Orange County NC Website
Commissioner Carey asked about daycare funds. Marti Pryor-Cook said that they anticipate <br />receiving $3.3 million in subsidies for childcare from the state next year which includes $800,000 from <br />Smark Start. <br />Chair Margaret Brown asked about the funding and how they ended up with a waiting list of 236 <br />children. Marti Pryor-Cook explained that they have had far more people go to work and the majority of <br />these need childcare. Also, they have low income families who are eligible for subsidy. The need has <br />grown. Daycare costs are so expensive that a working family has to have a salary above low income in <br />order to afford to pay for daycare. Quality care is more expensive. <br />Commissioner Gordon made reference to the mobility manager and said that the Triangle Transit <br />Authority has funded afull-time position to help the three counties, starting with Orange County. Also, <br />NCDOT is piloting a program to provide cars to Work First participants. Marti Pryor-Cook explained the <br />rationale for her request for two new positions. <br />EMS <br />EMS Director Nick Waters made reference to page 8-13 of the budget document and explained the <br />rationale for his request for two new positions. These two new positions will provide for increased coverage <br />and increased staff rotation. They will assure a high quality of patient care by having additional paramedics <br />assigned to areas of high call volume in peak load times. He said that with better saturation of medics, the <br />distance traveled to acute life-threatening situations will be reduced. Arriving and assessing patients <br />quicker means ambulance and other resource responses can be controlled. Revenue for EMS fees is <br />anticipated to be $500,000 for FY 1998/99. <br />SHERIFF <br />Sheriff Pendergrass said that they now have fifteen (15) positions funded by the COPS <br />funding. One of these will expire June 30, 1998 and moved to a County funded position if a confirmation <br />grant is not received. They do have enough money coming in for the 2-1/2 positions for domestic violence <br />coordinators through June 30, 1998. He has received verbal notice of a grant award for the upcoming fiscal <br />year. The County's match for this grant is $24,000, and the grant amount is approximately $57,000. <br />However, when these funds phase out and if these positions are to be continued, they will need to be <br />County funded. <br />Department of Human Rights and Relations <br />Interim Director Melvin Oliver gave the rationale for his new position. These are listed on page 7-58 <br />of the budget document. <br />Health <br />Health Director Rosemary Summers presented information on her budget. She has consolidated <br />two community-based efforts into a community education initiative. This will increase the health <br />educational efforts from every division in the Health Department, and will add a new division to the Health <br />Department. This item was continued to the June 16th meeting. <br />ADJOURNMENT <br />Chair Brown adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m. The next budget work session will be held on June <br />16 at 4:00 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. <br />Margaret W. Brown, Chair <br />Beverly A. Blythe, Clerk <br />