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Row 36 is Elevate Per Capita Funding for Library Services. Last year the Board <br />appropriated an additional $50,000 to make some headway in this direction. The <br />amount would be up to the Board for this year. <br />Row 37 is the Rescue Squad Request for $280,000. Commissioner Halkiotis <br />said that he hopes this becomes part of the study. <br />Chair Jacobs made reference to the Ag Summit and said that the Agricultural <br />Center Work Group identified additional costs for a more detailed survey of what uses <br />would be necessary at an Ag Center. Dave Stancil said that this is also an assessment <br />of food production and to find local markets. They will come in April before the Board to <br />ask for this. He suggested that this be made row 38. It will be called Ag Center Work <br />Group Follow Up Study. <br />Donna Dean made reference to page 1 and said that she got numbers today for <br />student enrollment for next year. These are not official numbers from DPI. They are <br />looking at about 333 new students for both districts next year, which includes 338 for <br />CHCCS and a loss of 5 for OCS. These are preliminary estimates. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked if any of the school boards knew this information <br />yet and Donna Dean said that CHCCS knows this, but she does not know about OCS. <br />Jahn Link said that the next step is to try and give an idea of the revenue picture <br />at this paint in time. This includes the natural increase in property taxes and other <br />revenues. He said that it would be helpful to hear from the Board on some of the big <br />ticket items that need to be addressed such as some additional funding of capital for the <br />County and schools, priorities for the pay plan, school funding equity, possible increases <br />in teachers' salaries, etc. <br />Donna Dean made reference to page 9 and the CIP Priorities and Drivers. She <br />listed these 13 items on page 9. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that some of these were not on the budget drivers <br />list. John Link said that they wanted to make sure that the EflandlBuckharn item was not <br />overlooked and that is why that was on there. For the most part, the budget driver <br />document was for the operational budget and not capital. The items on page 9 <br />represent additional capital items. <br />Chair Jacobs reminded the Board that they want to do an assessment project for <br />Efland/Buckhorn, so not all of the money that is laid out will be gone. <br />• Emergency communications <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that there is a concern about ruggedized laptops <br />and the costs. He has had three volunteer fire officials contact him in the last two days. <br />He said that some of the handheld radios are $4,000 each. He said that the ruggedized <br />laptops are anon-issue compared to this. He thinks that this whole thing is about the <br />Motorola corporation retirement fund. <br />• Information Technology needs <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that there are some organizations that are <br />contracting out some of their Information Technology software. He wants to know the <br />complete technology budget -positions, benefits, etc. He would like information on <br />privatization of Tech services. He respects the Information Technology department, but <br />he wants to look at every possibility. <br />Chair Jacobs asked about privatizing technology and if this is something the <br />Board can give direction to and Jahn Link said that they would look at this. He does not <br />