Bio

I’m Erik Valera, a Chapel Hill resident, nonprofit leader, and lifelong public servant seeking appointment to the Orange County Board of Commissioners in District 1.

I want to serve because Orange County is being priced out from the inside. Residents are carrying a disproportionate tax burden — including this year’s contested 4.22-cent increase — because we lack the commercial base to help fund public services. At the same time, high property values are pushing young families with school-aged children into neighboring counties, shrinking school enrollment even as the county is pressed to raise local funding to offset declining state per-pupil revenue. These pressures are connected, and I believe they can be met with preparation, equity, and a whole-county perspective.

My background prepares me for exactly this work. I’ve led nonprofits as COO or Executive Director, managing budgets, operations, and boards. As chair of the Language Access Committee on the Governor’s Advisory Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, I helped win a statewide policy now serving hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians. On the Chapel Hill Planning Commission, I worked on the housing and land-use decisions at the heart of our affordability crisis.

If appointed, I’ll focus on three connected challenges: our school infrastructure and debt burden, housing barriers for families with school-aged children, and diversifying a tax base that leans too heavily on homeowners. I’m a proud Democrat, fluent in Spanish and English, and ready to do the work.

Question 1

Being an Orange County Commissioner is a significant commitment of time. In addition to attending Board Meetings, there are Work Sessions and retreats. Preparation for meetings typically includes reading packets that can be several hundred pages long. Each Commissioner serves on 5-7 Boards and Commissions, most of which meet monthly. Commissioners also attend numerous community events.

Do you have the available bandwidth required to meet the demands of the position? What approaches will you use to balance the commitment required to ensure you are effective in the role?

Yes — and I say that having done the arithmetic honestly rather than waving it away.

The demands are real: two long business meetings monthly, work sessions, the annual retreat, several-hundred-page packets twice a month, five to seven advisory boards, community events, and constant constituent contact — peaking hard in budget season. But those hours are the substance of governing, not an obstacle to it. A packet read carefully is a decision made on evidence rather than assumption. A board meeting attended is a community that keeps its seat at the table.

So I approach the work with discipline. I protect my calendar deliberately, clearing the spring so budget season gets the attention residents deserve. I read every packet early and bring my questions to staff in advance, so deliberation moves on evidence, not surprises. I treat each board and commission assignment as real work, not a line on a résumé. And I stay reachable through predictable channels, so constituents always know how to find me.

Effectiveness isn’t just showing up. It’s arriving prepared, every time — and I have both the bandwidth and the discipline to do exactly that.

Question 2

Orange County depends heavily on residential property taxes, while nearby counties such as Durham, Wake, and Alamance have developed larger commercial, industrial, retail, or employment-based tax bases.

What specific strategies would you support to diversify Orange County’s revenue base without undermining our environmental, educational, and community values so that homeowners are not repeatedly asked to carry the primary burden?

First, grow the commercial, institutional, and visitor-driven share of the base deliberately and on our terms. When residential property is roughly 80% of the tax base, every dollar of need lands on homes. Shifting even a few points toward commercial, office, lab, and light-industrial property spreads that burden — targeted, values-aligned development like life sciences and research spillover from UNC and the Research Triangle, not big-box sprawl. We should also grow visitor-generated revenue through arts, culture, entertainment, and sports, letting dollars from people who don’t live here help fund what residents value.

Second, capture growth-driven revenue at the source and zone for the housing we need. New development drives the school-capacity and infrastructure costs that later fall on homeowners through bonds; North Carolina authorizes system development fees for water and sewer, and school impact fees where granted — authority Orange County has pursued before. Pair that with zoning for missing-middle and workforce housing, so families with school-aged children can afford to live, work, learn, and play here.

Third, fix revaluation equity first — the FY2026-27 Tax Assessment Study Reserve builds the fairness and public trust that any future ask requires.

Question 3

Orange County supports two separate public school systems despite limited tax revenue outside of residential property taxes.

Would you support a study which gives consideration to a hybrid service model regarding the sharing of central office functions, transportation, purchasing, technology services, or specialized staff to reduce costs while maintaining or improving educational quality for all students? Please explain why or why not.

Yes — but its value depends almost entirely on design and framing.

Sharing back-office functions is not a threat to either district’s identity; it’s ordinary fiscal stewardship when residential property taxes carry most of the load and both districts face falling enrollment. CHCCS is down about 10% since 2020-21, and OCS is already moving to raise bus-driver pay to match CHCCS — evidence the two systems are solving overlapping problems separately. Studying whether transportation routing, purchasing, technology, or hard-to-recruit specialized staff like therapists and information technology could be shared is exactly the kind of question a responsible study should answer.

The framing determines everything. The charge must be to reduce administrative and operational cost while maintaining or improving educational quality for all students. It should quantify real dollars, protect each district’s governance and character, and route any savings back into instruction. Both districts already cooperate through joint meetings and shared programs, so the foundation exists.

Done well, such a study frees money for classrooms. Done as a blunt cost-cut, it erodes trust. I’d support

Question 4

Orange County faces a growing affordability challenge. Rising housing costs make it difficult for teachers, first responders, county employees, young families, and recent graduates to live in the communities they serve. This also contributes to declining school enrollment and places additional pressure on homeowners to fund county services through property taxes. Governor Josh Stein’s Executive Order No. 36 calls for increasing housing opportunities and affordability across North Carolina.

What specific actions would you take as a county commissioner to increase the supply of affordable and workforce housing while preserving Orange County’s environmental resources and quality of life? Where do you see access to water and sewer capacity fitting into your vision for the county?

Executive Order 36 is a coordination directive, not automatic funding — it aligns state agencies and, through the Governor’s recommended budget, offers density-zoning grants and Housing Trust Fund dollars the county can pursue. My job is to make Orange County ready to use them.

The highest-leverage action is regulatory, not fiscal: reform zoning to allow “missing middle” housing — duplexes, triplexes, cottage courts, ADUs, small-lot homes — by right where infrastructure already exists, instead of forcing a rezoning fight over each one. ADUs especially add units on existing lots with existing water/sewer and near-zero environmental footprint — housing teachers, nurses, and bus drivers can afford.

Second, preserve the affordable housing we already have; it’s cheaper than building and has essentially zero environmental cost. Expand the Longtime Homeowner and emergency-assistance programs, protect manufactured-home communities, and hold municipal partners to the County-Wide Manufactured Homes Action Plan.

Third, streamline approvals — expedited review and waived fees for income-restricted units — while keeping watershed and stormwater standards fully intact.

On water and sewer: capacity is the master lever. EO 36 names failing wells and water infrastructure as housing barriers. Directing gentle density where service exists lets us grow affordably without sprawl.