Orange County Board of County Commissioners, At-Large: Karen Stegman

Name: Karen Stegman

Age: 56

Party affiliation: Democrat

Campaign website: stegmanfororange.com

Occupation and employer: Consultant, non-profit strategy and development

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) Housing: As Orange County grows, we cannot allow rising housing costs to displace low- and middle-income families or for development to negatively impact rural areas. I will support expanding housing choices within our towns while protecting natural areas and critical farmland, preventing county-wide sprawl, maximizing transit investments, and mitigating climate crisis impact. I will do this by:
● Increasing affordable, low barrier, and “missing middle” housing options in strategic locations.
● Leveraging County-owned land, such as former school properties, to reduce the cost of new affordable housing construction
● Ensuring plans for new housing include current or future transit access.

2) Equitable taxation: I will address inequities in the County’s property tax valuation so that homeowners and small businesses have the support they need without owing overwhelming tax bills. I will do this by:
● Ensuring implementation of a more equitable valuation methodology.
● Rectifying systemic bias in the valuation process.
● Creating community engagement, communication, and feedback channels to ensure greater transparency and understanding of the valuation process and avenues to share feedback with the County as changes are implemented.

3) Sustainable Land Use Planning: People want to live in Orange County, and our communities will continue to grow. I will ensure the County’s plans for growth are sustainable and protect our natural resources and farmland as we grow.
● Assess water and sewer capacity as a key component of land use decisions.
● Collaborate with the towns to ensure the county’s growth occurs primarily within our urban areas to address equity, smart growth, connectivity, and climate change mitigation, while protecting rural areas and farmland. 

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

This is a challenging time for our County. Our state and federal governments have abdicated their responsibility to the public good by refusing to fund our schools, support families, and mitigate external threats such as Helene and Chantal. This means that we need experienced officials in local government who can provide steady leadership, make tough decisions, and make progress for their residents, all with limited authority and resources. I am a known and proven public servant with the experience to make an immediate impact in office, having recently completed eight years of service on the Chapel Hill Town Council. During that time, I played a crucial role in:
● increasing affordable housing
● Championing greater housing variety and density 
● strengthening transit systems
● mitigating the impacts of climate change
● streamlining the development review process
● expanding economic development through a community lens.

Beyond that, as a native of Orange County, serving this community has always been part of my life. Over the years, I have served on and chaired the Town of Chapel Hill’s Housing Advisory Board and the Ephesus Elementary School Improvement Team; was a mentor for the Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate program and a PORCH Neighborhood Coordinator; learned to wield power tools volunteering with Habitat for Humanity; served on several statewide nonprofit boards, and I am currently on the Community Home Trust board. 

In addition, my professional work with non-profits focused on local community development, education, and public health over the past 25 years has also served the public interest— from my experience with the Orange County Family Resource Centers managing community centers in Chapel Hill’s public housing, Carrboro’s Carr Court (aka Tintop), and Northern Orange’s Cedar Grove; to my work to strengthen health care in developing countries; to my recent work on innovation in public health and renewable energy. Through all these experiences, both in Orange County and beyond, I have deepened my understanding of and love for this community.

Through all these experiences, I have learned to listen to those most directly impacted by an issue and to be an effective advocate. I will always seek out the voices of those who are left out of policy decisions, and I will use my expertise and experience as a public official to strive for effective, compassionate solutions that work for everybody. 

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.

The most important decision that BOCC made in 2025 was approving the final land purchase and construction agreements for the future Orange County Crisis Diversion Center. This facility’s purpose is to divert individuals in behavioral health crises from the criminal justice system and hospital emergency departments. The facility is desperately needed in our community and has been in the planning stages for the last six years. Once completed, it will provide behavioral health urgent care, short-term in-patient care, peer support, and resources and referrals. This will allow folks to receive the specific care they need during crises, rather than becoming entangled in the criminal justice system or an overburdened healthcare system. The County has been doing a stellar job building a true best practice continuum of crisis care, and the Crisis Diversion Center is a key piece of that critical puzzle. 

The most important decision the BOCC made in 2024 was putting the school facilities bond on the ballot. Both my kids went to Phillips Middle School (where I also went, which gives you an idea of how old that building is!) whose problems with roof leaks, broken HVAC systems and other serious issues, are well-known. I applaud the BOCC for making this critical investment in our County’s schools. I also recognize the enormous responsibility that comes with playing the fiscal agent role for such a sizable investment. $300 million is no joke. 

That being said, I disagree with the approach that the BOCC is taking to this critical oversight role. In the course of negotiating an Interlocal Agreement (ILA) with both school districts this past year, the BOCC has taken an overly heavy-handed approach. In seeking to ensure funds are well- and timely-spent, a laudable goal, their proposed approach instead would tie the hands of the districts’ respective boards and leadership and slow down decision-making with redundant and time-consuming approval processes. This is taking what should be a collaborative relationship with our schools and making it a punitive one. Transparency, an agreed upon communication cadence, and regular fiscal reporting – which all parties have already agreed to – are sufficient to ensure those public dollars are well-spent. Our elected school boards were chosen by the voters to make decisions about district needs and priorities. The BOCC should honor each board’s respective role, trust their fellow elected officials to do their jobs, and use the existing accountability and transparency measures to safeguard these funds without causing delays to getting our kids into sorely needed new facilities.

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?

Addressing affordability across the county will be a high priority for me. This starts with housing. It cannot be said enough: we are in a crisis. Our county needs more housing, especially affordable and “missing middle” housing. When I was on the Town Council, we made significant progress towards this goal – passing $25 million in affordable housing bonds; funding over 1,400 new affordable homes; and revising zoning and development review to make it quicker and less expensive to build. In Chapel Hill, like Carrboro and Hillsborough, we embraced “smart growth”, which means we encourage housing density and mixed use development to build sustainable, walkable towns while also reducing sprawl and traffic, maximizing transit services (and kudos to Orange County Public Transportation (OCPT) for going fare-free for its fixed routes this coming year!), protecting the environment, and allowing people to live near where they work. 

This approach brings several benefits throughout our county. Increased housing density limits sprawl and preserves the diverse landscape and opportunities county residents enjoy with our mix of rural and urban environments. By focusing development in our towns, we can protect our farmland and natural areas. Just as crucially, it keeps service costs and taxes lower for all our residents by maximizing our pre-existing infrastructure. Embracing sprawling development throughout our county’s rural areas would place untold millions of dollars of costs on the backs of county taxpayers and utility customers via the installation and maintenance of utilities, water, and sewer services. In a time when so many of us are stretched thin keeping up with the rising cost of living, it’s vital that we make the most efficient and intentional use of our existing infrastructure, and ensure that our efforts to create more housing do not lead to higher costs for our existing residents.

Affordability also means ensuring fair property valuation and taxation. Thanks to community advocacy, we know that the county’s valuation process was not equitable for all homeowners, especially for historically Black neighborhoods. I will ensure that the recommendations of the working group looking at these inequities are implemented before the next valuation. I will also support continuing the Longtime Homeowners Assistance Fund, which provides relief for homeowners who have lived in their home for at least 5 years, meet Area Median Income limits (around 80%), and have a home value below set limits.

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. 

Both school districts went into the budget development process last year keenly aware that it would be a tough funding environment for schools as well as all county-funded programs. Due to constructive dialogue between the BOCC and the schools in advance of the budget development, realistic expectations were set from the start. Because of this, I believe that both school districts prepared “continuation budgets” centering the highest priority needs focused on improved student outcomes without adding any new or “nice to have” programs. Additionally, both districts are aware of and have been transparent about falling enrollment numbers and the need for fiscal prudence in planning for the future. 

It is the state legislature, not the BOCC, that is stressing our public schools to the breaking point, by allowing NC schools to fall to last place in per-pupil funding, and funneling more and more of our tax dollars to private, unregulated schools through vouchers. Because of this, our teachers and staff remain underpaid and under-supported, and, as a result, are leaving the profession at higher rates than ever before.

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?

The state and federal governments are failing the people. Untold thousands have lost their livelihoods due to federal funding cuts to universities and non-profit organizations, including my own. Cuts to research funding are causing setbacks in medical breakthroughs, renewable energy innovation, and public health impacts. Cuts to social safety programs such as SNAP, school-based food programs, and Medicaid mean children are going hungry and people aren’t getting the health care they need. Our public schools are the lowest ranked in the country for per-pupil spending. This is a crisis for our state and our county. Let’s be clear – local and county governments cannot completely fill the gaps created by this shameful abdication of responsibility. 

That being said, I’m proud to be part of a community whose residents and local governments have stepped up in every way they can to help fill these gaps by increasing school funding, providing emergency food distributions, and identifying local funding to continue previously federally-funded programs. Our local governments have been and should continue to prioritize and weigh tough choices. As a County Commissioner, I will prioritize the essential needs of our most vulnerable residents and partner with our County’s community-based and grassroots organizations to identify and meet the most pressing needs.

During this time of forced scarcity, collaboration will be key to ensuring we meet as many needs as possible. The County has begun to use its convening power to encourage and require more effective collaboration. A great example of this was bringing local food security organizations together to make a countywide plan when SNAP and other food benefits were cut. Another example of a key new partnership is in the aftermath of Chantal, when the county and town governments worked alongside local mutual aid groups to more quickly reach and get aid to those in need. 

While we cannot fully fill the gaps left by antagonistic state and federal governments, by coordinating and working together, we can support far more of our residents than any of us could by working in silos. Coupled with effective resource management by county and town governments, that spirit of cooperation will be our biggest asset.

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?

We need a more robust county-wide economic development strategy that achieves the following: a balanced tax base so that we don’t overly rely on residential property taxes to fund our services; adds new living wage jobs for residents; and preserves the culture of Orange County. This means renewing our economic development strategy to maximize the opportunities of the county’s economic development districts and recognizing that protecting our farmland is not only good land use policy, but also that agriculture is another important driver of Orange County’s economy. 

I am excited that the County’s Economic Development staff and advisory board are working on a new economic development strategy. The County has three existing economic development districts and five Commercial-Industrial Transition Activity Nodes, areas targeted for economic development planning and project implementation, but these were established over thirty-five years ago. An external analysis conducted in 2018 provided the county with insights into many missed economic development opportunities and offered valuable recommendations on how to update the sites and their respective plans to be more attractive to the current market and potential partners. I will advocate for these to be incorporated into the new strategy, including plans for strategic infrastructure investments by the county necessary to position the county for success.

Additionally, we need to strengthen the county’s tools for supporting agriculture as a vital segment of our economy. A strong rural economy is essential to a sustainable Orange County. Productive farms support working families and strengthen a food system that, in turn, improves food security. Agritourism showcases our farms and beautiful, healthful natural environment while boosting tax revenue. 

Finally, while the recent successes with Morinaga and CITEL, Inc. are important and encouraging, the county is still missing out on the opportunity to participate in the innovation economy that is offered due to proximity to UNC, other Triangle universities, Durham Tech, and the Research Triangle Park. Orange County is an appealing location. A commitment to economic development in the country, coupled with a proactive and targeted strategy should allow us to grow our commercial footprint, gain living wage jobs, and reduce the tax burden on our residents.

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?

Successful land use planning requires being clear about what you value, having a vision for the future, and communicating it clearly. I don’t think the BOCC has done this so far, but I am hoping that the new land use plan under development will achieve it. 

Chapel Hill has a long history of making new development difficult, by creating lengthy processes, having onerous and often conflicting requirements, and making every applicant seek approval from the Town Council. Early in my tenure on the Town Council, it became clear that this type of ad-hoc development, with decisions made on a case-by-case basis, wasn’t leading to better results. While thoughtful regulations are important and necessary, making development unnecessarily harder does not lead to better outcomes, but it does lead to more expensive outcomes. Making development overly onerous and trying to please everyone created an environment where no one was happy with the results. More than anything else, developers want clarity. This reduces their risk and their costs, which makes the final product more affordable, as well. By clearly letting developers know what you want, and making it easier for them to provide it, the community is far more likely to achieve the results it seeks.

I would like to see the BOCC develop a cohesive countywide vision and align its land use policies and strategies accordingly. This vision should reflect a more holistic vision for how growth should happen here, rather than thinking about keeping an “even score” between the northern and southern parts of the county. Density should be concentrated in urban areas, regardless of what part of the county the town is in. That density should be supported by robust multi-modal transit. This is also where affordable housing funds should be invested. At the same time, we need to build on current investments that protect and sustain the rural character of the county and support our farmers and farmland. Protecting farmland and concentrating growth in the towns are two sides of one comprehensive vision. 

To achieve this vision, we need a Board of Commissioners committed to working with the towns on land use planning and towns that will stay committed to sustainable urban density. Only together, as a unified county making best use of both our urban and rural areas, can we successfully address our land use and affordability challenges for all our residents.

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 a strong regional parks, trails and greenways system, strengthened most recently by the renovated Blackwood Farm Park. At the same time, some parts of the county still do not have access to a community park close by. Closing this gap should continue to be a priority for the County, including moving forward with plans for the planned Twin Creeks Park and making improvements to the Fairview community park. As the school districts embark on capital projects, the County should look for opportunities for shared use of outdoor space, such as Ephesus Park adjacent to Ephesus Elementary in Chapel Hill. Another opportunity for structured trails and green space will arise as the Greene Tract development plan moves forward.

Additionally, I am glad that the BOCC is making progress on planning for the eighty acres of county-owned property on Millhouse Road that was originally slated for a soccer park. As a proud soccer mom myself, I am keenly aware of the fierce competition for field time by local youth and adult programs and support the direction the BOCC is heading in for a split between recreation and natural preservation.

As I have referenced in other responses, smart growth approaches in our towns will allow for more of our natural resources, farmland, and other rural areas to be protected and remain rural, rather than being impacted by sprawl. Supporting that development, and our county as a whole, with a robust transit system will lessen our need for car-based infrastructure, which means fewer parking lots and more green spaces. 

We must also ensure that local bodies of water, including the Eno River, Haw River, University Lake and more, remain safe, both for wildlife and residents who regularly visit them. It will be important to continue our robust partnerships with the Eno River Association and Triangle Land Conservancy to help preserve critical parts of the Eno River watershed to help ensure water quality for generations to come.

Finally, as part of our land use planning, I would advocate to incorporate, to the extent practicable, the findings of the recently developed landscape plan for wildlife habitat connectivity in the Eno River and New Hope Creek watersheds.

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?

Yes, I would absolutely like for North Carolina to become a home rule state, rather than a Dillon’s Rule state. This would allow us to legislate and set policies that are more specific to our local community, such as our ability to regulate stormwater requirements and tree canopy, as well as those that reflect the values of Orange County, such as non-discrimination ordinances.

Regardless of which type of state we are, we can and must do a better job of working together as a unified County. This means bringing together the County and town governments, as well as institutions like UNC. While many elected officials and policymakers maintain productive and collaborative individual relationships with each other, as do I, we need stronger formal collaboration and coordination structures that allow us to share information, prioritize issues, and speak as a united community. One such structure is the Assembly of Governments, a gathering of local governing bodies, which occurred annually in the past, but never re-convened post-COVID. As a start, we should reinstate it as a meaningful body and explore existing successful models of multi-jurisdiction collaboration, such as MPOs.

As a two-term member of the Chapel Hill Town Council, I have seen firsthand how many of the issues impacting the towns, the County, and the University are impacting us all, and we will be better prepared to face them if we work together. Formalizing the collaborative approach that many local leaders take on an individual basis will allow for these shared solutions to benefit all communities in Orange County.

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.

This past year’s budget process was a very difficult one for the Town of Chapel Hill (along with many other municipalities). Inflation challenges and the county property revaluation meant higher costs for both the Town and our residents. To continue to provide the level of services the community relies on and expects, we would need to raise taxes. At the same time, following a market salary study, we found out that many of our staff were paid below market rate and the town was at risk of losing good people to other neighboring towns whose pay was better. The Manager’s recommended budget included needed service increases, as well as a 5% pay increase for staff, which would require a 5 ½ cent tax increase. Combined with the county property revaluation which significantly increased the value of most residential properties, this would translate to an average combined tax increase of about 29.6 percent (including town, county, and schools taxes). While I strongly believe in paying workers and wanted to provide the increases needed to bring all staff to market rates, we also began hearing from members of the public about the negative impact that such a large tax increase would have on residents, including potentially having to leave the community due to lack of affordability. Because of that input, I made the tough decision to vote against the Manager’s proposed budget. I advocated for larger increases for our underpaid staff, while providing a smaller raise for those staff whose salary was already at or above market rate, but I was not in the majority on that position.

Being an elected official often means having to choose from less-than-ideal options and requires weighing competing priorities and balancing the benefits and impacts before making a decision. In this case, while I absolutely supported and wanted our community and town staff to have everything included in the Manager’s budget, I could not justify it at a time when so many in the community are also struggling financially. The harder these decisions become, the more important it is to hear from those who are directly impacted by the outcome of those decisions.

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

As referenced above, our school enrollment is trending downward across the county. For both districts, this is likely to lead to a decision to close one or more schools over the next several years. As part of this important community discussion, I would strongly advocate that we explore re-use of those school sites for the development of affordable housing for school system staff. We know that our school staff are underpaid and most cannot afford to live in Orange County. The added expense and time of commuting from other counties leads to staff leaving jobs in our districts for those closer to home. A county-schools-towns collaboration to produce accessible housing could make important headway on this critical issue impacting families countywide.