Orange County NC Website
Maintenance Clerical Support $51,000 <br /> French Teaching Position $72,000 <br /> Transportation Office Staff $44,000 <br /> High School Teaching Position $57,000 <br /> (currently vacant) <br /> 3 Teaching Assistant Positions $111,091 <br /> Total Savings $434,091 <br /> Superintendent Rhodes said that they are developing sustainable budgetary practices, <br /> including doing budgets on what actual expenditures are in the second quarter. <br /> Commissioner Nelson asked if the OCS Board wanted a district tax and whether the <br /> children of Orange County would be better off with a district tax. Ted Triebel said that the <br /> Board has not discussed this yet. He said that next year will be much worse than this year <br /> because the schools will lose stimulus funding. He thinks the school board needs to look at <br /> this. <br /> Mike Kelly asked why this is a question at all since the Board of County Commissioners <br /> can provide what the schools need through the ad valorem tax. He said that unless the OCS <br /> needs more money than CHCCS, than they do not need that mechanism. <br /> Commissioner Nelson said that the issue is making sure that all children get what they <br /> need and he does not care where it comes from — district or ad valorem — but there is the <br /> question of disproportionate funding because of having a district tax in one system and not the <br /> other. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz said that no matter what it is called, it is still a tax on the <br /> taxpayers. <br /> Ted Triebel said that the school board is suggesting that the per-pupil be maintained, <br /> but what has not been mentioned is the inflation factor. He said that it may be the same <br /> amount of money, but it buys less. <br /> Mia Burroughs said that to use capital money for operating expenses is not a good <br /> practice and it is a short-term fix. <br /> Eddie Eubanks said that one of the responsibilities of the State and the County is to <br /> provide education and that any teacher would forego a raise in order to keep another teacher <br /> employed. He said that they need to reduce other aspects of the budget rather than the <br /> educational component. <br /> Commissioner Gordon said that this is a difficult year and she agreed that using capital <br /> for operating is problematic since many of the schools are older and need extra maintenance. <br /> She said that both school districts have made very compelling cases and the Board of County <br /> Commissioners will do the best that it can. <br /> Debbie Piscitelli said that they are at the point where the classrooms are going to be <br /> affected by budget reductions. She said that they as a board usually turn to the Board of <br /> County Commissioners for help and she hopes all three boards can work together in Raleigh <br /> to fight some of the proposed reductions for grades K-12. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz said that on April 8th the Board of County Commissioners had a <br /> budget work session and they were given projected budget revenues. He reviewed these. He <br /> said that their projected revenues for the County are $3.5 million less than what they have to <br /> spend in this fiscal year. He said that the County is not going to be able to fund the schools as <br /> requested when it has $3.5 million less to spend. <br />