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4 <br />NICK TENNYSON, Executive Vice President of Durham and Orange <br />Counties Home Builders Association, read a prepared statement. In <br />summary the Home Builders Association is opposed to school impact <br />fees because they deny the fundamental truth that the public <br />school system is an indivisible benefit of life in the community. <br />By singling out one class of citizens -- new home buyers -- for <br />additional expense, the County is inferring that new home buyers <br />get a larger share of benefit from the school system than do other <br />citizens. He listed in his letter several problematic areas with <br />the impact fee. <br />MATTHW E. BARYON spoke on behalf of Stop Overcrowding Schools <br />(SOS). He said that they do support an increase in the impact fee <br />to $1,500. He feels that increasing the impact fee will be a step <br />in the right direction toward solving the schools' overcrowding <br />problem by providing additional money to plan new schools. SOS <br />believes that the housing survey that the County will conduct will <br />show that the actual capital cost to the County to provide the <br />capacity for the students due to new residential construction <br />averages well over $9,000 per dwelling. SOS believes that the <br />Impact Fee should be set at a reasonable and substantial <br />proportion of the capital cost to provide the money for planning, <br />engineering and constructing new schools. They support a sliding <br />scale where the fee would be adjusted according to the size of the <br />house. This addresses the concerns about affordable housing and <br />places the burden on four and five bedroom homes which typically <br />bring more students to the schools. He asked that the Board of <br />County Commissioners support this increase. <br />PETER MORCOMBE, parent of a child in Carrboro Elementary <br />School, said that he is in favor of more money being spent in the <br />classroom and more money spent for instruction. However, he feels <br />there is no need to raise taxes -- but to just eliminate the <br />waste. He noted that American public schools spend more than any <br />other country and yet rank near the bottom in scholastic <br />achievement. He stated that private schools get the job done with <br />half the dollars per student. He feels that until some progress <br />is made to close the gap, the Board of County Commissioners should <br />not even think of raising the taxes. His written comments are in <br />the permanent agenda file. He asked that the Board of County <br />Commissioners reduce the size of government at the local level. <br />He presented a chart which compared the number of administrators <br />in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School District to private <br />schools with the same student enrollment. He stated that the <br />school budgets presented to the Board of County Commissioners hide <br />90$ of the expenditures in the continuation budget that gets <br />rubber-stamped every year. He favors zero-based budgeting so that <br />all programs are reviewed annually. <br />DANIEL V. ESKENAZI stated he is in favor of an increase in <br />the public school impact fee. He read a letter from Susan and <br />Allan Spalt which is in the permanent agenda file. In summary, <br />they support an increase in the impact fee. They feel that <br />substantial increases in local revenue are needed to pay for the <br />