Orange County NC Website
Elementary School #10 in 2006-2007 at $13.9 million, Middle School #5 in 2008-2009 at <br />$20.7 million, new central office space in 2008-2009 at $5.8 million, conversion of <br />Lincoln Center to high school space in 2009-2010 at $11.1 million, Elementary School <br />#11 at 2012-2013 at $17.5 million, and renovations to Culbreth and McDougle Middle <br />Schools at $3.2 million. The total additional funding beyond what is currently <br />programmed in the CIP is $78.8 million, bringing the total request in CIP funding to <br />$136.9 million. <br />The total of funded projects for OCS is $24.1 million over the ten-year period. <br />Also identified is Middle School #3 in 2006-2007 at $18.5 million, flooring replacement at <br />$582,000; additional renovations for Hillsborough Elementary at $857,000; HVAC <br />replacements at $213,098; Pathways all weather playground at $68,000; roofing projects <br />at $147,077; and technology at $233,502. The total unfunded requested CIP funding is <br />$2.1 million, bringing the total CIP request to $44.7 million. <br />For Orange County Government, the projects that do not require funding beyond <br />currently programmed pay-as-you-go funds or debt financing total $84.2 million. The <br />projects that are unfunded total $46.8 million and include animal shelter/animal control <br />facility at $2.3 million, County park sites and future development at $28 million, <br />emergency communications and infrastructure at $10 million, emergency management <br />and emergency operating center at $2 million, equipment and record storage at $1 <br />million, Heritage Center at $450,000, and Northern Human Services Center at $3 million. <br />The total County CIP is $131 million. <br />The identified unfunded needs for the County and the two school systems total <br />$127.7 million. <br />Rod Visser said that the Board asked that the staff bring back an explanation of <br />the County's overall debt capacity for the 2003-2013 CIP period. The staff felt that the <br />examination needed to include all outstanding long-term debt that had been incurred <br />prior to 2002-2003, in other words, all of the County's existing debt. He spoke <br />generically about debt capacity. The legal debt capacity for the County would be three- <br />quarters of a billion dollars. The County's total outstanding debt as of this June will be <br />$145 million. The County is nowhere near the legal debt capacity. However, there are <br />self-imposed limitations in the County's Debt Management Policy. The policy adopted in <br />1998 established this threshold at 15%. <br />Donna Dean explained the chart entitled, County's Annual Debt Service <br />Projections. She pointed out that historically the Board has gone to citizens every three <br />or four years for bonds, and therefore the Board may want to consider this when <br />discussing the debt capacity. <br />Jahn Link said that the Board needs to determine which projects are going to be <br />in the green area above the red line {above the debt capacity) and not be funded. This <br />needs to be decided now and not in 2005-2006. He made reference to the comments by <br />Superintendent Neil Pedersen that the additional funding of $6 million for the third high <br />school would not make a significant difference in the County's total debt service picture. <br />He said that this is true in itself, but the Board needs to decide which $6 million is not <br />going to be funded. Before the Board addresses any of these, he wants everyone to be <br />comfortable with the big picture. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked if there was a comfort level with the Board as to <br />haw much to subordinate County facilities to school projects. He would like to discuss <br />whether the Board wants to continue the trend of being almost 50-50 with the budget. <br />Commissioner Halkiatis said that, as a Superintendent, he would have said the <br />same thing that Superintendent Pederson said about $6 million not making a big <br />