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it back to their respective boards. He would like to take advantage of the school collaboration group. Commissioner Gordon said that going outside the per pupil would make the two school systems equal an the issues of health and safety, but the rest of it would still be unequal. She does not see how this makes any progress in equity. Commissioner Carey said that he had a similar concern. He does not object to the school collaboration task force discussing the issue and coming back with a recommendation, but there is a very large list of issues for this group to discuss. Commissioner Halkiatis asked Commissioner Gordon and Commissioner Carey what they would like to see. He asked if they would like to see atwo-cent property tax increase to benefit OCS and then atwo-cent decrease in the CHCCS district tax. Commissioner Carey said that if they are not going to merge the two school systems, the only other way to begin to move in the right direction is to increase the general property tax and reduce the CHCCS district tax in a way that does not harm either school system. Commissioner Halkiotis asked who would have to agree to implement the countywide supplemental tax. It was answered the Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner Foushee said that budget time is drawing nigh and they need to move forward. She said that if they are going to move towards providing an equitable situation far school districts, they need to talk about how they are going to do it, and this simply means more taxes. Chair Jacobs asked Geof Gledhill if pursuing a countywide supplemental school tax would be in the County Commissioners' purview to put on the ballot and Geaf Gledhill said yes. Geof Gledhill said that a countywide supplemental tax would have to be allocated per pupil between the two school systems, and although the school districts do not have to agree on the amount of the supplemental tax, the tax has to be set at the lowest rate requested. In effect, one school system could veto the supplemental tax by requesting "0". John Link suggested discussing this an Wednesday night since the Board will be discussing major budget drivers far 2006-07. The County is already looking at a large increase of possibly 10-11 cents, and this does not include frivolous or unnecessary items. It includes some funding for the school systems but not all that they will probably ask for. He said that if the OCS asks fora $3 million increase, then the CHCCS will probably ask far a $4+ million increase. He said that there is validity in looking at bath options for funding -per pupil and outside the per pupil. He said that $500,000 put toward health, safety, and welfare could ga a long way toward funding the one aspect of nurses, SROs, etc. Commissioner Gordan said that the essential financial reality is that when you raise the property tax and reduce the district tax and hold CHCCS harmless, the only tax increase is in the OCS. She said that in the long term, if you only raise taxes and decrease the district tax, this would eventually no longer hold CHCCS harmless. She asked if there was some indication that the OCS property owners want the County to da this. It is a balancing act of funding far schools and the County. She would like to take some small step this year. She thinks that a supplemental tax will have to come another year because time is running out. She wants to talk to bath school boards about it. Commissioner Halkiotis said that they have talked to both school systems and they need to move forward. He said that salary increases for teachers will be coming down this year and the County has no control over it. He said that if they can do something small this year, then they could plan a referendum in the future. He thinks that they have talked about this enough. Chair Jacobs said that there is agreement that they want to do something for the schools this year but not profoundly, he suggested raising the issue at the Schaal collaboration task force regarding outside the per pupil for the short term. If there is no agreement, he will come back with other options within their fiscal reality this budget year. The Board agreed.