Orange County NC Website
Commissioner Halkiotis said that he was looking for the piece of CIP material that he <br />had questions on several months ago about Gravelly Hill that shaved an extra $1 million. <br />Donna Coffey said that this was a mistake from OCS. <br />Commissioner Carey asked about the shaded items and Donna Coffey said that all of <br />them are pay-as-you-go except for the CHCCS item, on column E on page 1, which are projects <br />with alternative financing. <br />Chair Jacobs asked about the County's Information Technology expenditures. He said <br />that the staff was supposed to be investigating doing some imaging. IT Director Todd Jones <br />said that they convened a group with Social Services Director Nancy Coston, Clerk to the Board <br />Donna Baker, Janet Sparks, and Health Director Rosemary Summers. He said that they not <br />only want to back scan the paper, but also try to resolve the issues of not creating a lot more <br />paper going forward. They are looking at further automating for the future. There is no formal <br />finding yet, but they could provide a report in a month or so. <br />Chair Jacobs suggested having a report at the work session on October 24t". He said <br />that he would like to talk to the IT Directors of both school systems about meeting with the <br />County to look at common PC bulk purchases. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis suggested asking Todd Jones to look at how to put together an <br />assessment tool to figure out where there are economies and efficiencies through the use of <br />field grade laptops. There are some serious opportunities for savings. The Sheriff is using 2.5 <br />people and EMS is using 4 people to input data. Todd Jones said that they are now working on <br />getting some field technology. <br />Commissioner Carey agreed with having a report in October on this work. <br />Cammissianer Carey asked about the extent to which the items that are going to be debt <br />financed. He understands that many of the items are going to be pay-as-you-go, but he asked if <br />the items that are going to be debt financed have already been incorporated into the debt <br />structure for this year. Donna Coffey said that they would not be bringing those capital projects <br />back on September 12t", but after the decisions are made with what will be funded with debt. <br />The pay-as-you-go items will be brought back on September 12tH <br />b}Analysis of Future Debt Affordability and Staff Updates on County and School <br />Capital Projects <br />Rod Visser said that aver the summer, staff worked to develop updated information <br />about the County's overall general fund debt capacity. They are looking for feedback, guidance, <br />and any questions from the County Commissioners about these specifics. They are not looking <br />for any specific actions. He made reference to page 2 of 4 of Attachment 2 and the <br />$67,357,023 in County and School capital projects that need additional debt service above and <br />beyond what has already been issued. <br />There are four options. If the County borrowed this $67.4 million, it would still be within <br />the 15% debt capacity, assuming a general fund increase of 8-9°~. The second option relates <br />to considering the degree to which the County might be willing to exceed the 15°~ self-imposed <br />debt management restraint. The third option relates to consideration of deferring or delaying the <br />timeline for certain projects. The fourth option is examining the degree to which provisions of <br />this recently adapted legislation would provide additional flexibility (Senate Bill 2009). This is <br />regarding the newfound ability of school boards to issue capital leases for new school <br />construction. Bob Jessup, the County's Bond Counsel, was involved in the drafting of the Bill. <br />Cammissianer Gordon asked why they were only listing projects for 2006-2008. Rod <br />Visser said that they tried to focus on things that were immediate and those things that needed <br />decisions fairly quickly. <br />