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solid into the next fiscal year. She said that the property tax remains the largest source of revenue <br />for the County, providing about 64% of the 100 million-dollar budget this year. At this point, the <br />County has received only one-quarter of the reimbursement from the state from sales tax <br />revenues. She said that one thing that remains unclear at this point is the impact that Hurricane <br />Floyd will have an the sales tax reimbursements for this fiscal year and the next two fiscal years. <br />Donna Dean explained some of the issues in the upcoming fiscal year. There will be some <br />significant increases in debt service with the 40million-dollar bond sales. There is also increased <br />student enrollment for both school systems, and some new school start-up costs for Pathways <br />Elementary School and Smith Middle School. There will also be some increased County costs for <br />the Community Policing program because the federal grant is going to expire and there are 12 <br />positions that are associated with this program. Looking into next year and future years, there will <br />be some financial structuring for the solid waste operations and future facilities. <br />Commissioner Brown asked about the process for getting AAA bond rating and haw much <br />this would save the County. <br />Rod Visser said that he thinks there would be significant savings with the AAA bond rating, <br />but he will check it out. He said that a financial analyst from BB&T would be assisting the County <br />in the pursuit of AAA bond rating. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that she noticed in the sales tax revenues that the two half-cent <br />revenue is increasing faster than the one-cent and asked why this was happening. <br />Donna Dean said that the one-cent is collected on the statewide basis and reimbursed back <br />to the County based on local sales. The two half-cents are collected and reimbursed to the County <br />based on a per capita basis. <br />II. Review Agenda and Agree on Process for Conducting Retreat <br />A suggestion was made to table the Brainstorming and Identification of Topics for Future <br />BOCC MeetingsMlork Sessions to a subsequent meeting. This item will be put on either the <br />January 31 St or February 1St meeting agenda. <br />Commissioner Jacobs suggested having a working dinner and just talking. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked to add three goals: adequate public facilities, analysis of <br />impacts of growth and development, and sustainability. She said that she would be willing to stay <br />until 9:00 or 10:00 to get through all of the items. <br />Chair Carey said that they would stay as long as it takes, but no later than 10:00. He asked <br />about the process for conducting the meeting. The closed session will begin no later than 9:00. <br />Commissioner Brown suggested that the Advisory Boards and Commissions give their <br />reports now instead of after the goals. <br />Chair Carey said that the comments from the boards and commissions could be taken as <br />there are breaking points in the meeting and as members show up. <br />III. Discussion of BOCC structure and procedures for working as a Board {e.g. sub- <br />committeeltask force approach, legislative initiatives, rotation of officers, and agenda <br />Chan es <br />Sub-CommitteelTask Force Approach <br />Commissioner Jacobs distributed a Hypothetical Committee Structure. This structure is an <br />attempt to try and bring some order to some of the ad hoc efforts, as well as to give opportunities <br />to make better progress in smaller groups. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that she would be hesitant to put in a whale system of standing <br />committees as opposed to doing the same kind of thing in responding to a specific situation. She <br />would favor task forces. She suggested that if anyone wants to be on the task force that there be a <br />regular procedure for making the appointments. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to comments made during the meeting to the effect <br />that the County Commissioners are not known for brevity and that they are loan sharks. He said <br />that if that is a quality assurance issue from the public about how the County Commissioners are <br />