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APPROVED 8/17199 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING MAY 27,1999 The Orange County Board of Commissioners held a Public Hearing on the Manager's recommended 1999-2000 Orange County budget on Thursday, May 27, 1999 at 7:30 p.m. in the Southern Human Services Center, Homestead Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Alice M. Gordon, and Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., Stephen H. Halkiotis, and Barry Jacobs. COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Albert Kittrell and Rod Visser, Budget Director Donna Dean and Deputy Clerk to the Board Kathy Baker. Other staff will be identified as necessary. NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. ALL RECORDINGS OF THE MEETING WILL BE KEPT FOR FIVE YEARS. PRESENTATION OF THE 1999-2000 BUDGET: John Link gave an overview of the 1999-2000 recommended budget. That information, in its entirety, is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office. John Link indicated that this funding plan strengthens the County's historical commitment to public education, improves the County's ability to provide responsive and effective public safety and emergency services, and sustains the program of basic County services, all at a reasonable cost to the County's citizens. Several highlights of the recommended budget are listed below: ? The County's General Fund budget totals $100,621,502 which represents an overall increase of approximately $7.9 million, or 8.6 percent, from the original 1998-1999 budget of $92,685,104. ? Funding for current school expense will increase by more than $4.1 million from the 1998-1999 level of $30.4 million. ? The Countywide ad valorem tax rate would increase 2.7 cents from the current level of 90.2 cents per $100 valuation, to 92.9 cents. ? The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools special district tax rate would rise from the current level of 19.2 cents per $100 valuation to 22 cents. This 2.8-cent increase, coupled with growth in the district tax base, would produce over $9.7 million. This represents an additional $1.5 million for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools start-up costs for the new elementary school and the high school addition. ? The budget implements the employee pay and benefits plan developed by the Board in October 1998 and ratified during the budget work sessions in April and May 1999. The recommendation includes a 2.5 percent cost of living increase, effective July 1, 1999, and a 2.5 percent in-range salary increase for employees, whose work performance is proficient or higher. ? Ten new general fund positions were also recommended. John Link reported that programmed expenditures for education and County services would increase by about 8.6 percent, however, the increase in the countywide property tax rate was limited to 3 percent. This was a result of Orange County's robust growth in tax base, which increased approximately 4.6 percent over the original estimates for 1998-1999. The combination of a strong tax base growth and the recommended increase in the tax rate is expected to produce about $4.2 million more in revenue in 1999-2000, compared to the original 1998-1999 budget. John Link indicated that the details of possible scenarios to achieve a lower countywide tax rate could be found in the budget document under Appendix "F." The three scenarios include a two-cent increase, a