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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 19940602849 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING JUNE 2, 1994 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met on June p.m. in superior courtroom, Hillsborough, North Carolina hearing on the County Manager's recommended budget. 2, 1994 at 7:30 to hold a public COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Vice Chair Stephen H. Halkiotis and Commissioners Alice M. Gordon, Verla C. Insko and Don Willhoit COUNTY COMMISSIONER ABSENT: Moses Carey, Jr. COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Albert Kittrell, Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe, Human Resources Analyst II Lana Chandra, Budget and Management Analyst Donna. Dean, Budget Director Sally Kost, and Budget Technician Teresa Pope PRESENTATION BY JOHN LINK (A copy of this information is in the Permanent Agenda File in the Clerk's office) John Link explained the material that was distributed. In summary, he recommends that the County tax rate be increased by 4.4 cents, no tax increase for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District and a one cent increase for the Cedar Grove Fire District, a .7 cent increase for the Eno Fire District and 1.2 cent increase for the New Hope Fire District. Page two of the material summarizes the source of funds for the budget. He is recommending an 8.68% increase for education. The recommendation for current expense for the per pupil allocation is $1,425 or a $62 increase. Nine new permanent positions are included in the recommended budget at a net County cost of $184,000. THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS OPEN FOR CITIZEN COMMENTS Terry Stewart, parent of three children in Chapel Hill-Carrboro (CHC) schools, and a reading teacher spoke on behalf of Children and Adults with Attention Deficient Disorder. She asked the Board to reconsider the funding of the expansion budget specifically as it relates to Section 504 and students covered by Section 504. The High School is asking for funds for a 1/2 time coordinator to handle Section 504 cases. These children are not covered by other exceptional programs. Section 504 is part of the civil rights law and came with no funding. She gave example of children who are covered under this section. She urged the Board to look more closely to the expansion budget to fund this program. Chris Flood, student at Chapel Hill High School, spoke on behalf of 600 students who participate in academic teams and 2,000 students who have the potential to participate and are not doing so. At this time there is no funding for academic teams. Money is being requested in the expansion budget. He said that as the academic teams grow, there is a need for more resources so that more people can participate in these activities. H? explained how many skills are gained from belonging to an academic team. He asked that the Board support the future of academic teams and conside- funding this expansion item. Eleanor Kinnaird, Mayor of Carrboro, spoke on behalf of the Friends of the Library. She feels that, as elected officials, they have a duty to provide the necessities for their constituents. She noted that she works with prisoners who cannot read, spell, construct a sentence or express themselves. She feels that an enhanced learning background for children will very often change lives. Studies have shown that libraries are crucial in this process. The people they want to serve are those who do not have the means to buy books. Barbara Dewey, resident of Orange County for 27 years and a member of the Friends of the Carrboro Library, stated that the Friends are working on establishing a branch of the orange County Public Library in Carrboro. once the library is established, the Friends group will continue.. to serve as a service?and.& support group for that library. She is delighted at the County Manager's decision to include $40,000 in the budget for a branch library in Carrboro. This will allow them to utilize the school building while at the same time extend the hours of the library service for the school. She noted that $40,000 is not enough. They are $12,000 short of their minimum budget. She asked that the Board consider increasing the $40,000. She feels that there is a serious problem with providing library services to all citizens in orange County. She read some statistics which she distributed and asks that the Board consider increasing the $40,000 and that they do their oi-, research into the library services in Orange County. Linda Carver, kindergarten/first grade teacher in orange County, stated that children come to school with a lot more problems now than before. It is taking a lot more professional training for teachers to deal with the problems of children today. She asked that the County Commissioners take this into consideration when considering the supplements requested in.the budget. She asked that the request for technology specialists..be...._.__ reconsidered because they are needed to maintain the equipment and train the teachers. Rick Kennedy asked that the Board add 1/2 cents to the tax rate to pay for teacher supplements for the county schools. These supplements will enable the system to hire and maintain good teachers. He supports zero based funding. The orange County Schools do not have any reserve funds. He asked that the Board consider increasing the impact fees. He suggested meeting with the two school boards to look at the changes that have taken place over the last few years. Dave Laudicina is a father of a kindergarten student at New Hope who will attend Grady Brown next year. He has some concerns about competitive salaries for the teachers. His other concern is technology. He feels that technology specialists are needed. Stephen Kegg, representing the Orange Federation of Teachers, thanked the administration and the Orange County School Board for recommending a 3% 852 board and see that it is spent for that purpose. Diane Willis, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District citizen a mother of three children, spoke in favor of the budget as requested by tk,? Chapel Hill-Carrboro system. She favors more classroom teachers, lower class size, and more funding for the programs like academic teams. It seems that. everything is being cut out including the opening cost of the new McDougle school. She feels it is very important to serve all the children. In most elementary schools, they are taking away special rooms to use for regular classrooms to accommodate all the new students. She asked that the Board put back into the budget the opening cost for the McDougle Middle School and the entire expansion budget. Jay Bryant, Chairman of the Youth Committee of the Chapel Hill Violent Crime and Drug Abuse program, made reference to their report dated March 4, 1994 and the four recommendations. Specifically, he is here to talk about the youth coordinator position and the allocation for that position. He understands that John Link included some funds to carry out some of the specific recommendations of the Youth Committee. Funds are also recommended to begin addressing youth service delivery. He asked the County Commissioners to be more specific and listen to the Committee's request to create a separate position. He feels it is important that a person who is really interested and in touch with the youth in the community be hired in this position. He feels there is a great need for conflict resolution mediation training in the community. David Hunt asked that the County Commissioners consider funding tY .. technology specialists for the support that the teachers need. Rock Will stated that education is the very basis of a good life and should be considered very strongly and asked that the expansion items specifically for the Orange County School System be funded. He feels there is probably a lot of waste in the system but that most of the items in the expansion category should be strongly considered. He would like for the schools to have every advantage possible so they can be on the leading edge of education. ADMURNMENT With no further items for consideration, vice-chair Halkiotis adjourned the meeting at 9:15. The next regular meeting of the Board will be held on June 6, 1994 at 7:30 at the Caldwell Community Center in Rougemont, North Carolina. ' Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Beverly A. Blythe, Clerk 851 supplement increase for tenured teachers and an increase in the supplements for classified employees and emphasized that these are much needed increases. He noted that teachers are facing reductions in the Career Development Program. He spoke in support of the need for technology support saying they need qualified personnel to support teachers as they move into technology. Tina Walker, technology consulting teacher at A.L. Stanback Middle school, spoke in support of technology support for Stanback. She said that they are using computers to generate quality work. They are asking for additional funds to put technology teachers at each school to train, teach and integrate technology along with the responsibility of running the system. Elizabeth Prioli, member of the Orange County Redistricting Advisory Committee, said that during the early stages of redistricting, she learned that the average length of a bus ride in Orange County is one and one half hours one way. This, means that some children are picked up at 6:25 and return at 5:00. Three hours times 180 days equals 540 hours or 77 days of class time per school year. The worse case involves .a daily round trip of four hours. she feels that there is a dire need for school transportation. she is told that the buses are used in the most efficient ways possible. She feels that the length of time these children ride school buses can be reduced with smaller, fuel efficient vehicles. There is a need for nine additional buses at a cost of $288,000. She asked that the Board address this problem. The pay for bus drivers is $6.25 an hour which she feels is too low. She said that additional buses with shorter routes, combined with staggered school openings and closings would allow one driver to drive two routes. These drivers would receive additional benefits and the efficiency of their work would improve. She feels that less hours on the bus would enhance the childrens learning potential and significantly improve the quality of their lives. C. R. Bell seconds everything said about education. He would like Orange County to add the full 5 cents to the tax rate to fund education or find the waste in the system. He asked that some groups be set up to start looking at the waste in the system and put the money allocated to good use .w;thout..raising taxes.. Lane Dyke, Chairman of the A. L. Stanback Site Committee, talked about what they plan to do at the school in terms of the structure of the school. They are working toward outcome--based education where goals are set before the curriculum is set up so they can insure that the students will meet the goals at hand. Next year they will include children with disabilities into the regular classroom. They have a team selected for the Community in Schools program in which community services will be brought into the schools to meet the needs of the students who perhaps don't have the support they need or can't find the support they need in the community. She continued to explain what kinds of programs will be offered at the school. she is in support of staff development as they move toward the new middle school. She is also interested in equity between the two school systems. She asked that the Board fully fund the budget for orange County schools. Leigh Peek asked that the County Commissioners fund the supplements for the teachers and the continuation shortfall. She said that if the County will provide the money for the supplements, the parents will go to the school