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R that if the pay raises go through, the CHCCS district will be down $2.2 million and possible cuts could include four middle school teaching positions, classified pay, custodians, clerical positions, character education supplies, new teacher vouchers, etc. He said that the Board says that it does not make the cuts, but it does set the budget caps and farce the cuts. He suggested that the Board show the school systems where the fat is in the budgets. He made reference to John Link's statement that Orange County has the highest per pupil expenditure rates in the State, but since North Carolina rates in the lower one-third of all states in the nation on per pupil expenditures, then it is not much to be proud of. He said that after the other night's hearing, he spoke with Chair Jacobs, who voiced his concern about potential reduced budgets as well as his concern for people of law incomes who may not be able to afford a tax increase to cover the costs involved in educating children and providing for the other needs of the County. He hopes that the County Commissioners will make the right decision. Hervey McIver is Co-Chair of the Orange County Commission for the Environment. He said that since 1981, when Orange County became the first in North Carolina to start watershed protection, the County Commissioners have been very proactive in protecting water resources. He commended them. He asked them to adopt the water resources initiative and fund the position of a Hydrologist. He listed the goals of the water resources initiative. He said that the Hydrologist should serve in anon-regulatory capacity and should be housed in ERCD. Another duty of the Hydrologist would be that of an educator in educating people about water conservation, including those an wells. He urged the County Commissioners to support this position in ERCD. Don Cox also spoke in support of the water resources initiative. He said that the original purposes of the Water Resources Task Force were to address the potential overdevelopment of the groundwater resource and sub-basin in the County, which could lead to a supply failure, and calls to the County or municipalities to extend water lines to amend this situation. The task force recommendations were made and he does not know of any follow up evaluations. He said that the other great need is to know the accurate status of groundwater supplies in the County, which can only be done by regularly reading the levels of test wells to determine the need to advise people about pending well failures. He said that this water resources position is needed. He also said that this position could be non-regulatory. John Idol represented the Friends of the Orange County Public Library and he presented a petition signed by 400 citizens. He said that they would like a library that would meet the needs of citizens and also be the pride of the County. He asked the County Commissioners to consider fixing the present facility or building a new library facility. Becky Carver, Executive Director of Cornucopia House Cancer Support Center, said that this is the first year that the County Manager's budget has included a request for funding far Cornucopia House. She said that they plan to use the money wisely. She made reference to the most recent newsletter. This house provides services free of charge to anyone touched by cancer -patients, families, friends, caregivers, etc. They also da not care where people live. Their services are free of charge and their services are far anyone on life's journey and are not like Hospice. They help people experience wellness despite illness. She said that they have many programs that help people manage stress with a very expensive and challenging disease. Some examples include a resource center, massage therapy, yoga classes, educational forums, and expressive arts programming. Everett Kennedy said that he would like to talk on behalf of those on fixed incomes. He said that taxes keep going up and there has to be a place to stop. He yielded the remainder of his time to Ben Lloyd. Ben Lloyd said that he has heard all of his life that there are two worlds in Orange County. In yesterday's paper, the Durham Herald had a story about Joe Capowski, a former member of the Chapel Hill Tawn Board who moved into his house 20 years ago in Chapel Hill. His property tax has increased over 500°~ in 20 years. He said that Joe Capowski was pleading