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MINUTES
OCTOBER 7, 1982
The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in special joint session with
the Orange County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro Boards of Education on Thursday,'October
7, 1982, at 7:30•P.M. in the Cameron Park School Cafeteria in Hillsborough,
North Carolina.
Commissioners Present: Chairman Richard E. Whitted, and Commissioners
Norm Gustaveson, Shirley E. Marshall, Norman Walker and Don Willhoit.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of. Education Members present-- Phyllis Sockwell,
Chair, and Edwin Caldwell, Edith Elliott, Verla Insko, Ted Parrish, Barbara
Thornton and Ann Wileman.
Orange County Board of Education Members present:' Max Kennedy, Chair, and
Robert Bateman, Lindsay Efland, Walter Faribault, Jr., Norman Haithcock, Frank
Miller and John Thomas Walker.
Staff members from all three entities were also present.
Mr. Kennedy welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked that they introduce
themselves.
Chairman Whitted provided background on the purpose of this meeing, i.e.-
capital planning for th e;needs of all three governmental bodies.and process which
will meet those needs and not over tax the resources. He said the $600 million
State wide bond issue which .had been talked about for some time now was probably
not going to occur for some.years; the local option $.01 additional sales tax (the
Boyles/Phillips proposal) which earmarks a portion of that tax for schools'
needs is also under consideration.
Mr. Kennedy asked if the County could provide the Boards of Education a
figure (dollars) which they can realistically expect -and plan on during their
budget process.
Mr. Caldwell asked the Commissioners what the County's capital projects
or needs were. Chairman Whitted said the jail was a big project which was nearing -
completion; a beginning on the Old Courthouse this year; Chapel Hill office space;
Northside facility; handicapped accessibility for the Courthouse;,and - Orange
Industries are projects- which are either funded through 1983 or planned within
the next two years. Chairman Whitted said the point was to begin to plan for
capital projects early.
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Ms. Sockwell said that. both school systems have recurring maintenance
needs which she thought would be appropriate for discussion; she said those
needs are expensive and if the County could provide a working figure which the
schools could depend on as being the ,minimum available it would be most helpful.
Ms. Sockwell also asked how many buildings the County had to maintain each year.
Commissioner Willhoit said he felt it inappropriate to promise an amount
to the schools each year; he said to do so would "presume knowledge of the ta)-
rate" which would be set'and also of State policy regarding salary schedules for
its employees. Commissioner Willhoit continued saying, he-felt it more appropriate
at this point to list needs and for next year to put an emphasis on catch up
maintenance. He said he felt, that new construction would be dependent on the
local $..10 additional sales tax, if approved, or the $600 million bond issue.
Mr. Caldwell said that if all the needs for each of three entities were
known perhaps some of the others' needs could be postponed for those most pressing
needs.
Chairman Whitted said it would be a good idea to identify those needs/
projects which could be done out of current revenues and to come up with a strategy
to address those projects.
Dr. Mayer .listed priorities for the ChAipel Hill-Carrboro Schools: roofing,
furniture, floors, energy conservation at the high school, multipurpose space in
two schools, computers for the classrooms, system-wide erosion control, additional
pods. Ms. Sockwell said the current needs amounted to $797,000 for the big items,
not including small items (such as -sewing machines and microscopes); and a total
of $7;169,000 for long range needs.
Dr. Simmons said the needs for the' Orange County Schools was the same
as in January of 1981 (see minutes of January 29, 1981, for specific projects).
Briefly, those needs area replacement school for Stanback, cafeteria expansion
at the high school, modifications for handicapped accessibility, media center at
the high school, vocational facility, energy retrofit, roofs, storage at the main
facility, site improvements. He summarized the needs of his system at about
$12 million.
Chairman Whitted said those needs can't be funded from current revenue
sources by the County. Mr. Caldwell said the Federal government was dumping
icosts on the State government which in turn was dumping costs onto local govern-
ments and local governments did not have the funds to pick those costs up.
He further said he thought the $600 million bond issue was dead on the State level
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and the best source of funding now would be, in his opinion, the local option
$.01 additional sales tax. In Orange County,that would mean about $400,000 to
each school system; he suggested a phasing in of major projects based on that
revenue projection if the Legislature approves the additional tax.
Some Commissioners noted that local funding of current expense had about
doubled in the past six years and that this area is not local responsibility.
Current expense funding on the local level would decrease the amount available
for capital projects.
There was a consensus among the Boards that they need to lobby through
their respective professional organizations.and their. -representatives to get .
the Federal down-shifting of .funding reversed. Additionally, some Board members
(all Boards) .felt.that if the State/Federal government mandated programs -it
should provide the funds to implement and carry through those mandated programs;
this message also is to be carried to our Representatives at all levels.
Mr. Kennedy asked that all three bodies provide capital amounts for the
past five years; the Commissioners said that the figures for the past five years
would inflate the County's capital funding since it was under court order to
build a jail. It was agreed to extend that time to about ten years.
There was a consensus that the three staffs would agree on common definitions
for capital projects. Dr. Simmons summed up the four,.-things to be researched
prior to the next meeting: 1) an historical analysis of capital funding; 2)
projects for the next five years--under common definitions; 3) long. range
(expensive)-projects; .and,-4) those capital -needs whi-ch can"be.funded through
current revenue resources.
Ms. Wileman suggested an update on all Associations'' activities before
January. Chairman Whitted thanked all those who attended this evening's session
and said the next meeting will be held when the staffs- are ready with the four
informational items for discussion.
The Boards adjourned by consensus.
Richard E. Whitted, Chair
.Paulette Pridgen-Pond, Clerk
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