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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 19980604APPROVED 11/17/98 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONER BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING JUNE 4, 1998 MINUTES The Orange County Board of Commissioners met on Thursday, June 4, 1998 at 7:30 p.m. in the new Southern Human Services Center, Homestead Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for the purpose of holding a Public Hearing on the proposed 1998-1999 budget. ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Margaret W. Brown, and members Moses Carey, Jr., William L. Crowther, Alice M. Gordon, and Stephen H. Halkiotis. STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John Link, Deputy Clerk to the Board Kathy Baker, Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Albert Kittrell. Other staff will be identified as required. ® OPENING REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR Chair Brown convened the meeting and welcomed. those in attendance. She then turned the meeting over to County Manager John M. Link, Jr., to present the proposed budget. PUBLIC CHARGE Chair Brown dispensed with the reading of the Public Charge. PRESENTATION OF BUDGET: County Manager Link presented the schedule of upcoming Budget Work sessions. He reviewed the highlights of the 1998-1999 proposed budget which totaled $93,035,893. He mentioned some of the highlights of the budget, including a $151.00 increase in the per pupil allocation. This is an increase in the per pupil allocation from $1,889 to $2,040. The Orange County Schools share of the total current expense appropriation of $30.4 million is $12,911,60, while the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School System share is $17,511.30. The overall current expense appropriation represents an increase over the 1997-1998 budget of $3.2 million. This 11.9% increase exceeds the average yearly increase approved by the Board of Commissioners over the past ten years. He mentioned that the budget provides for 14.25 new General Fund positions as well as providing support for many other areas of County government including health education, engineering, client transportation, automation support, new facility care, and emergency medical coverage. Employee Compensation includes a 2.5% cost of living increase for permanent County employees and modification to the career growth recognition awards and pertormance awards to address the issues identified by the Board of Commissioners regarding employee compensation. Also included is funding for afull-years operation. of the Southern Human Services Center, the jail addition, and the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom. Additional custodial resources for facility care along with increased costs of day-to-day operations, such as utilities, are included in the Public Works budget. It is anticipated that the Skills Development Center will open in December. He then reviewed the Debt Service payment 2 schedule. The General Fund property tax would be established at 91.05 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. This represents a 3.75-cent increase over the current rate of 87.3 cents. The Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools district tax rate would be maintained at 17.9 cents with projected revenues from this source of $7,660,642. He then reviewed the revenue from the tax base, sales tax, intergovernmental sources, charges for services along with investment earnings and the appropriated fund balance. A copy of the proposed 1998-1999 Orange County budget, in its entirety, is in the Clerk's office. County Manager Link indicated that as far as per pupil allocation was concerned, Orange County allocated equally to both school systems as was required by law. He also mentioned that timelines provided by the state for this budget,process were no longer realistic given the complexity of the budgeting issues. He recommended that the Board of County Commissioners request fiscal impact statements from both School Boards for new programs and/or policies prior to their adoption. This would alert the Board of County Commissioners to potential fiscal impacts and would allow for dialogue regarding the timing and the proportion of that impact. It would also give the County staff additional time for analysis of these requests. He mentioned that there were challenges to pursuing equitable funding, including the fact that there are different perspectives on the viability of district taxes and significant difference in the proportion of funding each system requests for base, growth and expansion. He suggested raising the Chapel Hill Carrboro City School district tax in order to fund specific items in their expansion request. He suggested that the Board of County Commissioners recommend to the Orange County School Board that they use a portion of their undesignated fund balance for their expansion requests. QUESTIONS AND/OR COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS• None. QUESTIONS AND/OR COMMENTS FROM CITIZENS: Mr. Roland Burnette, a parent with a child in the Carrboro Elementary School, spoke on behalf of the Bell South program at this school. He indicated that this classroom was comprised of at-risk children who were given special, concentrated attention.. It was an excellent program and all 14 of the students improved dramatically and will move to the next grade level. Miss Emily Burnette, a student in the Bell South program, asked the Board of County Commissioners to continue to support the Bell South class. Ms. Jennifer Clark, an Orange County resident who recently returned home after living elsewhere for over 30 years, spoke on behalf of Day Care Services. When she returned home and needed quality after school care, Day Care Services was available to help her find the services she needed. She asked that the Board of County Commissioners support this much needed agency. Mr. Randy Beck, a parent of children at the Cameron Park Elementary School, asked for additional financial support for the teachers and parent volunteers at this school. He felt that there had not been sufficient improvement to the facilities at this site. He also asked the Board of Commissioners to keep in mind that property taxes have risen over 200% in the last 6 years. 3 Commissioner Gordon reminded the citizens that the Board of County Commissioners give a per pupil allotment which is a lump.sum of money to each of the schools districts. There are sometimes projects which are specifically funded, for example, a new school facility: She expressed her ongoing concern regarding older schools and mentioned that she has proposed a "substantial equivalency policy" that would have all schools in both systems be evaluated. There would then be some attempt to bring the older schools up to an equitable status with the new schools. That is under advisement now. The Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools are considering it; the Orange County Schools have rejected it in favor of a policy in which they make the request to us on an as needed basis. If substantial equivalency were implemented each school would be evaluated to determine how each could be brought up to a higher standard. However, that is the prerogative of the Orange County School Board and at the present time they have declined to participate in this project. Mr. Tim Pressley, an Orange County citizen, asked that the Board of County Commissioners look very carefully at each request for additional staff. In particular, he asked that the services provided by the Emergency Management Services Department not be duplicated by the services that the Chapel Hill Fire Department is now providing. He also asked that the Board of County Commissioners consider changing the 911 emergency telephone system. He felt that it was a poor use of the telecommunicator's time to have non-emergency calls be answered on the 911 system. He suggested that another system be implemented that would redirect calls of anon-emergency nature. He felt that citizens could decide for themselves if the call was an emergency. Ms. Dianne Jackson, President of the Chapel Hill/Carrboro Federation of Teachers, expressed concern over the funding recommendation. She thanked the Board of County Commissioners for what they have already accomplished for education in Orange County. She requested that additional funds be allocated to the school's expansion budget. Mr. Lars Perlmutt, a student at Chapel Hill High School, spoke in support of the school's budget request. He suggested that supplements be increased and that the budget be fully funded. Ms. Susan Spalt spoke in support of fully funding the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools budget request. She asked the Board of County Commissioners to vote as though they were going to explain their vote to a class of students. She voiced the need for more school nurses. Ms. Stephanie Willis, a teacher in the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools, commented that she had first hand knowledge of many of the needs of this school system. She has served on numerous committees and assured the Board of County Commissioners that the needs are real. She spoke of the need for reading teachers, special education teachers and school nurses. Mr. Terry Raphael-Groon, Chair of the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Heath Advisory Committee, spoke in support of more school nurses. He pointed out that school nurses facilitate the adaptation of students with chronic illnesses as well as make sure that 4 students get accurate and timely health information. Christine Campbell, a day care provider, spoke of the need for day care subsidies. She asked that the Board of County Commissioners keep in mind how important this subsidy is to Orange County's parents. Ms. Jan Thompson, Associate Director of the Victory Village Day Care, indicated that her organization served many families who received the child care subsidy. She asked the Board of County Commissioners to fund the Day Care Services request. This subsidy is critical for working parents. Quality child care is expensive even with this subsidy. She pointed out that one of their commitments is to pay their staff a living wage. This greatly improves the quality and continuity of the services provided by their caregivers. Commissioner Gordon commented that the Board of County Commissioners has been very interested in the Living Wage Ordinance. She assured those in attendance that the Board is very committed to helping to support quality child care. Mr. Lee Zalen, Director of Victory Village, also spoke in support of the subsidy being fully funded. He stated that they were committed to quality child care and paying their staff a living wage. JOINT SCHOOLS AND LAND USE COUNCILS: Commissioner Gordon distributed the minutes from the February 11th and April 16th meetings of these Councils. She advised the Board of County Commissioners that this group is staying abreast of developments regarding the need for new schools. In particular, the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools have been reporting on their plans for new school construction. A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Gordon, to adjourn the meeting. The next regular meeting of the Board of County Commissioners will be held on June 8th at the new Southern Human Services Center, Homestead Road, Chapel Hill, NC. Margaret W. Brown, Chair Kathy Baker, Deputy Clerk