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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20070621APPROVED 911 912 0 0 7 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION Thursday, June 21, 2007 (Re-Convened from June 18, 2007) The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Budget Work Session on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill. N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Commissioners Valerie Foushee, Alice M. Gordon, Barry Jacobs and Mike Nelson COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geof Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon, Assistant County Managers Willie Best and Gwen Harvey, and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) 1. Opening Comments A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to go into closed session at 7:04 p.m. for the purpose af: "To instruct staff concerning the position to be taken on behalf of the County in negotiating the material terms of a proposed contract to lease real property for County office space, PIN # 9864-80-7829," pursuant to NCGS Section § 143-318.11(a){5}. VOTE: Ayes, 4; Na, 1 (Commissioner Nelson} RECONVENE INTO REGULAR SESSION: A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to adjourn into regular session at 7:30 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Chair Carey said that there are some upcoming meetings related to the comprehensive plan. The first is on July 31St, which is an open house at the Planning and Agriculture Center at 306-F Revere Road. There is also a comprehensive plan public information meeting on August 7th at New Hope Elementary School from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Chair Carey said that there were some residents in Efland that were concerned about the pump and haul sewage contractor putting sewage an US 70 and Tinnen Road. The Board of County Commissioners approved this in the process of constructing the middle school and the economic development district. The residents were concerned that this was still going on. He contacted Health Director Rosemary Summers and the Health Department, and he commended them for jumping on this issue. He said that the permit for the school has not been approved by the State and the pumping and hauling will continue until the permit is approved. The Health Director will work with the contractor to have the effluent moved to the OWASA system. Laura Blackmon said that County Engineer Paul Thames emailed her about this and she forwarded it to the County Commissioners. 2. NC Education Lotter Chair Carey said that County Commissioners raised concerns about lottery funds and two of the budget proposals include this issue. If these two changes are adopted, then things will have to be done differently. The original budget included budgeting this money in arrears. Budget Director Donna Coffey said that last year the State informed the County that it could count an $2.7 million in lottery proceeds far the current fiscal year. The County budgeted $2.4 million in an effort to be conservative. It looks like the County may receive about $2 million. She received same information from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction about the estimate for next year. It looks like the County can count on $2.1 million. This would break out with OCS getting $838,000 and CHCCS getting $1.3 million. Regarding the deposit process, by State statute, the Lottery Commission must make four deposits. However, the statute does not state when these four allotments have to take place. If the commission so chose, it could wait until the last four days. She said that the County cannot draw down the lottery proceeds until they are deposited in the account. This is haw staff came up with budgeting in arrears. Chair Carey asked haw the deposits were done this year and Donna Coffey said that there was a deposit in early October, in early March, and the last day of May. She is still waiting for the last deposit. There is about $66 remaining in this account because she has drawn it all down. Commissioner Nelson asked if there has been any hint that the money would be distributed any differently next year and Donna Coffey said no. Donna Coffey reminded the Board that these funds are distributed by the average daily membership numbers. The money can be used for debt service acquired after January 1, 2003. Commissioner Jacobs suggested making a request as a Board to have the Lottery Commission fallow a quarterly deposit procedure. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to make a request to have the Lottery Commission follow a quarterly deposit procedure. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Chair Carey said to send this off immediately to the Lottery Commission. 3. Budget Follow Up Items Donna Coffey said that there is information that the Board requested on June 18th, including library interoperability, lack of budget requests from Leaf Light and Haw River Festival, school health nurses and school social workers, OWASA fees from 2005- 06, Recreation and Parks fees, the Water Resources position {$71,300 for salary and benefits; $2,150 for operating costs, and $2,674 far startup costs). Also included in the package is County capital budget information, pay plans from area employers, submitted memo from Bob Marotto about the proposed spay/neuter fund and differential pet tax increase, caretakers at Blackwood, and the Recreation and Park summer camp and after school programs. Chair Carey said that the Board just received this information tonight and has not had time to review it. If it affects any of the proposals tonight, then the Board will have to come back on Tuesday to make changes. Commissioner Jacobs suggested deferring discussion on CIP items. Chair Carey said that the Board could defer the CIP, and he did not deal with the CIP items in his budget proposal. He said to move forward with operational items for the schools and defer action on the CIP until June 26tH Commissioner Gordon suggested approving just the ones that are necessary and deferring the others until the fall. The County is committed to three of these projects. Chair Carey said to defer even discussion of the CIP until Tuesday, June 26tH The Board agreed. 4. Commissioner Budget Proposals Chair Carey said that there are three proposals on the table tonight for the operating and general fund budget. He said that the proposals from him and Commissioner Jacobs arrived at the same conclusion on the tax rate increase {4.2 cents) and the CHCCS district tax increase (2 cents). Commissioner Gordon said that her proposal is just detail on how to handle the two positions that were decided an last year (Staff attorney and Water Resources Coordinator). She suggested looking at hers and getting it out of the way. Chair Carey suggested deciding on the maximum tax increase first then getting into the details. Commissioner Foushee asked about the differences on these two proposals, since they are so much alike. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board should discuss the assumptions and imperatives for the two school systems first. He said that both proposals agree with covering the costs in both districts for opening new schools and paying for mandated increases in salary, insurance, and other areas. In his edition, these items total $6.135 million. Then, since the House has proposed capping Medicaid at current levels and claims it will remedy Medicaid as a County responsibility, the County can have a fallback position of $540,000 in Medicaid funds if this comes through. His calculation was that OCS needed $745,000 to open Gravelly Hill and $1,040,000 to cover mandates. CHCCS needed $2,050,000 to cover the opening of Carrboro High and another $2.3 million to cover mandates. Chair Carey said that up to that point, both of the proposals are the same with the same tax rate increase. He said that on the last page of his proposal, there is a listing of the continuing needs of OCS. The difference in the proposals is that his fell short of meeting all of the needs and Commissioner Jacobs' met them. His proposal left $258,000 for OCS to come up with as it deems necessary. For the CHCCS, his proposal left $494,000 unmet. He said that both proposals recommended deferring the policy for a year or two on the use of the lottery proceeds so that there could be $1 million available to the schools next year. Commissioner Jacobs said that his assumption was that the $800,000 in the budget for fair funding is already committed money. In Chair Corey's proposal, it is additional money. He asked for clarification on this. It was answered that this money was already budgeted. Commissioner Jacobs said that he is recommending that all three boards eliminate the contingency funds because all three have fund balances, including the Board of County Commissioners. If you take the Manager's recommended increase, the contingency from the OCS, the proceeds from another'/ cent ad valorem tax increase, and the cuts that he recommended (netting $705,000},then OCS will get an additional $997,000. There would therefore be a shortfall of $788,000 to cover the opening of Gravelly Hill and the mandates, which is almost exactly the cost of opening Gravelly Hill. Since he has been on this Board, it has been his understanding that, because the OCS did not have a district tax, that fund balance was to cover the opening of new schools. When there was discussion a few years ago about using some of the fund balance for something else, the Superintendent reminded the Board that she was saving the money to open Gravelly Hill. He said that there is a $788,000 shortfall, and there is a fund balance of $1.86 million. The agreed upon fund balance target is 2.7%, and OCS is currently at 7.8% fund balance. If the $788,000 were taken out of fund balance, there would still be a 4.43°~ fund balance. Chair Carey said that he agrees in concept about the use of fund balance, but he has a philosophical problem with telling the school boards what to do with the money the County Cammissianers give to them. He said that this invites the public to tell the County Commissioners that they are cutting the school boards in a line item fashion when they do not have line item authority. He said that the County Cammissianers should decide what to give the schools and then let the schools decide how to use these funds, etc. He said that there has been agreement to have discussions about fund balance in the near future, but to tell the schools what to da with it goes counter to what the County Commissioners try to tell the public that they do not have the authority to do with school boards. Commissioner Jacobs said that this year is an extraordinary circumstance. He said that OCS is certainly free to ignore the suggestion of using fund balance, but he is trying to be helpful. He said that he has not detected from the OCS that the Board is intruding. Commissioner Nelson said that philosophically he agrees that the Board of County Commissioners should not tell the school board haw to spend the money. He thinks that the difference is that the 2.7% was a mutually agreed upon target. Given that, it is okay to suggest using the fund balance. Commissioner Foushee said that she thinks the school boards understand this. Commissioner Jacobs said that the CHCCS recommendation is similar. If you take the Manager's recommended increase, delete the $50,000 contingency, add money from the '/ cent ad valorem tax increase, and the percentage of the County cuts, it comes out to about $1. 4 million. If the district tax is raised two cents, this raises another $1.6 million, which would be $3 million. This leaves a shortfall of $1,346,000 to cover all of the mandates. If the fund balance is used, it takes CHCCS under the 5.5°lo target. He said that he checked with Ken Chavious about when CHCCS did not have enough money, and they were at a 3% fund balance at that time. Ken Chavious thought that 4% should be sufficient, given that the County will make good on any difficulties. Commissioner Jacobs is suggesting that CHCCS use $1.4 million out of fund balance, which leaves $2 million. Chair Carey said that he is recommending using one cent to make certain cuts in the Manager's proposed operating budget to reduce the tax rate by .699 cents to save $871,000. Also, he is recommending adding 1.2 cents to the tax rate to provide $919,000 to the CHCCS and $577,000 to the OCS. This would increase the per pupil by $80.75 above what the Manager recommended. This would make the net increase in the tax rate .5 cents -from 3.7 cents to 4.2 cents. Commissioner Jacobs said that the recommendation is for a per pupil increase of $72 over the Manager's recommendation. He said that since 2002, $72 is in line with four of the last six years. Commissioner Jacobs suggested looking at the County cuts to see if all are in agreement. The Board agreed. Commissioner Jacobs said that one place that he and Chair Carey are in agreement is the suggestion of taking $100,000 for the Pay and Compensation Study and putting it in the Medicaid adjustment money. If the County gets Medicaid adjustment money, then it would proceed with the study. Commissioner Foushee said that she is not opposed to that, but if the Board is not going to commit to having the study done in order to deal with issues related to compression, she is more in favor with making the COLA and the in-range adjustments work. She wants to be fair with employees about in-range adjustments. Commissioner Jacobs said that Chair Carey deleted the in-range increase and increased the COLA. He said that, at worst, employees will be getting almost the same salary increase that teachers will be getting. Chair Carey said that the County should treat its staff at least as well as its teachers. Commissioner Nelson said that he does not concur with setting money aside in the Medicaid reserve. His preference would be to take a leap of faith, eliminate the $545,000, and fund these things. If the County does not get the Medicaid money, then the Manager can make more cuts or take money out of fund balance. He said that this is cleaner and transparent. Commissioner Gordon asked if this amount could be taken out of fund balance. Ken Chavious said that the fund balance projection is 10%, and 1 % of fund balance is $1.6 million. He said that it may cause cash flow difficulties if CHCCS has issues. Taking this money out would not take the County below 8%. There is no bond sale until next spring. He said that there is a little risk. Commissioner Foushee said that the County Commissioners need to be decisive and commit to the Pay and Classification study or not. Commissioner Nelson said that he is committed to the Pay and Classification study. Commissioner Foushee and Chair Carey agreed. Chair Carey asked if the Board wanted to leave $100,000 for funding this study in this budget and all agreed. Commissioner Nelson said that he is fine with funding bath -the COLA and in- range -but it is a tough budget year. He said that teachers are getting a 5% raise and other State employees are getting 4.25°~. He said that the lower-income employees deserve both things that are recommended by the Manager. He is not as concerned about the employees on the upper end. Commissioner Jacobs said that if the COLA were left at 3°~ and the in-range were left at $240,000, then this would be $290,000 ($190,000 for COLA and $100,000 for the Pay and Classification study}. He said that he would suggest leaving the Orange- Alamance water study and the increase in fair funding. He would suggest putting the COLA back to 3% and leaving the in-range at $240,000. Commissioner Gordon said that she does not want to cut other lower cost items an the list. She said that if the numbers do not work out, she would rather raise the ad valorem a little more or find additional sources of revenue elsewhere. Chair Carey said that he is concerned about the tax rate and he does not want to go above the 4.2-cent increase. Discussion ensued an not budgeting the $545,000 for Medicaid and using this money for other operating expenses. Chair Carey clarified that the COLA would be left at 3°l°, the Pay and Compensation plan will be left in for $100,000. Chair Carey went through his savings recommendations that were also on the Manager's list (orange sheet): $130,000 Defer hiring two ES positions (paramedic, telecomm) $100,000 Savings on interest income $45,000 Savings on cable contract $37,000 Savings on BOE printing costs $3,000 Eliminate cost of employee newsletter $15,000 Defer maintenance on new voting machines Chair Carey suggested not eliminating the employee newsletter because it is a small amount of money. Commissioner Foushee said that there is a principle behind this. She said that Commissioner Nelson suggested at the last meeting to do these electronically. She said that the County should go paperless as much as possible. Chair Carey said to take a vote on deleting $3,000 for the employee newsletter. VOTE: Ayes, 4; No, 1 {Chair Carey} Commissioner Jacobs went over the remaining savings items that were not on the orange sheet. One was to eliminate the restaurant inspector ($75,000). Chair Carey said that he differed an this and we should delay it only six months. Commissioner Nelson said that he has interest in delaying this and the well construction specialist for six months. Commissioner Gordon suggested keeping the restaurant inspector and deferring the health technician, which is a temporary position. Laura Blackmon agreed with doing what Commissioner Gordon said. Commissioner Nelson suggested starting the restaurant inspector position and the well construction position in six months and to not fund the temp health technician position. Donna Coffey said that there is someone filling the air qualitytwell program technician position on a temporary basis. This person is being paid $13,000 a year. Laura Blackman said that the well construction position is a requirement and the other positions are publicly requested. Chair Carey asked Rosemary Summers far her opinion. Rosemary Summers said that the well construction program is fee supported. She said that it would be fine to authorize a delay for six months. She said that it would not have much of an impact on the bottom line of the budget. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to fund the well construction position for half the year, fully fund the environmental health technician, and not fund the food and lodging inspector. VOTE: Ayes, 2; Nays, 3 (Chair Carey, Commissioner Foushee, Commissioner Nelson) A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to fund the food and lodging inspector far half the year, the well construction position for half the year, and fully fund the air quality/well program technician. VOTE: Ayes, 3; Nays, 2 (Commissioner Gordon and Commissioner Jacobs) Commissioner Jacobs said that another difference between his and Chair Corey's proposals are that he wanted to eliminate the Board of County Commissioners' contingency along with the schools contingency, and Chair Carey wanted to retain $17,000 of the contingency. He does not want to tell the schools what to do. Laura Blackman said that contingency funds are available for them to budget throughout the year. It is pretty flexible. She said that the fund balance is something that should not be budgeted and used for recurring expenses. A motion was made by Chair Carey, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to reduce the County Commissioners' contingency by 50%. VOTE: Ayes, 3; Nays, 2 (Commissioner Jacobs and Commissioner Gordon) Commissioner Jacobs said that the other issue is with the staff attorney - to create an FTE and to have a discussion about this in the fall and what the position would do. There is already $50,000 budgeted of the needed $100,000. Chair Carey asked what happened to the money held in reserve for positions that were not started and Donna Coffey said that it goes into fund balance, and the next year it is budgeted again. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to approve her proposal far the Staff Attorney and the Water Resources Coordinator: Staff Attorney: 1. Move Position 108 (Communications Specialist) from the Clerk's Office to the Office of the County Manager for the Staff Attorney position. 2. Start the Staff Attorney position on November 1, 2007. The position description is to be discussed by the BOCC prior to that date. 3. The Manager's budget includes $100,000 in full year costs for this position. Therefore, two-thirds of that amount equals $67,000. Water Resources Coordinator: 1. Move Position 386 (Agricultural Extension Agent) from the Cooperative Extension Department to the Environment and Resource Conservation Department for the Water Resources Coordinator position. 2. Start the Water Resources Coordinator position on November 1, 2007. Position description and the nature of the program are to be discussed by the BOCC prior to that date. 3. The full year cost far this position is $76,126. Therefore, two-thirds of that amount equals $51,000. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Donna Coffey listed the savings so far of $330,000. Commissioner Jacobs said that there is $52,000 saved from the three health positions. Chair Carey made reference to his proposal and the first page. The first two recommendations were already dealt with. His next recommendation was to delete one of the Parks Techs. This would save $31,699. Commissioner Jacobs said that he thought about this and there will be parks taming an line next year and these positions are pro-rated until November 1St. Laura Blackmon only recommended three positions. A motion was made by Chair Carey to delete this position to save $31,000. The motion failed for lack of a second. The next different recommendation is an increase in the 401 k by $2.50 rather than $5.00 to save $46,500. Commissioner Nelson asked why it was important to increase the 401 k contribution, and Laura Blackman said that one of the requests from the Employee Consortium is to move toward a percentage of salary. Donna Coffey said that the background information is in appendix F-4. A motion was made by Chair Carey, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to increase the 401 k contribution by $2.50. VOTE: UNANIMOUS The next two recommendations were to delete the Orange-Alamance water study, saving $20,000; and delete the Efland Sewer Expansion Study, saving $25,000. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the Efland Sewer Expansion Study and Planning Director Craig Benedict said that this is to explore design for phases 3 and 4 and a sewer study to augment the 1984 unadopted sewer plan. Commissioner Jacobs said that the reason he left this in was far 23 years the County has not done anything. He said that this is one of the few areas within the County's jurisdiction where there can be some economic development, affordable housing, etc. He said that the Efland-Mebane Work Group recommended putting this in to go forward with the sewer needs of the community. A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Chair Carey to delete the Orange-Alamance water study. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Chair Carey to delete the Efland Sewer Expansion Study. Motion failed for lack of a second. Chair Carey said that the next one does not have any effect on the ad valorem tax rate, but he wants to be clear on the expectation. This is to get the tennis courts paved. This can be done by working with OCS and increasing the amount to fund next year by $25,000, because there is already $50,000 set aside. Then, $75,000 could be funded the second year and it will be clear how much it will cost. This can be dealt with in capital. The next one was the critical needs reserve. Chair Carey is recommending to not increase the Critical Needs Reserve by $125,000, and begin spending down the $270,000 in there now. Commissioner Gordan said that this could be decided when the Board talks about what to add. Chair Carey said that he was proposing deleting the Energy Management Team from the Manager's recommendation, but include a larger amount in the Medicaid reserve. He wants to deal with it in a different way. Commissioner Jacobs said to add $7,000 to it and make it $30,000, and ask the Manager to come up with a more workable method of dealing with energy management. Additions: A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to fund KidsCape by $50,000 from the Critical Needs Reserve. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to fund Orange Community Housing and Land Trust by $35,000. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Chair Carey pointed out that Chapel Hill and Carrbora also budgeted funds far the Land Trust. A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to fund the Public Health Reserve Carps by $17,000 for one year only, dependent upon future grants. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Jacobs said that he added Special Olympics and Leaf Light because he wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, since they may have missed the deadline. Laura Blackman said that because the organizations had not requested funding, she had redistributed the $14,500 to JOCCA ($5,000), Gravelly Middle School ($5,000), and the food bank ($4,500). Commissioner Gordon said that there are a lot of organizations that got their applications in on time, and were not granted funds, so it would not be fair to change the rules. She said that she would support HYAA getting $1,125. Commissioner Nelson agreed with Commissioner Gordon. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to fund HYAA by $1,125. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Commissioner Gordan, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to zero out the increase in the Critical Needs Reserve, leaving $145,000. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Jacobs said that he had two other things. One was to put in $10,000 far a consultant to work an the interoperability of the two library systems, using the Medicaid monies. A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to allocate $10,000 for a library interoperability consultant. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Jacobs said that the only other thing that he would raise is adding $188,000 to fair funding - $94,000 to OCS to cover the nurse and a half position far a social worker and $94,000 for CHCCS. Commissioner Gordon said that she would rather try to put this on the ad valorem and try to do something mare for OCS. She said that if something is not done on the ad valorem for OCS, it will never be moved forward substantially. Commissioner Jacobs said that he had only anticipated $700,000 worth of cuts, but now it is over $1.1 million. He said that if this is allocated back per pupil, OCS will get the money without having to raise the tax rate. For OCS, 50150 works better than 38162. Commissioner Gordan said that she prefers to do more on the ad valorem and Commissioner Nelson agreed. Chair Carey said that he has a problem with the fair funding reserve when it gets into line item implications. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Chair Carey to increase the fair funding allocation by $188,000 ($94,000 to each school district). VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Jacobs said that the savings that have been achieved tonight will be applied to the per pupil. Commissioner Nelson said that the Board has cut $1.17 million and has added $414,000. Donna Coffey said that she has a net of $832,000. She listed all of the cuts that she had: Defer hiring two Emergency Services positions ($130,000) Budget addition interest income {$100,000) Savings from cable casting ($35,000) Decrease in Board of Elections printing {$37,000) Defer the Board of Elections maintenance ($15,000) Change delivery of employee newsletter {$3,000} Delaying health positions for six months ($52,000) Reduce Board contingency by 50% ($17,500) Budget additional funds for Water Resources Coordinator and Staff Attorney $18,000 Eliminate funding for Medicaid increase {$545,000} Reduce 401 k from $5.00 to $2.50 increase ($46,500) Delete funding for Orange-Alamance study ($20,000) Increase appropriation to Energy Management $6,834 Retain the Families in Focus program $26,000 Increase funding to Orange Comm. Housing $35,000 Retain Medical Reserve Corps for 1 year $17,000 Increase funding for HYAA $1,125 Eliminate funding far Critical Needs Reserve {$125,000) Fund library interoperability study $10,000 Increase fair funding $188,000 TOTAL SAVINGS $834,031 Donna Coffey said that this savings is the equivalent of 2/3 cent. This could also add $45 to the per pupil allocation. Chair Carey said that the tax increase would still be kept at 3.7 cents. He would like to raise the tax rate increase from 3.7 cents to 4.0 cents far the per pupil and increase the CHCCS district tax by two cents. Commissioner Nelson said that he wants to raise the ad valorem and not the district tax to fund the schools. Chair Carey said that he thinks it is impossible not to raise the district tax and meet the needs. He does not want to raise the district tax, but there are times when it must be done. Commissioner Nelson asked how much more money the Board wants to give to the schools. Commissioner Jacobs said that the goal is to cover $6.135 million. Chair Carey said that the Board should focus on the basic assumption, which is to make sure the schools get this money. Commissioner Gordon asked how much new money each school district would receive if the tax rate were raised by 4.2 cents and the district tax were raised by 2 cents, including the $834,000 in savings. Commissioner Nelson said that using the ad valorem to fund the schools is more transparent and there is a perception in the community that having a district tax promotes inequity. He said that some people believe that they may pay a political price for increasing the tax rate, but he does not believe that is true. Laura Blackmon verified that this increase would be 2.5 cents over the 3.7 cents. Chair Carey said that he would not support this. A motion was made by Chair Carey to increase the district tax by 2 cents. Commissioner Foushee said that she is not prepared to vote on this yet. Donna Coffey went through the needs of the schools. OCS needs $1.785 million and CHCCS needs $4.35 million, which is $6.135 million. There is already $1 million in the budget, which takes it to $5.135 million. The savings just approved by the Board total $834,000, which brings it to $4.301 million. If the school systems use fund balances, this would total $2.258 million. This leaves $2.043 million, which is 1.6 cents above the recommended 3.7 cents. Commissioner Gordon said that she wants to give the equivalent of 2 cents on the district tax on the ad valorem, which means that OCS will get mare and CHCCS will still receive an increase. Commissioner Jacobs said that the fund balance appropriations were based on the assumption of cuts plus a '/ cent additional increase on the property tax and a 2- cent increase in the district tax. At this point, the Board took a break. Break 10:09 pm Back 10:18 pm 5. Budget Decisions Donna Coffey said that included in the Manager's Recommended Budget is $999,466 for current expense. The County Commissioners have saved $834,000. Another'/ cent would bring $624,000. The total of these three pieces is $2, 457,000. Of that, CHCCS would get about $1.4 million and OCS about $1 million. This equates to a $133 increase in the per pupil. To give CHCCS the 2-cent equivalent of the district tax on the ad valorem, it would give CHCCS $1.6 million additionally. This would require an additional allocation to OCS of $1 million. These two added together would be $2.6 million in addition to the '/ cent and the savings, which is the equivalent of another 2.2 cents on the ad valorem tax rate. This would be a 6.4-cent increase. A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Chair Carey to raise the ad valorem by 4.7 cents and the CHCCS district tax by 1.5 cents. Donna Coffey said that this would give CHCCS $1,290,000 and OCS $810,000. The district tax would generate $1.2 million. This is in addition to the Manager's Recommended budget. VOTE: Ayes, 3; Nays, 2 (Commissioner Jacobs and Commissioner Nelson) Commissioner Nelson asked about the decision far the lottery money. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Chair Carey to allow 50°~ of the lottery funds to be budgeted in 2007-08, with the remaining to be budgeted in arrears. Staff will come back to the Board with more information. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Jacobs asked about fees and Donna Coffey said that if there are any that the County Commissioners would wish not to be included to please let her know. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the third page of his budget proposal and said that he suggested deferring park fees for picnic shelter reservation and use of entire park pending policy discussion, and deferring raising animal services fees for failure to vaccinate or to register pending development of public outreach and education program. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the $250 for reserving a park and said that this is better than nothing. She would still like to see the park fees go in and then come back with the entire park policy discussion later. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to institute the park fees for the picnic shelter reservation and use of the entire park. The policy will come back for discussion as soon as possible. VOTE: Ayes, 4; Na, 1 (Commissioner Jacobs) A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to defer raising animal services fees far failure to vaccinate or to register pending development of a public outreach and education program. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Laura Blackmon said that staff has to bring back an ordinance in order to institute the fees. This will have to be a separate ordinance. 6. Adoption of Resolution of Intent to Adopt the FY 2007-08 Annual Operating and Capital Budget Commissioner Gordon asked that she get a copy of this no later than Monday afternoon. Commissioner Nelson asked for clear numbers on what each school system is getting, based on the decisions tonight. Commissioner Gordon distributed to the Board some information on the Space Study discussion. She said that, when it comes to space needs for DSS, it recommends that the Whitted Building be devoted to Human Services. She pointed out the space needs update. 7. Adjourn A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to adjourn the meeting at 10:41 p.m. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board