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9 for fiscal sanity in Orange County. He has no problem with the tax increase proponents, but he thinks that they ought to consider themselves in some other people's shoes that are struggling to survive. He has four sisters retired from the public school system in North Carolina and four grandchildren in the school system today. He wants as much education as the taxpayers can afford to pay for. He said that these tax increases proposed are unacceptable to most of the people in middle and northern Orange County. This was proven by a vote on the district tax, where 78% voted it down. He said that the commercial tax base in Wake County is 29°l0, in Mecklenburg it is 35°~, in Guilford it is 35%, in Durham it is 44°~, in Orange it is 13.6%. He said that only 60% of the people in this County are employed here. He said that there is a strategic position that has been proposed and Orange County is proposing to create 5,000 new commercial jobs and 125 new commercial tax bases. He said that Orange County has created an image for itself and they will probably have a hard time getting it done. He said that young people are being moved out of the County because they cannot afford to live here. He said that he is a farmer and he is going to have to start selling property in order to pay taxes. He said that retired people on fixed incomes are living in fear of getting moved out of their homes. He said that his father taught him to always live within your means and prepare for a rainy day. He said that he heard someone say that a government that is big enough to do all things for all people is big enough to take away everything you have. There are a lot of people in Orange County that believe that this is going on here. Jessica Lee is Chairperson for the Orange County Board of Health. She focused on three core public health points: emergency preparedness, food, and water. She made reference to the Volunteer Coordinator far the Citizens Volunteer Corps. This was set up a few years ago by a federal grant to try and establish a group of people to be trained in case of any kind of public health emergency. The funding will run out in January 2007. She asked the County Commissioners to recommend continuing this position. The second issue is food and lodging. Currently, 24°l0 of the restaurants in Orange County fall below the A rating and they are unable to work with the restaurants to get them above the rating. There are over 3,000 restaurants in Orange County that must be inspected every year. She asked for an increase in this position. Lastly, she spoke in support of the Environmental Health Specialist. This person works with the community and general public with their well system. At this time, the department cannot keep up with the increasing demand of inspecting the well systems. She asked the County Commissioners to fund these positions. Tish Martin spoke on behalf of her husband, President of CHCCS Association of Educators. She thanked the County Commissioners for past support of funding the school systems and commended them for their foresight to seek new funding options of funding outside the per pupil. She asked for full funding of the CHCCS budget and the increase in the school district tax. She said that the lottery proceeds are not guaranteed and that they should not count on this. She said that school funding is too important not to fund by a sure method. If there is funding from the lottery, it should be spent only after it has been deposited. Marty Mandell said that there is a cartoon in the Durham Herald this morning with the message that so many people are being attacked by rising costs from so many different directions. She said that North Carolina desperately needs more teachers. The emphasis is not getting teachers but keeping them. She said that she has never heard a comparison of either school system on how much money goes to administrative costs versus boosting teachers' salaries. She thinks that the County Commissioners should require this information. She read the lowest and highest paid people in municipal government in Orange County. She said that Orange County's median income is $71,000 and that the per capita income is $34,000. She said that the distance between the lower and upper incomes is absolutely out of hand in the world. She said that the idea that someone could make $4 million in a health service boggles her mind. She asked about the SAPFO and said that she would like a report on this. She asked if this was keeping costs down. She also has not heard a report on expanding the water