Minutes - 20050620 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Gordon said that she has not had time to review either budget proposal made by the Commissioners. However, she does prefer to consider whether the $200,000 for Tier III projects should be allocated on a per pupil basis. In terms of reducing the tax rate 2.5 or 1.5 cents, she thinks they should attempt to increase the per pupil more. She suggested going to a 7-cent increase and allocating the money to the schools. She thinks the Board has to decide what it wants to do in terms of the tax increase. Commissioner Foushee agreed with Commissioner Gordon in that the Board must determine how much of a reduction in the tax rate there should be. She would support raising the proposed 6.5 tax increase to 7, if the half-cent would ga to schools. If that were the case, she would withdraw the addition to the district tax. Commissioner Jacobs said that he is not ready to go to 7 cents. Chair Carey said that he would not support an increase in the district tax. He wants to reduce the district tax and narrow the gap so when they start talking about equity, the ground to cover will be less. He thinks that anything less than that, if it involves an increase in the district tax, is not a step in the direction of equity. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he does not agree with the comments from some people that are trying to demonize the CHCCS district tax. He was not talking about Chair Carey. If people in the OCS had been allowed to vote on a district tax, this would be in the past. He said that, had it not been far all of the progressive minded people in Orange County, there would not be a lot of the new schools that exist in the County. He does not believe there will ever be a good budget year. He suggested setting up a committee in August to take over the budget process from the beginning and tell the staff what the Board wants. He does not have a problem with 6.5 or 7 cents if the schools get the additional money. He is ready to move ahead. Commissioner Jacobs said that if they were to add a half cent and add it to the per pupil allocation, OCS would get an additional $232,000 and the CHCCS would get an additional $362,000. Commissioner Gordon said that if you do it that way, then it is not holding the CHCCS harmless on capital funding. She thinks they should hold them harmless on capital. She said that it appears that the only way to hold them harmless in the Foushee/Jacobs proposal is to raise the district tax. She does not understand why there is na other alternative. Discussion ensued about the proposal of the tax increase and the district tax. John Link said that there seemed to be some gravitation toward pursuing a cut from 9 cents to 7 cents, with keeping the CHCCS district tax revenue neutral and that the additional money would go toward per pupil funding. His observation is that you cannot keep the tax increase at 7 cents and hold the CHCCS harmless and increase the per pupil. He said that this would only be a decrease in the increase far the CHCCS and not a decrease in the overall capital. Commissioner Gordon asked under what circumstances one school system could request that same of their capital funds could be switched to operating funds, and vice versa, if the other school system and the County Commissioners agreed. John Link said that there had to be an agreement by all three, and then it could be done. Commissioner Gordon said that it is important to her to hold the CHCCS harmless on capital. Chair Carey said that he could not support an increase in the district tax because of the issue of equity. He is not trying to demonize the district tax. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he heard that CHCCS is not going to have the money to do the job, and he looks at this increase as a temporary one-year fix to help them with the decreased number of students from DPI. He said that he heard from CHCCS that they wanted help with day-to-day operating issues and not capital.