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staff from 7 FTE to 8.5 FTE because we are expected to sell more than twice as many homes as we would in an average year. This increase in volume is due to inclusionary housing policies in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Today there are 138 homes in the Home Trust, and by June of 2010 we expect we will total about 180 homes. Over the past five or six years, we have learned that once homes are in the Home Trust, they require attention and staff resources forever. The workload never diminishes; it only increases with every new development and every new home. While this growth is exciting, it adds considerably to our workload. Not only are we required to collect monthly fees, assist with maintenance and manage all re-sales but we are also increasingly tasked with assisting owners who become delinquent in their financial obligations. This aspect of our work is absorbing an ever larger percentage of our staff resources. Of course, as our inventory of homes continues to grow, the numbers of delinquencies will also increase. I would like to share some of the successes and challenges faced by the Home Trust as we undertake our work on a daily basis: - We closed today on a condominium in Meadowmont with a person with physical disabilities who will be able to live independently, affordable and close to his place of work. - We are providing more financial and homebuyer counseling than ever before. In conjunction with other nonprofit organizations, we continue to offer monthly classes that are open and free to the public. Our individual budget counseling has become more necessary in this economic downturn, but we simply lack the staff resources necessary to meet the need. - We will be selling an East 54 condominium to another person with disabilities. We worked with the developer to incorporate universal design features that will allow this owner to be relatively self-sufficient in her new home. She hopes to close by the end of August. - We have allocated more than $100,000 of our own reserves to prevent two foreclosures. In both instances, the owners were unable to afford their homes, which we are not trying to sell. - We work with lenders to increase the financing options for our buyers. At this time home Trust owners are unable to refinance their mortgages and take advantage of lower interest rates. We are working with Chapel Hill and County staff to address this issue. - We assist homeowners in Vineyard Square to ensure that they are treated fairly by the homeowners association. This has been a constant struggle due to built-in inequities in the governing documents. - Lastly, we strive to look into the future and develop an inclusionary housing program that allows low-income families and individuals to be successfully integrated into the larger community. We seek to achieve an elusive goal: homes that will remain affordable and well-maintained to serve many generations of low-income households. Again, I want to thank the Commissioners for your support. We recognize this is a difficult year and we will work hard to continue the success of this program in 2009-10." Jim Rogaski spoke in support of the Carrboro High School arts wing. He encouraged the County Commissioners to fund this because it is a shovel-ready project. He feels that this is important because his son was part of a high school theater production and there were over 60 kids involved. The entire set had to be built in a classroom since there is no arts wing and it had to be taken to Culbreth Middle School in order to use their auditorium. The set then had to be disassembled every day and returned to the high school. He said that Carrboro High School needs an auditorium and it is a core part of the campus.