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the final outstanding recommendations that were part of the 2001-2004 strategic plan. The new positions requested for the Health Department are supported by reimbursements or by fees charged. She said that they recently hired their first Orange County dentist far the dental clinics. The Department and Board are hard at work developing the next three-year strategic plan. A key part of this plan will be increasing educational services for all residents in critical public health areas, such as protection of groundwater resources, prudent management of private septic systems, preventing exposure to environmental hazards, communicable disease prevention and management, and chronic disease prevention. She thanked the Board for funding the replacement of the HVAC system at the Whitted Center. David Whisnant read a prepared statement. He is a parent of two children at Carrboro Elementary. He is concerned about the recommended budget because it is occurring in the midst of a badly skewed public discourse about the whale matter of taxes. In the current climate, taxes are bad, tax cuts are good, and tax increases are political suicide. Taxpayers are oppressed, resentful, and vengeful in the voting booth. He said that this is a pernicious and antisocial discourse, and that it serves no one -least of all our children. He is speaking to set himself and his family against this anti-tax discourse and the shortsighted social stinginess that flows from it. He asked the Board to speak honestly to the people of Orange County about the need to support the schools and the necessity of taxing ourselves to do it right. The tax value of his family residence is $266,000. The last tax bill they paid was about $3,000. The recommended budget projects that 48.4°~ of the budget will go for schools. This would come to slightly less than $1,100 for his family. If this is added to what is paid to the Chapel Hill school district, his family of four, with two children in school, pays about $1,600 per year in property taxes to support educational services in the city and county. He said that this is a paltry sum and that it is starving and damaging the schools, and his family and other taxpayers easily can and should do better. An additional three cents on the tax rate, which Superintendent Pedersen estimates would give the system nearly $2 million more, would cost his family only another $81.00. An additional nine cents would cost them $240, and would fully fund the system's 2004-2005 budget request. So a total of $360, or $30 per month, would do it all. He urged the Board to enact such an increase, send them the bill, and send the schools the money. He believes that a majority of his fellow citizens are willing to pay taxes to protect and improve the quality of our lives together. He said that taxes are not evil, but a legitimate price to pay for living in a humane society. La Wanda Rainey-Hall is a teacher in the CHCCS. She represents Glenwood School. She thanked the Board for support of education in the past. She asked the Board to consider all funds requested by CHCCS, so that they could continue expansion and to meet the needs of the growing population. Robert Dowling, Director of Orange Community Housing and Land Trust, thanked the Board for continued support. He said that they finished a big project under budget, and they can make do without an increase. He said that they closed on about 52 homes in the Land Trust in this fiscal year. By the end of this calendar year, they expect to have 100 homes in the Land Trust. Their vision is that, 20 years from now, there will be some homes that are permanently affordable to teachers and other public sector employees. Sue Russell, President of Child Care Services Association, spoke in support of County funding for childcare subsidy. She said that high quality childcare is very expensive, ranging from $8,000 to $12,000 per year. Most families with young children cannot afford to pay this. These parents can choose either not to work or to use makeshift childcare. She said that in a County with so much wealth, these choices are not fair or right. There are currently over 500 children