Orange County Board of County Commissioners, District 1: Maria T. Palmer

Name: Maria Teresa Unger Palmer

Age: 65

Party affiliation: Democrat

Campaign website: Maria4OrangeCounty

Occupation and employer: Family Support Coordinator for Organ Donation

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. The safety of our community, 
2. The affordability crisis in Orange County, 
3. Our over-reliance on property tax and the inequitable property valuations’ impact on our Black residents.

To address these problems, I will: 

1. PROTECT ALL ORANGE COUNTY RESIDENTS. 
I will do everything in my power to protect our community from the impact of the abusive policies of the Trump administration and the extreme, right-wing General Assembly, including training staff and businesses on 4th amendment protections and collaborating with grass-roots organizations that are helping the immigrant community. I want Orange County to always be a place where everyone feels welcome and safe. 

Protecting our residents also means addressing the addiction and mental health needs of our community. When Orange County emergency responders are called because a person is having a mental health or addiction crisis, their two options are jail or the Emergency Room. This is ineffective and expensive. I will work with community partners and other commissioners to build and staff a Crisis Diversion Center where our residents can get the help they need—and make Orange County safer as a result.

2. SHOW UP BEYOND THE ELECTIONS. I will not be satisfied with winning a seat and waiting for options to be presented for votes. I plan to work with the community, to listen, inform and empower our neighbors to propose solutions and advocate for action. As a former pastor and long-time member of Justice United, I think the best way to serve is to listen and empower the community to make the necessary changes, so together we can construct the community we wish we were.

3. TO ENSURE PROSPERITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE BY TAKING ACTION to make Orange County more affordable, prioritizing sustainable development that addresses climate change. I will work with all partners: UNC, Durham Tech, non-profit housing providers, and entrepreneurs, and use all my power to preserve and develop affordable housing, engaging the best experts and training the staff in new ways to provide fair property assessments in the future.

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

I have served on the Chapel Hill Town Council, so I’m very familiar with issues of development, particularly in my district (Southern Orange County), and look forward to working on the development of the Greene Tract and bringing my expertise in the LUMO work we did in Chapel Hill to the County’s work on land-use.

I have worked as a teacher and principal and served on the State Board of Education, so I am familiar with innovative programs from around the state and the country that help schools partner with businesses and public institutions to contribute to economic development and prepare students for the jobs of the future. 

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 Board has invested in attracting businesses, supported agriculture, is set to pilot free bus routes, and has supported the arts through grants. The BOCC has also signed on to resolutions in support of the immigrant community, which I really appreciate. 

Our response to Chantall was lacking. Neighbors had to depend on the charity of churches and mutual aid to get food. We must do better when the next disaster strikes. 

The property valuation process was deeply flawed (again!). County Commissioners had the opportunity after the last valuation (4 years ago!) to do things differently, yet again we ended up with seriously inequitable valuations. And then the Commissioners raised taxes. We now have the highest taxes in the state and folks are angry and losing faith in their elected officials. We need to fix this problem. We need to listen to the experts and fix the process. We need training for our staff and community engagement.

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?

Decent housing is a human right. We cannot accept the levels of un-housed folks we have. We need to expand our tax assistance so more people can get help paying taxes AND help more folks stay in their homes through funding home repairs. 

As I said above, we need to fix the valuation process; and we also need to build more housing people want and can afford. We cannot solve the problem one-family-at-a-time through charity. Our county needs multifamily housing that is revenue-positive and meets diverse needs: from housing for seniors who need to downsize/age in place, to co-housing or cooperatives, to family apartments/condos. 

We need to think outside the box. What if we made manufactured homes in OC to bring the cost down? What if we pre-approved certain designs for duplexes or quads? What if we bring together Durham Tech, the high schools, the Chamber of Commerce, developers and housing non-profits to train and license students in construction trades as part of their schooling? What if we facilitated the conversion of existing trailer park ownership and governance into a co-op model?

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. 

People move to this district because of our great schools. Because of decisions by the State Legislature, our schools are seriously underfunded, with tax dollars going to vouchers. We need to rally Commissioners across NC, across parties, to defend public education and put pressure on the state to do better. I plan to work with the other members of the BOCC to advocate for more funding. We also need to support and empower teachers and families to organize on behalf of our public schools. It’s hard to meet the needs of our students with demoralized teachers and staff. We need to fully fund our schools to support student performance. 

As a former principal, I also know Commissioners can do a lot locally to give schools tools for teacher recruitment and retention. I will work to develop teacher housing as Asheville and Buncombe County Schools have.

When teachers cannot afford to live where they teach, that is also a factor that affects our recruitment and impacts student performance.

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?

Fortunately, Orange County has much to recommend it to businesses and entrepreneurs despite the general state and national climate. We have so much potential. We could develop more sports tourism by attracting investment in world-class recreational facilities for volleyball, soccer, pickleball, cricket, etc. Sports venues bring jobs and tourist dollars. We should expand our excellent greenways and other multimodal facilities and invest in public transportation to improve the quality of life of our residents and lower their cost of living. If we invest in the priorities I have outlined, including empowering the community, teacher retention and crisis diversion, those dollars will end up saving us money and freeing funds for education.

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?

Orange County is doing well; I think we can do even better. If we invest in supporting our great schools and attracting and retaining teachers, bring to our county innovative programs that prepare some of our students for skilled jobs, and create a climate that supports smart eco-friendly development, we will have a winning combination to attract new business investment. In addition, if we increase the stock of affordable and diverse housing, invest in affordable childcare, work on fair taxes, and make sure all our residents feel safe and welcome, economic development will follow.

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?

Climate change is real and endangers our communities. We have to work urgently toward a net zero goal. Orange County has done a decent job of controlling sprawl. I support the rural buffer. We need to look carefully at fine-tuning some of our policies to protect the buffer. If we don’t build enough housing that the people who make our communities work can afford,, the population pressures and monetary incentives will be too much for farmers to resist and the rural buffer will be filled with isolated mansions for the ultra-rich. 

We need to continue adding opportunities for farmers to earn additional income (some creative changes have happened in this area). 

We need a more interconnected public transportation network that gives people a viable alternative to get from home to school, work, shopping, and recreation. We can develop public transportation hubs that also provide opportunities for dense development between our towns and or employment centers (such as UNC). We need to focus on multimodal transportation. We also need to incentivize density in already developed areas, which results in savings for the community and combats climate change.

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?

We are doing ok, but we can do better. Getting all our educational institutions to focus on this would be a start. Working with the School Boards to add outdoor experiential education to the curriculum, supporting the enhancement of trails, employing youth to develop nature-based projects are all ideas that have worked in other localities and are worth exploring. 

We have to increase awareness among our residents and develop the leaders who will help us achieve our goals. There are many organizations working for the health of our environment, I plan to support their efforts.

[One of my dreams is to help sponsor an outdoor geological timeline to be built in our community–like the one on the riverfront in Cincinnati. When my dad died in 2023, I decided this would be a fantastic way to honor his 60-year career in science education and leave a legacy to the many nature lovers in Orange County, including my grandchildren. Whether I win the election or not, I still hope to make this dream a reality.]

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?

We don’t always take the time to explain how the smart, sustainable development and prosperity of our towns brings better services to our rural neighbors, protects them from sprawl and alleviates their tax burden. The priorities I have outlined are not just good for our municipalities, they are good for the rest of Orange County. I will work with the mayors and town Councils to coordinate our work and to inform and empower our residents.

When I served on the Chapel Hill Town Council, all of us Council members were keenly aware of this rule, as we received threats from legislators whenever we took a stance that seemed critical of what they were doing, such as opposing anti-gay legislation. Fortunately, Orange County has great progressive representatives and senators in Raleigh, and we have to continue to work with them to courageously oppose policies that are bad for Orange County (and usually for all NC). We have to do this in a smart way, making sure we have the best legal advice and know that we are acting within our constitutional rights and have the support of our constituents.

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 I served on the Chapel Hill Town Council we had lots of issues that were controversial and there were passionate opinions for and against—sometimes neighbors with expertise arguing on opposing sides. I could give dozens of examples where we listened to all sides and then worked to find a better solution, from finding a new type of artificial turf for our fields (cork) because of parent’s concerns, to lowering the speed limit and changing the design of a street to make it safer for all users. I believe the best solutions come from the people who are affected and whose lives will be most impacted by the decisions made by their elected officials. 

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

Waste management. We seem to have forgotten that our waste is being shipped to a poor county where it pollutes and contaminates “out of sight.” I would revisit this issue in honor of former Commissioner Mark Marcoplos, who spent so much time and energy working on behalf of environmental justice.