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needs. It is important that the elected officials work with them in maintaining a high quality of <br />support for each school. <br />Nora Dahners, a member of the Frank Porter Graham PTA Council, spoke in support of <br />the school board's budget request. She requested that the Technology Specialist be fully <br />funded and that classified employees receive longevity pay. Raising the district tax is an <br />appropriate way to fund these requests. <br />Steve Scroggs, Principal of McDougle Elementary School, spoke in support of funding <br />the discretionary budget. It is imperative that Technology Specialists be funded. <br />Miles Fletcher, a parent of a Chapel Hill High School student, spoke in support of funding <br />the entire school budget request. The new high school needs to open with adequate staff and <br />equipment. The district tax needs to be raised to cover these expenses. <br />Tommy Gardner, Chairman of Tax Watch, asked that the Board of Commissioners not <br />approve the Manager's recommended budget. The property valuations rose by 3%, however <br />the proposed tax increase would be an increase of 7%. This is the 9th consecutive year that <br />taxes have been raised in Orange County. It is not in the best interest of the community for this <br />trend to continue unchecked. He asked that Impact Fees be used for buildings only and that <br />funding for outside agencies by reduced to 112 cent of the property tax rate. A copy of his <br />comments, in their entirety, is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office. <br />raised. <br />Vincent Wingate suggested restructuring the Impact Fee so that additional funds could be <br />Thomas Wicker, the lead teacher for technology at the Guy B. Phillips Middle School, <br />thanked John Link for funding the continuation budget for the school board. However, he <br />requested that discretionary funds be included in the approved budget to pay for additional <br />counselors, enrichment specialists and technology specialists. It is also important that the <br />technology specialists be classified as "professional" rather than "clerical" so that their salary <br />would be in line with similar positions in the surrounding area. <br />Nick Didow, a member of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board, requested that the <br />Board consider fully funding the school board's request. He mentioned that the school board <br />members have been excellent stewards of tax payers money. He agreed with the majority of <br />the speakers here tonight that the entire budget request is essential. There are no discretionary <br />requests in the budget. <br />Matthew Barton, a member of the Seawell PTA, read a resolution from the Sewell <br />Elementary School PTA requesting that the Commissioners fully fund the capital funding and <br />operating budget requests from the school board. A copy of this resolution is in the permanent <br />agenda file in the Clerk's office. <br />Written comments were received from Susan Hayden. Ms. Hayden spoke in support of <br />full funding for the afterschool program at the Culbreth Middle School. Her daughter, Christie, <br />who is developmentally disabled, greatly benefits from this program. <br />ADJOURNMENT: