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Chair Jacobs said that the June 5t" work session will be related to new staff proposals, June 8t" will be related to school funding, June 15t" will be departmental requests and the County's Capital Investment Plan, June 19t" will be non-profit requests and fire department requests, June 22"d will be follow up items, and June 27t" will be adoption of the budget. Chair Jacobs reviewed the procedures for the public hearing and said that when they discuss the schools, the Board of County Commissioners does not approve money for individual programs and it is not the Board of County Commissioners' call on how the schools determine how to use their funds. 3. Public Comment Kate Sanford said that this is her third year coming to the County Commissioners. She thanked the Board for the support given to working families, the working poor that are on waiting lists for subsidy for childcare. She asked for $350,000 to be earmarked to address 10°I° of the families on the waiting list. She said that they have not been able to remove any families from their waiting list this past year. She said that they would also like to request to put more funds back into the subsidy program, which is around $50,000. She thanked the County Commissioners for putting a task force together to look at and address childcare issues. Maya Barton read a prepared statement. "Commissioners and Mr. Manager, thank you for allowing us this opportunity to speak. My name is Maya Barton. I am the President of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools PTA Council. As a student advocacy organization, our legislative position to fully fund our School Board's budget request comes with a vote of approval from all the 15 schools in our community. Please take this position seriously and fully fund our School Board's Budget request. As an example of the budget items that are at risk, I would like to point out that it is extremely important to staff the 7-period class schedule with much needed teachers. The 7- period schedule will help students across all achievement levels. The high achievers will be able to satisfy the state of North Carolina requirements for graduation, while taking the courses required to qualify for colleges to pursue their specific subject interests. The study hall will facilitate additional tutoring for students who need to catch up on subjects they are falling behind in. Please fully fund the budget request so that this teacher need and other requirements can be met." Tom Konsler was asked by the Orange County Employee Relations Consortium to talk about the County Manager's recommendation for employee benefits in the proposed budget. He said that this is a committee that represents all County employees who are in support of this message. He said that the cost of living is going up -gas costs more, health insurance premiums have increased, auto insurance has skyrocketed, utility costs have risen, employees are coping with putting children in daycare or college or caring for elderly parents. He reminded the County Commissioners that in the past 4 years, only one cast of living adjustment was made to County employee salaries, which consisted of a 2°lo increase in 2004. He said that they are in support of the Manager's recommendation for the pay and benefits plan, which includes COLA and in-range increases. They ask that the County Commissioners give serious consideration to enhancing COLA adjustment. He said that the benefit plan is good but has lost some ground in the past few years, and they want Orange County to regain the competitive edge. He said that Orange County employees were truly the heart of the organization. Frank McBride read a prepared statement. "Orange County Baard of Commissioners, My name is Frank McBride and I am here to speak on behalf of the Scroggs Elementary School Parent Advocacy Committee (our SGC). We realize that we do not need to convince you of the importance of the highest quality of education possible for the children of this county. Currently, it seems that education is a headline topic everywhere we look. - The importance of educating our children in math, science, and technology in order for our nation to continue to compete globally