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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 19960610APPROVED 816196 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING JUNE 10, 1996 The Orange County Board of Commissioners held a Public Hearing on the Manager's recommended 1996-1997 Orange County budget on Monday, June 10, 1996 at 7:30 p.m. in the community meeting room at OWASA, 400 Jones Ferry Road in Carrboro, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Commissioners Stephen Halkiotis and Bill Crowther. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Commissioners Alice Gordon and Don Willhoit. PRESENTATION OF THE 1996-1997 BUDGET: John Link gave an overview of the 1996-1997 Recommended Budget as outlined in the yellow flyer which was distributed prior to the meeting. That information, in its entirety, is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office. PUBLIC HEARING: Lily Fare[, incoming Student Body President at East Chapel Hill High School, spoke in support of the Board of Commissioners fully funding the new high school. She specifically requested that funding for the third wing of the school be reconsidered. BJ Perlmutt, incoming Student Body President for Chapel Hill High School, spoke in support of funding the full amount requested by the school board. He felt that funding for necessary resource and clerical support staff may not be included if the full request is not approved. Clifton Metcalf, member of the Board of Trustees of the Chapel Hill Public Library, thanked the Commissioners for their previous support and requested that they continue to strengthen that support. He reported a 41 % increase in circulation from May, 1994. There has also been a large increase in requests for reference materials and a marked rise in children's visits. The new library is a great success and will continue to need increased County support. A copy of his report, in its entirety, is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office. Rose Hetzell, a member of the Association of Office Professionals in Schools, spoke in support of funding the entire operating budget request. She also mentioned that the salaries of classified personnel have been frozen for some time which means that new employees are often hired at higher salaries than experienced employees in similar positions. Salaries need to be advanced. A copy of her comments is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office. Peter Morcombe spoke against full funding of this budget request. He stated that taxes have increased 188% in the last 10 years and felt that local newspaper reporters should research why the cost of public education in Orange County is so high. A copy of his comments is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office. Mark Hamilton, Chair of the Counseling Department at Chapel Hill High School, thanked the Commissioners for their continued support for public education. He mentioned that the State Legislature is considering a state-wide bond referendum which would alleviate some of the funding problems. He mentioned that the resource and support staff are essential to providing quality education to our students. He also stated that very lean budgets were initially submitted to the school board, after which they were required to cut the supply budgets another 24%. This makes it nearly impossible for teachers to provide the materials needed to enhance the learning environment. Dave Thaden, Principal of East Chapel Hill High School, thanked the Manager for funding the start-up costs for both of the new schools. He mentioned that technology specialists are important and need to be funded, as do programs designed for the non-college bound student. He requested that the Board of Commissioners look at the manner in which the impact fee is distributed to the school systems. He asked that disbursement be done when the impact fees are actually collected. This would greatly help in paying for new school start-up costs for this year. A copy of his comments, in their entirety, is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office. MaryAnne Rosenman, past President of the PTA Council, stated that the class sizes must be reduced in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District in order to provide the quality of education that each of the students deserve. Full funding of this budget request is critical in order to have a lower student to teacher ratio. She also felt that per capita funding did not take into account that 85% of new building permits were issued within the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System. Robin McCoy, a parent and Assistant Principal in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System, spoke in support of the school board's budget request. She urged the County Commissioners to fully fund this year's budget request. Pat DeTitta, a Chapel Hill High School teacher, asked that discretionary funds be allocated to fund the necessary classified employee positions. She mentioned that not funding technology specialists will lead to larger size classes as money from existing funds will need to be used to fund those positions. She requested full funding of the school board's budget request. Kathryn Britton, a parent in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System, requested full funding of the school board's request. She requested that the district tax be increased. The Orange County system should not have to pay for growth in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro system. She mentioned that she worked on a Task Force for Academically Gifted students. One of the Task Force's recommendations was to hire an Enrichment Teacher who would support classroom teachers in developing programs to reach gifted students. Gloria Faley, a parent and vice-president of the PTA Council, felt that many necessary items were removed from the school's budget request prior to its adoption. It is not possible to cut the budget further without detrimental consequences. It is important to build new schools while continuing to meet the needs of existing schools. Louise D'Addario, a Chapel Hill High School parent and member of the PTA Transportation Advisory Committee, requested that the transportation needs for the school system be addressed. In particular, the drivers must be paid a competitive salary and direct communication needs to be installed on each bus. A copy of her comments is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office. Barbara Putnee, a member of the PTA Council, endorsed the school's budget request. She mentioned that the Council often purchases the computers and wiring to meet the student's needs. It is important that the elected officials work with them in maintaining a high quality of support for each school. Nora Dahners, a member of the Frank Porter Graham PTA Council, spoke in support of the school board's budget request. She requested that the Technology Specialist be fully funded and that classified employees receive longevity pay. Raising the district tax is an appropriate way to fund these requests. Steve Scroggs, Principal of McDougle Elementary School, spoke in support of funding the discretionary budget. It is imperative that Technology Specialists be funded. Miles Fletcher, a parent of a Chapel Hill High School student, spoke in support of funding the entire school budget request. The new high school needs to open with adequate staff and equipment. The district tax needs to be raised to cover these expenses. Tommy Gardner, Chairman of Tax Watch, asked that the Board of Commissioners not approve the Manager's recommended budget. The property valuations rose by 3%, however the proposed tax increase would be an increase of 7%. This is the 9th consecutive year that taxes have been raised in Orange County. It is not in the best interest of the community for this trend to continue unchecked. He asked that Impact Fees be used for buildings only and that funding for outside agencies by reduced to 112 cent of the property tax rate. A copy of his comments, in their entirety, is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office. raised. Vincent Wingate suggested restructuring the Impact Fee so that additional funds could be Thomas Wicker, the lead teacher for technology at the Guy B. Phillips Middle School, thanked John Link for funding the continuation budget for the school board. However, he requested that discretionary funds be included in the approved budget to pay for additional counselors, enrichment specialists and technology specialists. It is also important that the technology specialists be classified as "professional" rather than "clerical" so that their salary would be in line with similar positions in the surrounding area. Nick Didow, a member of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board, requested that the Board consider fully funding the school board's request. He mentioned that the school board members have been excellent stewards of tax payers money. He agreed with the majority of the speakers here tonight that the entire budget request is essential. There are no discretionary requests in the budget. Matthew Barton, a member of the Seawell PTA, read a resolution from the Sewell Elementary School PTA requesting that the Commissioners fully fund the capital funding and operating budget requests from the school board. A copy of this resolution is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office. Written comments were received from Susan Hayden. Ms. Hayden spoke in support of full funding for the afterschool program at the Culbreth Middle School. Her daughter, Christie, who is developmentally disabled, greatly benefits from this program. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further comments, the meeting was adjourned. The next Public Hearing will be held on June 12, 1996 at 7:34 p.m. at the Superior Courtroom, Hillsborough, North Carolina. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Kathy Baker, Deputy Clerk