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groundwater, surface water interaction, water supply, water quality, etc. He said that this person would complement ERCD by helping it fulfill the water resources responsibilities assigned to it in 1998 by the Commissioners. He said that ERCD and the Commission should carry out the initiative far the Environment, which conceptualized and proposed it. Steve Darden presented written comments as follows. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Steve Darden. With me tonight is Ms. Mary Zimmerman. We are the parent and faculty ca-chairs of the CHHS School Governance Committee. Let me start by commending the Commissioners far their service. I have watched the budget process since my 1St child entered the system 19 years ago. It is never easy. There are many requests for scarce resources. Still, Mary and I come before you tonight to request that you find the will and the dollars to fully fund both systems' requests. The CHCCS are requesting a 10°~ increase over last year -roughly $4.8 million. What is the makeup of this increase? There is very little of this, which is elective. Salary increases mandated by Raleigh -the exact cost still unclear; growth in student enrollment; inflation in operating casts (from postage to utilities to worker's compensation insurance; everything costs more!); $400k to open Carrboro H.S. These are casts that must be met - if additional funding cannot be had -the monies will be spent nonetheless -coming from existing programs. So let me again thank you for your service and we greatly appreciate your consideration. Thank you." Robert Dowling, Executive Director of Orange Community Housing and Land Trust, thanked the County Commissioners for funding them each year. He presented a prepared statement. "I would like to thank the Board of County Commissioners for the support you have provided to Orange Community Housing and Land Trust since we converted from Orange Community Housing Corporation in 2001. I would also like to thank the Manager far his support of our programs and budget requests. For fiscal year 2006-07, we have requested $124,000 in operating funding from bath the County and the Town of Chapel Hill. The County Manager has recommended funding of $114,000, which is a $4,000 increase from 2005-06. I realize that this is a particularly difficult budget year, but I would like to ask the Board to allocate $124,000 for operating the Land Trust in 2006-07. The increases in operating funding we are requesting are driven by our desire to create a truly viable organization that is responsible for implementing inclusionary housing policies throughout the County. Inclusionary housing has led to the creation of mare than 100 housing units in the past five years. There are 116 homes today and by the end of this week, there will be 118 homes. The two new homebuyers are both teachers. An additional 100 units are in the pipeline. The Land Trust was formed to keep affordable housing affordable for 99 years. Managing this growth has strained the organization, as we've struggled to keep up with the volume, even during times of staff turnover. Although we have worked hard to create and implement this new model of home ownership, we have learned a great deal about the challenges paced by the model. We are now dealing with some of those challenges that have manifested themselves several years after homes are built. It is clear that we will need to increase our level of engagement with our homeowners and with our homeowner associations to ensure that Land Trust homes are well maintained over time. Again, we are still learning how to best manage this organization to ensure that we not only provide affordable homes, but that we also create successful homeowners and successful communities. To do so will require ahard-working, dedicated staff that can anticipate challenges, and propose solutions that will enable this organization and this model to successfully provide affordable housing into the next century. Thank you again for your support. It is much appreciated."