Minutes - 20060831 - Laserfiche WebLink

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jail, Twin Creeks, and West Ten Soccer Complex. He supports all of these and the staff can figure out how to do it. Commissioner Foushee agreed with Commissioner Halkiotis on moving forward. Commissioner Gordon made reference to Elementary #10 and the $1.25 million for water and sewer and the connector road and said that this is a small part of it. She would not want to pull this off. It needs to be moved forward. Regarding the Animal Services facility construction, it says at least $5 million. She would like to know what this amount would be. She agrees that they need to talk more about the satellite campus green building standards. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the West Ten Soccer Complex and said that she did not think that there was any money left in the voter-approved bonds. She thought that the $2 million had been used up. Rod Visser said that it has been allocated but not all expended - $733,000 has not been expended. Commissioner Gordon asked about the total cost and Donna Coffey said that the last estimates that they received were between $2.5 and $3 million. Commissioner Gordon questioned the financing for this and said that this needs to go on a bond referendum. Commissioner Halkiotis asked the staff to put together a brief analysis of all of the soccer money because he is confused. He said that if there is $733,000, then the two fields should be built. The other 3-4 fields can be put on a bond referendum. Chair Jacobs said that it is more cost effective to do them all atone time. Recreation and Parks Director Lori Taft is supposed to be making a proposal far some private funding. Commissioner Carey said that he is going to reserve his comment on each of the projects until the Board talks about the debt capacity target. Chair Jacobs said that this is a good segue into the next item. c) Other Considerations Related to Funding School Capital Projects Rod Visser made reference to page 3-A3 and the bar graphs that demonstrate the additional debt capacity. Chair Jacobs said that some discomfort has already been expressed about using a 9°I° revenue growth rate. Rod Visser suggested looking at the 7°lo growth scenario -pages 3-B1, 3-B2, and 3-B3. If the Board chooses to issue all of the debt, it would have to acknowledge upfront that there would be a 7.9-cent tax impact over the next three fiscal years. Commissioner Carey pointed out that they also have to consider the tax impact of the operational aspects of the projects. He wants to know about the tax impact of some of these so that he can have a better picture. Chair Jacobs said that there is a strategic plan for parks and custodial services and these can be plugged in. Commissioner Carey said that a 9°~ growth rate is too aggressive for him. He is comfortable with 7% since it is consistent with the last six years. Chair Jacobs asked Rod Visser to speak about the 15°!o debt capacity and how other counties deal with it. Rad Visser said that he agrees with Commissioner Carey that the 15% figure has served the County well. He thinks it has added to the County's financial strength. The Local Government Commission continues to urge local governments to use the 15°~ benchmark as a guideline. Discussion ensued about the other counties that have a 15°~ benchmark for debt capacity. Commissioner Halkiotis asked for more information because only 5 of 100 counties responded to the survey from Donna Coffey and of those, only 2 said that they had a debt capacity policy.