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Commissioner Halkiotis said that in Geof Gledhill's letter dated August 11t", it says that, <br />"the Board of County Commissioners cannot set a supplemental tax rate higher than that <br />requested. In the case of an Orange County district supplemental tax by the Orange County <br />Board of Education, and in the case of countywide supplemental tax by the lower of the <br />requests of the Chapel Hill-Carrbaro City Board of Education and the Orange County Board of <br />Education." He asked for an explanation of this. He said that it sounds like one group would be <br />holding another group hostage. Geof Gledhill said that he is right and the statute that makes <br />this work this way was not written with multiple school districts in mind or multiple school <br />districts and a countywide supplemental tax in mind. The way the statute is written, the Board <br />of County Commissioners is limited in setting the district tax or the supplemental tax by the <br />request made by the BOE. The lower of the requests is going to be the maximum the County <br />Commissioners can set the tax rate. With respect to a system with two district taxes, then each <br />of the boards of education would make a request and the district taxes could be set up to the <br />amount requested for each. <br />PUBLIC COMMENT: <br />Tamara Dempsey Tanner is an Orange County citizen and OCS parent. She said that <br />the current local tax supplement perpetuates the scenario of the funding disparity. She <br />challenged the County Commissioners, along with all County citizens to promote a unified <br />County education tax strategy. <br />Alana Cagle said that she went online and found on the CHCCS website an overview of <br />program comparisons between the two school systems. She said that it seems like the school <br />system has enough money as it is and that the money should be used more wisely. Her <br />question is what is CHCCS doing with its money. She thinks that some of the excess spending <br />could be eliminated. She said that in the core courses, the AP offerings are similar between the <br />two school systems. She said that both programs ga beyond the standard course of study, sa <br />they do not need more money. She said that we need to collaborate better between the two <br />school systems. <br />Mary Copeland said that the County has excellent schools in both OCS and CHCCS and <br />everyone should be proud of them. She said that there are many school districts in North <br />Carolina that are handling their schools with a lot less money than Orange County. She does <br />not see how they can afford higher taxes in Northern Orange. She said that it would always be <br />different because Chapel Hill is made up of professors and doctors and the County has farmers <br />and mill workers. North Carolina already has the highest taxes in the southeast. She begged <br />the County Commissioners to leave the schools alone because they are great. <br />CHCCS Board Chair Lisa Stuckey made reference to the letter from her along with her <br />Vice-Chair Elizabeth Carter. She said that her board has not had the opportunity to review the <br />materials that came online yesterday, so the letter reflects their comments and concerns as <br />Chair and Vice-Chair. She said that they have not gotten full funding in many years and they <br />have depleted their fund balance and cannot continue to do this. This year, the County <br />Commissioners provided additional funding through the special district tax, because their capital <br />funding was reduced and they are using this money far their operating budget. The major <br />concern is that, as they move forward, their costs will continue to increase and their needs to <br />provide additional programs will continue to grow. They are concerned that a trade off between <br />the ad valorem tax rate and their special district tax would result in either a flat or depleted <br />funding for them. They believe that the information strongly suggests that both a countywide <br />supplemental tax and an increase in the Ad Val Orem tax, if coupled with an offsetting decrease <br />in the district tax, would jeopardize the financial health of their district. They ask that their <br />special district tax be maintained and that the district not be subjected to fiscal stagnation. <br />Mark Peters spoke on behalf of 50 families. He read a letter, as follows: <br />