Minutes - 20050414 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Further Board discussion of proposed Capital Funding Options April 26t" Joint Meeting with School Boards . Opportunity for all Boards to have dialogue regarding the various Capital Funding Options May 3`d Regular Commissioners Meeting Possible decision on Capital Funding Options June 7t" Regular Meeting or June 9t" BudgetlCapital Investment Plan (CIP} Work Session Presentation of Schools and County CIPs June 14t" or 16t" Budget/CIP Work Session Further discussion of CIPs June 23`d Regular Commissioner Meeting Board Approval of Schools and County CIPs Chair Carey said that it is up to the Board of County Commissioners to decide which direction to go with the options, as well as the 213 net debt and the allocation of the $12.8 million. He said that the school systems are waiting for the Board to make decisions about the capital options so that they may develop their CI P's. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to page four of the hand out, Baseline Option (Current County Capital Funding Policy}, and asked if the County Commissioners have religiously over the years appropriated three cents for school projects. Donna Dean said that in the past few years it has been about two cents. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if the proposal was to go back to three cents and one cent for County projects and it was answered yes. Commissioner Halkiotis would like to make a commitment to the County's recurring capital because there are buildings that are falling apart, such as the new courthouse. He made reference to page five and Reserves for Emergency Repairs and asked for same examples. Donna Dean said that the most recent was that the water heater in the jail went out. It cost over $20,000 to replace. Commissioner Halkiotis thinks there should be a specific pot of money dedicated for emergencies. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to the statement on page six, "That decision would `free up' additional pay-as-you-go funds for County recurring capital." He gets the feeling that they are looking to capture a little money here and there. He thinks there should be a decision that the County will have a recurring capital fund and be consistent with it. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to the OCS Middle School #3 water lines and asked about the final decision with Mebane regarding future tap-ons going to Mebane and nothing coming to the County. Commissioner Jacobs said that it was brought up with Mebane and the decision was as Commissioner Halkiotis stated. Commissioner Halkiotis said that it is unfair that schools and County government are paying for lines that they cannot recoup their original costs from future users. He encouraged getting something in writing from Mebane. Commissioner Gordon asked about the strategy to make these decisions. She said that last time we discussed this, she had asked Donna Dean to provide the assumptions the staff used in each of the options but we have not received this information. She said that the underlying questions brought up at the last meeting have not been addressed. She would like information on the school systems' list of projects with the costs included. She is concerned about the massive nature of the backlog an the County projects. She also wants to work an funding equity for the schools. She feels uncomfortable about taking scarce resources ($12.8 million and $4.2 million} and saying definitively what is going to be done because she does not think the Commissioners are seeing the whole picture. Chair Carey said that at the previous meeting, the staff did distribute a list of assumptions far the options. The Board did not have a chance to discuss them. He suggested discussing