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3 <br />4 <br />5 <br />6 <br />7 <br />8 <br />9 <br />10 <br />11 <br />12 <br />13 <br />14 <br />15 <br />16 <br />17 <br />18 <br />19 <br />20 <br />21 <br />22 <br />23 <br />24 <br />25 <br />26 <br />27 <br />28 <br />29 <br />30 <br />31 <br />32 <br />33 <br />34 <br />35 <br />36 <br />37 <br />38 <br />39 <br />40 <br />41 <br />42 <br />43 <br />44 <br />45 <br />46 <br />47 <br />48 <br />49 <br />Chair Carey asked Dr. Harrison to comment on option 5 which would provide a bond issue with <br />no increase in property taxes. Dr. Harrison said that they would lose $6 million if they went with option 5. <br />The new elementary school as well as other things they use the CIP monies for would be affected. <br />John Link explained that what they did was to pursue five options with the first four options <br />working within the present policy structure the Board of County Commissioners now have. Option 5 is <br />radical in that it assumes that the present policies can be changed. The pressure now is on the property <br />tax to address all the needs that are presented to the Board. Option 5 would take all revenue sources <br />and put them in one pot and then use it for whatever needs to be done first. It is true that when looking <br />at the bottom line over the ten year period, Chapel Hill funds would decrease by $3 or $4 million and <br />Orange County funds would decrease by $6 million. This is just another perspective. <br />The school system can decide that instead of building schools according to the school standards <br />they can pursue a lower tier and save money for other projects. <br />School Board member Susan Doverbarger asked with regard to the bond referendum if there is a <br />possibility of Chapel Hill being able to vote for a bond issue for their district only. <br />John Link said they could not do that under the present law. However, Chapel Hill can change <br />their district tax use to include pay-as-you-go capital. Also, they can use the district tax for bond <br />payment with a referendum. <br />School Board member Susan Dovenbarger asked if they can use the present tax from that district <br />to pay for a bond and Geoffrey Gledhill said no. <br />John Link said that options one through four make the assumption that Orange County could <br />address the addition to the high school and elementary school #8 would be funded through private <br />placement. <br />School Board member Delores Simpson said that everyone agrees there is a need for more <br />industry to increase the County's tax base and she asked what happened to the Blue Cross/Blue Shield <br />property. John Link said that they decided to merge their existing services in Durham and Orange into <br />one facility in Durham County. It is hoped that their expansion will be in Orange County because they <br />own a lot of land in Orange County. <br />BC-BS. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he feels Orange County should do everything they can to keep <br />School Board member Susan Dovenbarger asked Dr. Harrison what percentage of growth has <br />been exceeded and he said that they will exceed what was expected and would know more next week. <br />Susan said that they know they need a new elementary school. She is concerned about what these <br />numbers mean for the high school addition. <br />Commissioner Crowther asked if anything is being done to reduce the land cost for the expected <br />new school. <br />School Board member Bob Bateman said that their Board will discuss this tomorrow night at their <br />meeting.