Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: April 28, 2009 <br />SUBJECT: Presentation of Orange County and Chapel Hill Carrboro City Boards of <br />Education Approved FY 2009-10 Operating and Prioritized Capital Budgets <br />DEPARTMENT: County Manager and Budget PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Laura Blackmon, (919) 245-2300 <br />Neil Pedersen, (919) 967-8211 <br />Patrick Rhodes, (919) 732-8126 <br />PURPOSE: To receive the Orange County and Chapel Hill Carrboro City Boards of <br />Education approved FY 2009-10 operating and prioritized capital budgets. <br />BACKGROUND: At their March 24, 2009 budget work session, the Board of County <br />Commissioners decided the funding target for schools for FY 2009-10 would be 48.1 % of <br />County General Fund revenues. The target is exclusive of the County's share of Durham <br />Technical Community College funding and is consistent with the school funding target <br />endorsed by Commissioners in May 2000. The following school related components are <br />included in calculation of the target percentage: <br />Local Current Expense -supplements State and Federal funds received <br />by each district for the day-to-day operation of schools. Examples of <br />expenses paid from these funds include salaries and benefits for locally <br />paid teachers and utilities. North Carolina statutes mandate <br />boards of county commissioners provide local current expense monies <br />to school districts. Counties having more than one school administrative <br />unit, as is the case in Orange County, are required to provide equal per <br />pupil appropriations to each system. The funding level, however, is <br />discretionary and varies from county to county. <br />Recurring Capital - pays for facility improvements, equipment, <br />furnishings, and vehicle and bus purchases. State statutes mandate <br />counties to fund recurring capital. However, the amount of money counties <br />allocate to this function is discretionary and varies from county to county. <br />Equal per pupil allocations required by law for current expense <br />appropriations are not applicable to this category of local school funding. <br />Per the April 2007 Commissioner approved County Capital Funding <br />Policy, it is the intent of the Board of County Commissioners to <br />dedicate the equivalent of four cents on the annual ad valorem <br />property tax to funding recurring capital expenditures - 3 cents for <br />