budget needs. Given the per student allocation of $5,877, I think both systems received adequate funding to meet student needs. The commissioners have increased school funding every year except one during my tenure. Prioritization of school needs rests entirely with the individual school systems, so I will decline the invitation to comment on their choices.

6. Federal funding cuts this year have hit the Triangle particularly hard, and state funding for things like schools is declining. What are your ideas for how the county can prioritize competing funding needs, close funding gaps, and balance the financial burden on residents?

Projected revenue shortfall for the 2026-2027 fiscal year could exceed $20 million. Some of this shortfall can be addressed by drawing down monies from our unallocated fund balance.

Other measures available include reducing funding to all internal departments and outside agencies by a designated percentage, delaying Pay go funding for capital projects and reduction in force through buyouts and attrition. At the most extreme, an increase in the current fees for services or the reduction or elimination of some services may be required. The most likely process will involve a combination of these measures.

The failure to address this shortfall using the methods as described above would require a tax increase of 7 cents on the tax rate to balance the county budget. I will not support a tax increase of this magnitude under any circumstances given the negative effect on many of our residents after the recent reevaluation.

7. What is your vision for how Orange County should grow economically? What policies would you like to see implemented to enhance economic development in Orange County?

Since joining the board in 2010, I have advocated for supporting local business ventures and the recruitment of companies to locate in Orange County. We have been very successful in this effort relative to past decades. 

Additional infrastructure improvements in the existing economic development districts will be necessary over the next few years. Identification of additional areas for development along the interstate corridors would expand our site portfolio. Policy changes to land use regulations would expand site availability for companies to choose from. The continued funding for recruitment incentives will enable Orange County to remain attractive to businesses, large and small. 

8. With Orange County’s growth come challenges related to suburban sprawl, transportation, and affordable housing. What have been the county’s successes in managing this growth in recent years? What about its failures? What would you do differently?

I am not sure we can control growth. The objective may be to direct that growth to areas that have the least negative impact to land, water and air resources. 

Our failures include allowing outside influences to prevent siting of major retail projects that would have contributed millions in sales tax revenue without offsetting costs to Orange County.This revenue stream would have allowed greater investment in human services, expansion of public transportation, additional affordable housing initiatives, and reduced our dependence on residential property for our tax base.

9. Is the county doing enough to protect, preserve, and maintain its natural resources, including parks, waterways, and green spaces? What would you continue to do or do differently?

Orange County has been, continues to be and will remain a leader in environmental protection. I will continue to support purchases of land for parks and funding for conservation easements to protect our natural resources. I will advocate for reasonable regulations for the protection of land, water and air.

10. North Carolina is a “Dillon Rule” state, meaning that the only powers municipal and county governments have are the ones granted to them by the legislature. Would you like to see this changed? How would you work with state legislators from Orange County, as well as mayors and council members to ensure that Orange County, its municipalities, and the state are on the same page regarding policies that affect residents of Orange?

Let’s be brutally honest about this issue. 
Would I like to see this changed? YES!
Is it going to happen under this Republican legislature? NO
Did it happen under prior Democratic legislative control? NO
Will it happen if the Democrats gain control? NO

I will continue to look for ways in which Orange County can collaborate with other counties and the state legislature to ensure our residents’ values, wants and needs are addressed.

11. Give an example of an opinion, policy, vote, or action you changed based on constituent feedback. If you have not yet held elected office, describe a time when you changed your position on an issue after listening to those affected by it.

When elected in 2010, I was approached by people that supported the location of a county library in Carrboro. While I was open to a southern branch of our library system, I was convinced that the location should be on a site to the west of Carrboro. This would allow access by public transportation and avoid the limited parking situation in downtown Carrboro for private vehicles. Once this project got started and expanded into a multi-use facility, with an ever escalating cost, I lost interest until shortly before a final decision needed to be made. In reading the agenda abstract and reflecting on the years of study and delay, I decided that the need for a southern branch library outweighed my objections. During that meeting I made the statement that the time for study was over, delay was unacceptable and that the board needed to approve moving ahead with this project or let our residents know that we would not give it additional consideration in the future. With that comment, I switched my intended vote from a “NO” to a solid “YES”. The vote passed, the project was built and our residents are using and benefiting from having a southern branch of the Orange County system located in the Drakeford Library Complex in downtown Carrboro.

12. Are there any issues not included in this questionnaire that you would like to address?

The issue was the lack of internet service in the rural areas of Orange County and its impact on school children during Covid, people working from home and the isolation of many of our residents. The solution was started by a petition that I made to the BOCC asking for the formation of a task force to study the possibilities of ensuring reliable and affordable internet service to every unserved and underserved property in the county. I co-chaired this task force with Commissioner Sally Greene. The recommendation from the task force was to proceed with the project using fiber optic cable. With board approval of the contract and the allocation of $10 million of our federal ARPA funds, the project has moved toward completion. Without that first small step, based on hope for a better future, and backed by determination to make it happen, we would still be waiting for others to make that better future happen.