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Amend Chapter 2, Article IV, Section 2-72 of the Town Code of Ordinances Regarding Campaign Contribution Limitations.
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Staff:
Department:
Maurice Jones
Town Manager
Ann Anderson
Town Attorney
Overview: The Town established campaign contribution limits in 1999 pursuant to special legislation enacted by the General Assembly. Chapter 2, Article IV, of the Town Code of Ordinances limits the amount of money that an individual or a political committee can contribute to a Mayor or Town Council candidate's campaign. The Ordinance also establishes a maximum contribution that can be made without disclosing the contributor's name in municipal campaign reports. Ordinance Section 2-731 requires that these amounts be adjusted during even-numbered years and provides criteria for making these adjustments based on the number of Town of Chapel Hill registered voters and changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) since January 1st of the prior even-numbered year. The adjustments proposed for tonight, if enacted, will apply to the 2023 municipal campaigns.
Recommendation(s):
That the Council enact the attached ordinance to decrease the municipal campaign maximum contribution to $357.00 and the contribution disclosure exemption to $37.00 as required by ordinance.
Background:
* In 2021, the maximum amount that an individual or political committee could donate to a municipal candidate's campaign was $378.00 and the names of contributors donating $39.00 or less were exempt from disclosure in campaign reports.
* Council established the 2021 amounts on May 6, 2020.2
Decision Points:
* Based on data obtained for January 2022 (as required by Sec. 2-73 of the Town Code), the CPI change since January 2020 is 4.54% and active voter registration for the Town of Chapel Hill is 35,209.
* While the CPI Change is up from the 4.46% change used for the last round of adjustments, the Base Voters amount is down from the prior amount of 38,373.
* Based on the adjustment criteria estab...
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