Orange County NC Website
pay-as-you-go. When the Board adapted the current policy, this debt went away from CHCCS <br />and was absorbed into the County's debt. <br />In questions to Donna Dean, Commissioner Gordon verified that the bond and <br />alternative financing for High School #3 was $17.5 million and verified that CHCCS was using <br />some of their impact fees to pay for High School #3. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to <br />option 4, which has Total OCS of $2.8 million and in option 5C it goes down to $2.15 million. He <br />asked if the difference would go into the general fund and Donna Dean said yes. <br />Chair Carey said that it would be subject to the County Commissioners every year to <br />decide how the funds would be used, as well as the school boards. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that this could help the schools some with operations. <br />John Link said that the general fund could be used for any purpose. <br />Commissioner Gordon pointed out that in the next couple of years, the County is at its <br />debt capacity and also that the $12.8 million far Elementary School #10 will probably have to <br />increase, because it will be in the future and the costs will rise. <br />John Link said that this tracks back to getting a construction standard. Chair Carey said <br />that this is supposed to be discussed at the joint meeting with the school boards. <br />Chair Carey said that at the last meeting, the Board indicated a desire to review the <br />basic assumptions that the staff included in these options. <br />Donna Dean said that Greg Wilder put something in a Q&A format. <br />The Board decided to read this document at home. The document will also be provided <br />to the school boards. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked for a list of the school capital projects, with the costs <br />included. Rod Visser said that they see this as being part of the broader CIP process, which <br />would be later in May or early in June. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis suggested putting all of this information in an orderly format in a <br />notebook for the school boards next week. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that if the County Commissioners are trying to decide how to <br />allocate the capital dollars, then they need to see the list of the school projects with dollar <br />amounts. <br />Chair Carey said that, depending on how much money is allocated to the schools, their <br />priorities might change. The County Commissioners need to tell the schools how much money <br />they have so that they can make the priorities and decide how to spend the money. <br />John Link said that, far the coming year, the Orange County amount could range <br />anywhere from $3.6 to $5.2 million. He will be focusing on what the lowest amount would <br />accomplish. He is puzzled as to why others cannot do the same thing. He thinks that an <br />educated guess could be made. <br />Discussion ensued an when the priority lists with dollar amounts could be brought back. <br />Donna Dean said that the timeline has the school CIPs back by June 7cn <br />John Link pointed out that items 6, 7, and 8 an the Q&A document are policy decisions <br />that need to be made at some point. The staff will make a recommendation if the Board <br />desires. The Board agreed to have the staff make a recommendation. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked more clarifying questions about the peak debt service, <br />which were answered by Donna Dean. <br />Finance Director Ken Chavious said that philosophically there is peak debt, but <br />technically there is not, because the County has been issuing debt. The debt has not peaked <br />yet. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked how much debt the County was still working on and <br />Donna Dean said debt from the bonds of 1988, 1992, 1997, and 2001. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis suggested that someone take a picture of some classrooms at <br />Durham Tech and show them to the school boards to show what Spartan learning and teaching <br />conditions look like. <br />