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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 19850703 T4T000 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMISSIONERS CONTINUED MEETING FROM JULY 1, 1985 JULY 3, 1985 The Orange County Board of Coamiissioners met in continued session on July 3, 1985 at 7:30 P.M. in Superior Courtroom, Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough, North Carolina. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Don Willhoit, and Commissioners Shirley Marshall, Moses Carey, Ben Lloyd and Norman Walker. ATTORM PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill. STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Kenneth R. Thompson, Assistant. County Managers Albert Kittrell and William T. Laws, Director of Finance Gordon Baker, Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe and Director of Personnel. Beverly Whitehead. A. BOARD COMMENTS None. B. AUDIENCE CQNAKEKES None. C. APPOINTMENTS BCaARi) OF HEALTH Motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Ccam.iissioner Marshall to appoint Riley Wilson to the Board of Health. VOTE: UNANIMOUS. SOLID WASTE TASK FORCE Motion was made by Commissioner Marshall, seconded by Commmissioner Carey to appoint Martha Keating to this ccamiittee. VOTE: UNANIMOUS. ,SCHOOL MEFC7ER TASK FORCE Motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Coanaissioner Marshall that Arthur L.P. Brown, De Witt S. Brown, Jeanette G. Eddy, Betty Francisco, Terrance Greenlund, Watts Hill, Jr., Norman Loewenthal and Sandra H. Siegal be appointed. VOTE: UNANIMOUS. Motion was made by Commissioner Lloyd, seconded by Norman Walker to appoint the remaining seventeen people listed that reside in the Orancae County School District. After some discussion it was decided that the task force should be comprised of 30 members. Chair Willhoit nominated Elizabeth C. Wells and Richard Hildebrandt. Commissioner Lloyd nominated Jeanette Jones, Anthony V. Seaber, Ralph C. McBroom, John T. Walker, Katherine Knight, Edwin Riley, Richard Roberts, and Robert M. Rose. Commissioner Marshall nominated William Richardson and J.M. Murf ree. Commissioner Lloyd withdrew his previous motion and made a motion to appoint the twelve nominees listed above. Commissioner Walker seconded the motion. VOTE: UNANIMOUS. Motion was made by Chair Willhoit, seconded by Ccarmissioner 000172 Marshall to appoint Richard Hildebrandt as Chair of the School Merger Task Force. VOTE: AYES, 3; NOES, 2 (Commissioners Lloyd and Walker) . ADDED ITEM T.F' = FROM JAMES A. HEAVNER, TM VILLAGE (YY4 MIES (copy of letter is in the permanent agenda file) The letter asked for the County's interest in forming an inter- agency partnership to combine the cost of a production package to c:ablecast all public meetings. Motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Marshall to agree in principal to this idea only with a final decision to be brought back to the Board. VOTE: UNANIMOUS. D. ITEMS FOR DECISION 1. LEASE EZM-_QARR =RE BUIMING Kenneth Thompson presented for consideration of approval a lease/purchase agreement for the Carr Store Building. The building will be leased for four (4) years at which time the County will own the building. Geoffrey Gledhill corrected paragraphs eleven and twelve of the agreement and summarized the changes. Motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Coammissioner Lloyd to approve the lease/purchase agreement per the terms attached, including the corrections by Gledhill, and authorized the chair to sign. VOTE: UNANIMOUS. 2. ADOPTION OF THE 1985-86 BUDGET ORDINANCE (the revised markup list is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office) Kenneth Thompson referred to the revised markup list indicating a change in the proposed current expense for the schools. For the Chapel Hill- Carrboro Schools the proposal includes: (1) a property tax increase (2) a per pupil allocation of $718 (3) district tax increase of 1.9 cent (4) appropriation of $500,000 fund balance For the Orange County Schools, the proposal includes: (1) a property tax increase (2) a per pupil allocation of $718 Commissioner Walker questioned raising the district tax in Chapel Hill contending it will create a larger fund balance. Chair Willhoit noted that a policy needs to be developed to control the fund balance and Kenneth Thompson affirmed that a policy or understanding needs to be reached between the Board of Commissioners and the twc school Board on fund balance. Chair Willhoit explained the July 3 markup of the Manager's Budget which totaled $592,522. He proposed revenue additions totaling $598,625, which consisted of $394,875 from General Revenue Sharing, $110,000 from a 1/2 cent increase in the property tax rate, $84,500 transfer from the sales tai: reserve and $9,250 from a $1.00 increase in the animal tax. Commissioner Lloyd expressed concern about budgeting Revenue Sharing that may not be received. Chair Willhoit indicated that the $394,875 increase in GRS was based on receipt of 75% of what Congress originally authorized and was recommended by the NC Association of County Commissioners as a conservative approach. He further indicated that, in the event that the GRS funds were not received that 000173 amount could be taken from the unappropriated fund balance. Even if the GRS fund replacement were to be taken from the fund balance, the fund balzince would still be above the recommended minimum 8% of the total budget. Commissioner Walker requested the addition of $3500 for rest rooms be added to the Recreation budget. The Board agreed that $3500 from the County's capital reserve will be allocated for restrooms. Chair Willhoit proposed the following tax increases for 1985-86: (1) 1/2 cent increase in the property tax for school current expense (2) 2 cent increase in the district tax, and (3) 2-1/2 cent increase in the property tax for school. capital reserve. As an alternative, Commissioner Walker suggested using revenue sharing and the County reserve (20% of the 1/2 cent sales tax) to fund the budget. Chair Willhoit noted that the money received from the 1/2 cent :Dales tax will be used to replace the projected lost from revenue sharing. He explained the County would need to replace the monies lost from revenue sharing or programs would need to be severely cut. Chair Willhoit requested the Superintendents from both school systems to respond to the question of their priorities for capital needs: ORANGE COMM SCHOOLS - Dr. Lunsford indicated the Board expects to let contracts in January, 1986 for occupancy of the expanded portion of Orange High School in the summer of 1987. At that time or six to eight months prior an assessment will be made of the needs for additional facilities which will either be an elementary school or middle school. CHAPEL HnIr CARRBOR4 SCHOOLS - Gerry House indicated the board identified five capital improvement priorities for a total of 2.5 million. They are (1) multipurpose space at Glenwood and Estes Hills Elementary Schools, (2) air conditioning at Phillips and Frank Porter Graham, (3) cafeteria expansion/renovation and renovation of the media center at Chapel Hill High, (4) media center expansion at several elementary schools, and (5) kitchen renovation at several sites. There are no plans for building a new elementary school. Commissioner Lloyd asked about revenue growth and Gordon Baker indicated the revenue growth for 1984-85 was 8% and is projected to be the same for 1985-86. Lloyd stated his feeling that the needs of the schools could be met without raising the property taxes. Kenneth Thompson summarized the monies that are expected to be received from the 1/2 cent sales tax for the two schools. Commissioner Walker expressed his willingness to compromise and work with the funds available without raising the taxes. He suggested leaving the priority projects as scheduled without moving them up one year. He :suggested using the capital reserve money if needed to balance the budget. Commissioner Carey spoke against setting a precedent by using capital reserve money in this way. Commissioner Marshall indicated that the Board has no choice but to allocate $718 per pupil to meet the needs of the schools. The use of the capital reserve money was discussed with Commissioner Walker suggesting that the money be kept in an undesignated reserve and Commissioner Carey stating he would rather keep the money in reserve designated capital. 000174 Kenneth Thompson reiterated the long range capital plans for the County. These are listed on pages 139-143 of the 1985-86 budget document. Totals between now and 1991 will be 21--million which does include schools but does not include the expansion of the court facilities. Commissioner Marshall noted that not only will revenue sharing be cut next year but other federal cuts will be forthcoming for Social Services and other departments. There are many federal mandates that must be met. BREAK Chair Willhoit addressed the question of the school capital reserve. It is very clear that the needs of the schools far exceed the amount on the priority list and this list will continue to grow each year. The roofEs on the second priority list will also need to be addressed. Chair Willhoit summarized the two proposals: (1) $718 per pupil 1/2 cent increase in the property tax for current expense 2 cent increase in the district tax 2-1/2 cent increase in the property tax for capital or (2) instead of the 1/2 cent increase to take the money from the County's capital reserve or from the fund balance. Commissioner Lloyd proposed the following adjustments to the markup list: (1) Social Services - delete $3,000 for the word processor (2) Aging - delete the I/R position (3) Home Health Agency - no funding (4) Art School - no funding (5) Planned Parenthood - no funding (6) Women's Center - no funding (7) OPC Mental Health - Manager's recommendation (8) Library - C.A. - Manager's recommendation (9) Library - O.C. - Manager's recommendation (10) JOCCA - Manager's recommendation (11) Rape Crisis - Manager's recommendation (12) Battered Women - Manager's recommendation He recommended no increase in the property tax and indicated that a balanced budget could be accomplished if the schools could live with the proposed increase in current expense and back away from the capital improvements increase. Commissioner Walker indicated that he voted for the 1/2 cent local sales tax increase to avoid raising the property taxes at a later date and he will not support any further tax increase. Chair Willhoit indicated that at the time the 1/2 cent local :tales tax was approved it was very evident that it would not meet all the capital needs of the schools and that other sources of revenue would be needed. Commissioner Carey stated that the schools have been pushed to the limit of what their budgets can endure and he supports the recommendation as stated in the July 3 proposal. Motion was made by Commissioner Walker to make the cuts that Conissioner Lloyd suggested and move the adoption of the budget for the schools going with Don Willhoit's proposal and fund the budget from 3/4 revenue sharing and a part of the County reserve with no property tax increase. Chair Willhoit restated the motion to adopt the July 3 proposal as modified by Commissioner Lloyd but use the Orange County capital reserve rather than a tax increase to fund the budget. 000. 75 Commissioner Lloyd seconded Walker's motion. VOTE: AYES, 2; NOES, 3 (Chair Willhoit and Commissioners Carey and Marshall) . Henry Whitfield spoke opposing the proposed property tax increase. Chair Willhoit indicated the motion should be in a form to &]opt the Budget Ordinance as amended by the July 3 proposal and include the special district tax rates as set out by the proposed Budget Ordinance with the change that sets White Cross Fire District at 10 cents; Eno Fire District at 6 cents and Orange Rural at 4 cents. Motion was made by Commissioner Carey to adopt the July 3rd proposal as it is presented on the handout sheet including the $3500 for restrocmm with the proposed tax rates as indicated which includes (1) 1/2 cent property tax increase, (2) 10 cent rate for White Cross Fire District, (3) 6 cent :ate for Eno Fire District, (4) 4 cent rate for Orange Rural Fire District, (5) 2 1/2 cent increase in the property tax for long range school capital and (6) 2 cent increase in the district tax and a $1.00 increase in the animal tax. Commissioner Marshall seconded the motion. Commissioner Marshall stated she seconded the motion reluctantly but feels that particularly on the capital for the schools that this is going to be a move in the right direction and very advantageous to the taxpayers because if plans are made over a period of years, money will accumulate. One Group of bonds is going to be paid off by 1990 which will free up son:ie money, and the largest group of bonds paid off in 1999. With proper planning by giving this little boost now the County may be able to move into no debt by the year 2000 and still have a plan which will really be pay-as-you-go. Commissioner Walker indicated he had been through 15 budgets and feels we have the best figures to deal with ever and are using the most r Ldiculous rationale in this motion he has seen in 15 years. He stated he cannot comprehend how any member of the Board could look at the material and see what it projects and not to recognize it. He doesn't know where the weakness is but indicated there is a weakness that needs to be reconsidered. Commissioner Lloyd spoke in opposition of the motion and restated what he had said in Chapel Hill during the Public Hearing that he is of the opinion that 95% of the people that would support this budget as presented will probably get increases in their salaries this year to take care of their total tax bill for four or five years. He stated that the budget as presented and about to be voted on is what people who have to live and survive in this world of private industry would call "flirting with bankruptcy". He has only been through two budgets and with each the Board has been able to have a unanimous vote and he determined that to be something in the budget process that is highly desirable by this County - to have a unanimous vote at budget time. He stated that, in his opinion, to adopt the County budget by a 3-2 vote is somewhat irresponsible. VOTE: AYES, 3; NOES, 2 (Commissioners Walker and Lloyd) . ADJOORFMENr Chair Willhoit adjourned the meeting. The next meeting will be held on August 5, 1985 at 7:30 in the Commissioners' Roan in the Courthouse in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Don Willhoit, Chair Beverly A. Blythe, Clerk