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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20030529APRROVED 0 811 912 0 0 3 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING May 29, 2003 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met on Thursday, May 29, 2003 at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The purpose of this meeting was to hold a public hearing on the County Manager's recommended 2003- 2004 budget. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Margaret Brown and Commissioners, Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordon, Stephen Halkiotis and Barry Jacobs. COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Gwen Harvey and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker {All other staff members will be identified appropriately below} NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. The Board of County Commissioners considered changing the starting time of the June 5, 2003 meeting to begin at 7:00 p.m. and the budget public hearing to begin at 7:30 p.m. to be held at the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom in Hillsborough, North Carolina. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to change the Board of County Commissioners' regular meeting schedule to begin the June 5, 2003 meeting at 7:00 p.m. and the budget public hearing at 7:30 p.m. to be held at the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom in Hillsborough, North Carolina. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 1. Presentation of Manager's Recommended FY 2003-04 Budget Jahn Link expressed his appreciation to Budget Director Donna Dean, Budget Analysts Paul Laughton and Rooney Mestas, Personnel Director Elaine Holmes, Finance Director Ken Chavious, Assistant County Managers Gwen Harvey and Rod Visser, Director of Purchasing and Central Services Pam Jones, Clerical Assistant in the Budget office Devon Isaacs, and the department heads and the school superintendents for their cooperation. He said that the proposed budget tries to strike a balance between meeting the existing service needs of the County citizens and also pursuing important service initiatives that have been discussed far same years - improved response in technology, emergency medical services, and providing appropriate support for recreation and parks. He made reference to the chart and said that 48.3°~ of the County budget goes towards education. The next highest area is in Human Services at 21.8°~. The recommended budget calls for an increase in the tax rate of three cents, going from 83 cents to 86 cents per hundred dollars of valuation. Over one cent goes toward addressing the debt service far the sold bands from 2001. General Revenue Highlights: Regarding the general revenue, the largest source of revenue is the property tax (65%) and sales tax (15%). The Board has petitioned the general assembly far many years to try and pursue alternative revenue sources to reduce the reliance on property tax. The tax base has increased by about 4-4.5%, which means it has gone up $400,000,000 to a total of $9.8 billion. He reported that the tax collection percentage would be close to the 98.7% that was achieved last year. This is the top rate in the State. The County's financial picture remains solid. This budget calls for an appropriation of two million dollars from the fund balance to balance the budget, leaving 10°~ of the general fund for the fund balance next year. Because of the severe budget cuts from the State, the County had to cut $4 million out of the budget last year. The State did allow counties to enact a '/2 cent sales tax, and this will generate approximately $3.4 million next year. General Fund Expenditure Highlights: Education: Orange County leads all other counties in the State in per pupil contributions with $4,405 per pupil. The next closest county is Carteret County, with $3,782 per pupil. The increase in the general fund appropriation for education increased by 6.3°~ and totals $63 million. The funding level for education of the Board of County Commissioners is 48.1 °~. He is recommending that the per pupil allocation (operating expenses) be increased from $2,516 to $2,566. The figures from the Department of Public Instruction indicate that Orange County Schools (OCS} is expected to have an additional 309 students and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) is expected to have an additional 295 students. He then explained the formula for calculating the recommended current expense funding for the schools. The percentage of total request funded far the CHCCS is 98.24% and far the OCS is 84.9°k. He explained that the OCS asked for more funding, proportionally speaking. Another recommendation is to increase the CHCCS district tax by .8 cents, going from 19.2 cents to 20 cents per hundred-dollar valuation. This would generate approximately $12.47 million, which is the equivalent of $1,165 and would address the start-up costs of Rashkis Elementary School. He pointed out that by State law, the County Commissioners cannot appropriate money on a line item or on a programmatic basis for the schools. Human Services: John Link said that the Medicaid increase this year is only $140,000. He has also recommended the continuation of the Human Services Safety Net by recommending an additional $200,000 in the budget for the coming year. Also, the funds from last year would be carried aver. Debt Service: The County issued $22.65 million in 2001 voter approved bonds {sold in March 2003) along with alternative financing. The associated debt service is $1.1 million for 2003-04, which equates to 1.2 cents on the proposed tax rate increase. Public Safety: He commended EMS Director Nick Waters and his staff and the Rescue Squad for the difficult transition whereby the County will assume responsibility for EMS ambulance transportation in the County as of June 30, 2003. The County will make sure that there is 2417 coverage. Also, the Emergency Communications Study indicates that the County needs improvements in the infrastructure. This is a very important unfunded County capital project. He commended the Sheriff's Department and Emergency Management Services for pursuing grants to help address homeland security. Also, volunteer fire departments will need increases in their tax rates far emergency management transportation because the number of volunteers are declining and they are having to add additional paid staff to make sure all shifts are covered. Employee Pay and Benefits: The staff is pursuing Phase 1 of the Classification and Pay Plan and there is funding for pursuing Phase 2 next year in the budget. There is also some money to assist the County Commissioners in pursuing the housing wage initiative ($40,000 in reserve for this effort). New Initiatives: Parks and Recreation -four new positions to operate and maintain new parks Information Systems -three new positions to improve the County's website and make it mare user friendly Department of Social Services -Income Maintenance Caseworker to address increase in requests for mandated services Planning and Inspections -Plans Examiner to ensure that homes are constructed in compliance with life safety codes Library Services -two part-time positions at Northern Human Services Center and Carrboro Cybrary EMS -Wireless Communications Coordinator to ensure that emergency calls made from wireless phones can be dispatched appropriately and physical locations can be established Solid Waste Enterprise Fund: Orange County is the first county in the State to reach a 40°l0 level of waste reduction. The County has also implemented a successful Regulated Recyclable Materials Ordinance (RRMO). Also, a recycling drop-off site has been added at Meadawmont and household hazardous waste disposal services has been expanded at a lower cast, and the staff is working on a new C&D landfill acquisition. There are no new programs or services recommended this year. The mixed solid waste-tipping fee remains at $45 per ton. He is recommending that the County make the first installment of reimbursement from the General Fund for the County's 60 acres of the Greene Tract, which is $240,038. He is also recommending that $1 million be appropriated from the fund balance to balance the Solid Waste budget without pursuing an availability fee. However, an availability fee will probably be needed. There is a paradox that the County has reduced the amount of solid waste, and the revenue is going down. The tipping fee has remained the same in order to be competitive. He is asking that the Board begin as soon as possible working on the availability fee, the needs for future facilities, and updating the solid waste plan for submission to the State. On the Horizon: - Develop alternative financing sources for County's Solid Waste Enterprise Fund - Determine best service delivery mix for emergency and non-emergency EMS - Implement the Orange-Person-Chatham Mental Health business and financial plans associated with State mandated reforms of mental health system - Major reworking of the County's comprehensive land use plan - Joint park and recreation facilities Commissioner Jacobs asked about the "low additional funding" that the County is required to provide for Medicaid and if this reflects the reduction in service that the State is contemplating and John Link said that he does not think so, but he will respond back later on this. Commissioner Jacobs asked about fund balances for the school districts and John Link will get this ready for June 10tH PUBLIC COMMENT: Melvin Hurston spoke on behalf of the Orange County Board of Health. He serves as chair this year. He thanked the County Commissioners and the Manager far their support and for maintaining programs for them. He commended Health Director Rosemary Summers far serving Orange County's citizens very well. He said that there has been a loss of funding in the Smart Start programs and this will impact the intensive home visiting program. This program works to prevent child abuse and neglect. He said that there were over 102,000 cases of child abuse and neglect reported throughout North Carolina last year and 1,027 of them were in Orange County. He said that the staff of the Health Department is working hard to manage cuts without affecting services in Orange County. Wayne Kuncl spoke on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust. He is the chair and he is also the County Commissioners' representative on this board. He introduced the Executive Director of Orange Community Housing and Land Trust Robert Dowling. He thanked the Board of County Commissioners far continued financial support. The support from the County along with the support of the town governments of Chapel Hill, Carrbaro, and Hillsborough pay approximately 75% of their operating expenses. He said that over the past three years they have merged the Orange Community Housing Corporation with the Land Trust and the financial requests to the local governments have stayed constant. However, their expenses have increased and now they need to ask for more. They need adequate staff to implement resale of property to ensure long-term affordability and also for education of homeowners in home maintenance. He requested an increase of $13,000 from Orange County. This represents the first increase since 2000-2001. Maureen Rosen thanked John Link for explaining the budget. She asked the Board of County Commissioners to fully fund the CHCCS requested budget, specifically that there be a continuation in the police officers that are present in the middle schools. She believes that having a police officer serves as a deterrent to bad behavior. She read an email from a teacher about their resource officer. This particular SRO started a program after school for children who were interested in safety and the law. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the Board of County Commissioners does not approve the line items in the school budgets and the school systems pick and choose what they want to keep. William Bodkin is an employee of CHCCS - a teacher assistant at Chapel Hill High School. He is also anon-certified representative on the SGC. He is asking for the County Commissioners to fully fund the CHCCS budget. He understands that the County Commissioners do not decide on the line items, but he said that some of the line items couldn't be done without the money. One of the areas is teacher assistants and he is speaking for CHHS only. At CHHS, they have assistants that might not be funded. The other items are clerical and English as a Second Language. He said that there are 33 students that are in full ESL classes and 51 students that must be monitored constantly. This is a big need because the non-English speaking population is growing. Nerys Levy is a Friend of the Carrboro Branch Library and a member of the 2000-2001 Library Task Force. She questioned the emphasis in the budget pertaining to the Carrboro Library on the development of the cybrary in the Carrboro Century Center. She said that the recommendations from the task force were that the library be developed at its present site for 12 more hours at McDougle. She said that the library needs to be opened longer. She suggested that it be open from 3:30-8:00 on Monday through Thursday, 1:00-6:00 on Saturdays and Sundays. She said that this facility has 14 computers, which are being underused because the facility is not open for the public at convenient hours. She said that we need to develop this facility properly before launching out with a computer satellite station in the Century Center. There is massive public interest in a fully functional library. She asked that the money allocated to the proposed Carrboro cybrary be reallocated to the current Carrboro branch library. Meg Millard is also a Friend of the Carrboro Branch Library and she is a teacher in Chapel Hill. She thinks it is important to work on developing the existing library and improving it. This library needs to be open for longer hours. Karen Long is also a Friend of the Carrboro Branch Library. She asked why we were putting money into a duplication of effort. She said that the cybrary is in a facility that does not have close parking and is difficult to access at night when it is dark. She said that it is in a physical space in the Century Center that is not ideal for a library. She asked why the County was going to spend $53,000 to duplicate what it could spend less for and open the hours of the Carrboro Branch Library. Donna Jones spoke on behalf of Orange County Schools. She said that two years operating with less than minimum funding would push them backward in time and cause the staff and teachers to lose trust in the vision and give them less to offer the students. She asked for more funding from the County for OCS. Liz Brown applauded the County Commissioners' fiscal responsibility and far always being so generous to education. She asked the County Commissioners to fully fund the OCS budget and reduce the CHCCS district tax because it hurts the County schools. She said that at recent school board meeting, many parents showed support for hiring Spanish teachers at the elementary level, moving ahead with the IB program at Cedar Ridge, and funding two new reading teachers. The Manager's recommended budget would make them omit these items. She is glad the topic of merger has come up, not because she likes it, but because something has to move this logjam. She said that the merger issue should make us all examine our prejudices, and we all have them. She said that her friends in both districts are great people and they love their children. She said that it is time that we accepted each other and leveled the "paying" field for every child in this County regardless of where their mailbox sits. Michael Woods is a parent of an OCS child and he is concerned about the disparity in funding between the two school systems. He asked that the County Commissioners fund both systems so that they can meet the needs. Hervey McIver is a member of the Central Elementary School Governance Committee. He is asking the Board of County Commissioners to fund the expanded budget request. He understands the County Cammissioners da not address line items, but there is a need far two additional reading teachers at Central Elementary School. He said that many of the students are falling short. He said that last year 14 of their first graders were qualified far reading recovery assistance but were not able to receive it because their teachers were already working with too many other students. Craig Debussey encouraged the County Commissioners to consider adding another public hearing at the southern end of the County to give more opportunity for input. He thanked the Board of County Cammissioners for their support of parks. He is a physical therapist, and he said that this promotes well-being of the residents. Regarding education, he is a parent of a child in CHCCS. He volunteers at his child's Schaal. He asked the County Commissioners to give the schools all the money that they ask far so that they can pay for the support personnel. Barbara Dewey is a retired teacher and is speaking on behalf of the Carrboro Branch Library. She spoke in support of increasing the hours of the existing library and postponing funding of the cybrary. She said that the existing library is staffed, full of books, and full of online reference material. Ms. Solmusky is a permanent substitute teacher at Culbreth Middle School. She requested full funding of the CHCCS budget. She has been a permanent sub for three years and has never received a salary increase. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Carey to adjourn the meeting at 8:25 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Margaret Brawn, Chair Donna S. Baker Clerk to the Board