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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD-2009-165 - Mobile Classrooms Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Capial Project Ordinance/ /-- //,y z.!,a Y ot�p- Q009 19 Mobile Classrooms zo �. Chapel Hill- Carrboro City Schools - Capital Project Ordinance Be it ordained by the Orange County Board of County Commissioners that pursuant to Section 13.2 of Chapter 159 of the General Statutes of North Carolina, the following capital project is hereby adopted. Section 1. The project authorized provides funds for the purchase of mobile classrooms. Proceeds from impact fees, the Schools' portion of the one -half cent sales taxes (pay -as- you-go funds), transfer from School Capital Reserve Fund, and alternative financing proceeds fund this project. Section 2. The officers of the County are hereby directed to proceed with the project within the budget contained herein. Section 3. The following revenue is anticipated to complete this project: Section 4. The following amount is appropriated for this project: FY 2009 -10 Current FY 2009 -10 Amendment FY 2009 -10 Revised Sales Tax $745,800 ($610,800) $135,000 Impact Fees $1,186,000 ($1,186,000) $0 From School Capital Reservi $205,000 ($205,000) $0 1992 Bond Funds $0 $0 $0 1997 Bond Funds $0 $0 $0 Alternative Financing $110,000 ($110,000) $0 Total Funding $2,246,800 ($2,111,800) $135,000 Section 4. The following amount is appropriated for this project: Section 5. This ordinance shall remain in effect until closed by action of the Board of County Commissioners. Adopted this 17th day of November 2009. FY 2009 -10 Current FY 2009 -10 Amendment FY 2009 -10 Revised Plannin /Arch /En in $0 $0 $0 Land /Assoc Fees $0 $0 $0 Mobile Units /Construction $2,246,800 $2,111,800 $135,000 Equipment/Furnishings $0 $0 $0 Other $0 $0 $0 Total Costs $2.246.800 $2,111,800 $135,000 Section 5. This ordinance shall remain in effect until closed by action of the Board of County Commissioners. Adopted this 17th day of November 2009. ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: November 17, 2009 Action Agenda Item No. (o - e SUBJECT: School Capital Project Ordinance Amendments DEPARTMENT: Finance PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) No ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: School Capital Project Ordinances Procedures Gary Humphreys, 245 -2453 PURPOSE: To align School Capita( Project Ordinances to agreed upon balances. BACKGROUND: The Board of Commissioners discussed this School Capital Project Ordinance Amendments agenda item at its November 5, 2009 regular meeting. Based on discussion at that meeting and follow -up by staff, the item is presented again for Board review and approval. As part of the process of reviewing School Capital Projects, County staff shared the County's recorded amounts for School Capital Projects with the staff of the two school systems. County staff and the staff of both the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools ( CHCCS) system and the Orange County Schools (OCS) system had several meetings to compare respective project records and determine how to bring records into alignment. It has been a number of years since there has been an effort to reconcile the School project records and County project records. Differences have accumulated over this time. County staff met first with Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools' staff. After initially reviewing the budget and expenditure differences, the staffs jointly agreed to compare the remaining unspent budget balances for all of the projects per the County records with the remaining unspent project balances according to the school system's records. The comparison showed that the County's records have a total remaining unspent project balance for all of the projects that is greater than that shown on the school system's records. School staff and County staff agreed that a win -win approach would be to come to agreement on the remaining project budget balances and adjust records accordingly. The amount of additional funds needed to correct the under - funding for the CHCSS projects has been reduced significantly. County staff then met with Orange County Schools staff and went through a similar process. The differences were not. as significant but the overall remaining budget needed was approximately the same: In meeting with both of the school systems, a number of projects were 2 identified that were no longer active, but were still on the records of County or the school systems or both and could be taken off the books. The plan to correct the under - funding of the County and School Capital Project funds required the appropriation of $5.92 million from the fund balance of the General Fund for transfer to the two Capital Project Funds. The following table recaps the actions to date and the requested transfer to the School Capital Outlay Fund of $723,945. Manager's Two Year Funding Plan FY 2009 -10 $ 5,920,000 Year One FY 2009 Transfer to School Capital Outlay Fund 3,000,000 3,500,000 Transfer to County Capital Outlay Fund 500,000 FULL PRO oeT CLMM Year Two FY 2010 Not yet appropriated) CHCSS Technology Project 381,055 2,420,000 Orange Co Schools Technology Project 342,890 2,422,387 Requested Transfer School Cap Outlay Fund 723,945 Energy Efficiency Renovations Balance Remaining to address Co Capital Fund \ \ \ \ \ \ \\ (13,832,502) $1,696,055 The two schedules below summarize the project ordinance amendments being presented to adjust the currently active project ordinances as agreed upon with the staffs of the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools system and Orange County Schools system. CHAPEL ILL CARRpCRO, CFF Y SCHOOLS FY 2009 -10 FY 2009 -10 FY 2009 - 10 Current Amendment Revised FULL PRO oeT CLMM $ 624,202 (624,202) 0 Lincoln Center Conversion Athletic Facilities 2,422,387 (2,422,387) 0 Energy Efficiency Renovations \ \ \\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \\ 15,042,502 \ \ \ \ \ \ \\ (13,832,502) 1,210, �00 \\ CLOSSM �ROOEt VeMB ACVVVBgY Technology Fire/Safety /Security 1,654,759 (1,629,759) 25,000 Carrboro High School 36,823,800 (36,748,800) 75,000 Doors, Hardware Canopies 867,277 (817,277) 50,000 Classroom /Academic Improvements 1,045,000 (965,000) 80,000 Electrical Systems 395,000 (328, 000) 67,000 Window Replacements 1,875,000 (1,521,342) 353,658 Morris Grove Elementary 24,257,751 (24,217,751) 40,000 Abatement Projects 685,000 (375,000) 310,000 Indoor Air Quality 2,548,309 (2,408,609) 139,700 ADA requirements 398,150 (282,645) 115,605 Mechanical Systems 3,540,043 (2,819,075) 720,968 Mobile Classrooms 2,246,800 (2,111,800) 135,000 Parking and Paving 1,301,860 \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \\ 0 1,276,860 \ \ \� \N!"', 309,500 25,000 \` \ \\\\\ 309,500 PROJECT Transportation Center There is a more recent funding issue related to Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools system which the School and County staff just became aware of related to the Fiscal Year 2008 -09 appropriation to the Mechanical Systems project. County staff will discuss this matter with CHCSS staff and bring the item back to the Board. ORAKW CQUl! TY AILS FY 2009 -10 FY 2009 -10 FY 2009 -10 Current Amendment Revised FLLL PROJECT CLOSIM (1,475,000) 0 Hillsborough Elementary Renovations $ 1,475,000 Pathways Elementary 13,014,081 (13,014,081 (553,459) 0 133,541 CL0=6 PRIOR TEARS ACTMW Efland Cheeks Elementary 687,000 Grady Brown Elementary 256,000 (201,960) 54,040 Orange High School 3,623,800 (3,205,565) 418,235 Stanford Middle School 3,457,047 (3,033,982) 423,065 Technology 10,092,200 (9,848,101) 244,099 Central Elementary Air 439,000 (199,000) 240,000 Hillsborough Elementary 1,456,250 1,161,250 295,000 In addition to addressing the immediate problem of bringing records into alignment, the staffs of each of the school systems and County staff agreed that there needed to be steps to insure that project records are kept in alignment in the future. County staff and School staff have been working more closely for some time which has served to keep more recent project activity in better alignment. Communication on an ongoing basis is the key element to keeping records in agreement. A joint meeting with both school systems' staffs was held to discuss how to accomplish this. The staff of the school systems and County staff agreed to meet twice a year to compare records and resolve any differences. The County Financial Services staff would set the meetings which would occur in the September and March -April timeframe. Additionally staff agreed to maintain good ongoing communication whenever there was a question related to capital project activities. The staffs also agreed that actions would be taken on a timely basis to close out project budgets when a project was complete. Preventing problems like those that occurred is not a matter of implementing many new procedures — it is being diligent in performing reviews and reconciliations which exist and following up with the necessary corrective actions. The above process involving the two school systems' staffs will be valuable in catching and correcting errors and problems and resolving differences related to capital projects. A copy of the capital project monitoring procedures (previously included as an attachment to a June 16, 2009 Board agenda item) are provided as an attachment to this abstract as information. FINANCIAL IMPACT: An appropriation of $723,945 of fund balance in the General Fund for transfer to the School Capital Project fund is necessary to complete the funding needed to bring project funding into alignment. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board: 1) Approve the attached School Capital Project Ordinances; and 2) Approve the appropriation of $723,945 from fund balance in the General Fund for transfer to the School Capital Project fund. Commissioner Hemminger asked if any consideration had been given to individuals who have a failing sewer system as opposed to just wells. Frank Clifton said that the Board could pursue that, but it could not be related to the landfill because there are failing septic systems throughout the County. Commissioner Yuhasz suggested getting the results back from the study in the previous item before moving too far ahead. This would also put an additional burden on the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund. He made reference to page 3 and a mention of the report of the Landfill Benefits Committee and, `legal analysis concerning the use of system funds," and he did not see either of those things. He would like to see these things. Frank Clifton said that this item is key to the study. The issue would be to set up a process where funds could be set aside for future issues. The Enterprise Fund is required to manage for 30 years after the landfill closes any environmental impacts that may occur. This policy would address the short -term problems. A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to approve the proposal regarding a no fault privately -owned well repair policy for properties near the Orange County Landfill. VOTE: UNANIMOUS e. School Capital Project Ordinance Amendments The Board considered aligning School Capital Project Ordinances to agreed upon balances. Financial Services Director Gary Humphreys said that this has been brought back from the last meeting with the requested additional information. This would resolve all school issues except for the one project of over - budgeting of funds in 2008 -09. When he looked into it, he found that in May 2009, although the project ordinances were brought to the Board, up to $5.8 million in pay -as- you -go funds was added. When the budget was adopted, there was $4.8 million in pay -as- you -go funds, which is correct. This involves both school systems — OCS had $400,000 over - budgeted and CHCCS had $600,000 over - budgeted. The problem was worked out with OCS and not with CHCCS. The correct amount of money was allocated, but there was just more money budgeted. Discussion ensued about how this happened and how to keep it from happening again. Frank Clifton said that there are records of the Board voting to do different things at different amounts, which is what created this confusion. He said that Gary Humphreys has gone back several years and looked at numerous minutes to look at and determine what action was taken and the dollar amounts. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 31 and commended the staff for putting the Capital Project Monitoring and Administration Procedures in place to make sure this does not happen again. PUBLIC COMMENT: CHCCS Board Chair Lisa Stuckey said that the CHCCS staff and Orange County staff have been working together on this issue. She asked about the remaining item and if, in the resolution of that item, some of the items that will be resolved tonight are affected, if it would be possible to come back and adjust what is happening tonight. Frank Clifton said that this does not preclude the Board of County Commissioners addressing the remaining issue in different ways. Chair Foushee said that she would prefer that staff take this question and respond to the CHCCS Board in writing. f_ ,1 Commissioner Hemminger asked if any consideration had been given to individuals who have a failing sewer system as opposed to just wells. Frank Clifton said that the Board could pursue that, but it could not be related to the landfill because there are failing septic systems throughout the County. Commissioner Yuhasz suggested getting the results back from the study in the previous item before moving too far ahead. This would also put an additional burden on the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund. He made reference to page 3 and a mention of the report of the Landfill Benefits Committee and, "legal analysis concerning the use of system funds," and he did not see either of those things. He would like to see these things. Frank Clifton said that this item is key to the study. The issue would be to set up a process where funds could be set aside for future issues. The Enterprise Fund is required to manage for 30 years after the landfill closes any environmental impacts that may occur. This policy would address the short-term problems. A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to approve the proposal regarding a no fault privately -owned well repair policy for properties near the Orange County Landfill. VOTE: UNANIMOUS e. School Capital Project Ordinance Amendments The Board considered aligning School Capital Project Ordinances to agreed upon balances. Financial Services Director Gary Humphreys said that this has been brought back from the last meeting with the requested additional information. This would resolve all school issues except for the one project of over - budgeting of funds in 2008 -09. When he looked into it, he found that in May 2009, although the project ordinances were brought to the Board, up to $5.8 million in pay -as- you -go funds was added. When the budget was adopted, there was $4.8 million in pay -as- you -go funds, which is correct. This involves both school systems — OCS had $400,000 over - budgeted and CHCCS had $600,000 over - budgeted. The problem was worked out with OCS and not with CHCCS. The correct amount of money was allocated, but there was just more money budgeted. Discussion ensued about how this happened and how to keep it from happening again. Frank Clifton said that there are records of the Board voting to do different things at different amounts, which is what created this confusion. He said that Gary Humphreys has gone back several years and looked at numerous minutes to look at and determine what action was taken and the dollar amounts. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 31 and commended the staff for putting the Capital Project Monitoring and Administration Procedures in place to make sure this does not happen again. PUBLIC COMMENT: CHCCS Board Chair Lisa Stuckey said that the CHCCS staff and Orange County staff have been working together on this issue. She asked about the remaining item and if, in the resolution of that item, some of the items that will be resolved tonight are affected, if it would be possible to come back and adjust what is happening tonight. Frank Clifton said that this does not preclude the Board of County Commissioners addressing the remaining issue in different ways. Chair Foushee said that she would prefer that staff take this question and respond to the CHCCS Board in writing.