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b. New School Construction Progress Reports <br />Rod Visser asked the superintendents and staff to cover this topic. He said that <br />the planning work is on for Carrboro High School and Gravelly Hill is very close to <br />completion and occupancy. <br />Superintendent Pedersen said that overall the project far Carrboro High School is <br />going forward and the issues with the intersection of Smith Level Road have been <br />resolved. They are waiting to see if they will have money for tennis courts. <br />Commissioner Gordon pointed out that there is Moving Ahead money to handle <br />improvements on Homestead Road for Chapel Hill High School. This is $650,000. The <br />original amount was $1.3 million. She thinks that it is worth a letter to DOT to officially <br />ask for the rest of the money. Rod Visser made a note of this. <br />Superintendent Carraway said that they had a test on the sprinkler system at <br />Gravelly Hill Middle School yesterday and they passed. Naw they are awaiting other <br />inspections to receive a certificate of occupancy. They are hopefully on track for the <br />dedication on October 22"d and the first day for students on November 1St <br />Chair Jacobs arrived at 8:01 Pl~I. <br />Elizabeth Carter said that she would like to invite the Board of County <br />Commissioners to Frank Porter Graham to see some recent renovations there. She said <br />that it is important to be mindful of the older facilities and there are improvements that <br />they may need as the years go by. <br />Chair Jacobs began chairing the meeting at this paint. <br />Commissioner Gordon agreed about the older schools and the need for <br />upgrades. She said that the money they have set aside is running out. <br />c. 2006-07 Adopted School Budgets <br />Commissioner Carey made reference to the item on Carol Woods and the <br />contribution for CHCCS. He asked what this was for and Superintendent Pedersen said <br />that Carol Woods became tax exempt a few years ago, and now they give a school an <br />amount each year, though not under any legal obligation. The amount is $50,000. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that the ABC revenues seem to be the same going <br />to the schools. He thinks that revenue sales have been increasing, but this number is <br />always the same. He asked how this was determined. Rod Visser said that by state <br />statute, there are certain amounts of monies they have to provide to schools and also to <br />the County, but he will check. <br />Superintendent Pedersen made reference to their second page, under Local <br />Revenue, and said that the board did increase the appropriated fund balance to fund <br />their budget from $950,000 to $1,032,500 to fund some additional positions. Under the <br />State Mandates, the salary increases were larger than anticipated and the retirement <br />contribution also went up. The CHCCS had to absorb $200,000 of additional costs for <br />salary and related expenses. They maintained the contribution at Carrboro High School. <br />There were some other cuts and the school board reduced current expenses by <br />$732,000 because there were new items that had a higher priority. He distributed a <br />sheet with the specifics on this. He thanked the County Commissioners for the <br />contribution to equity and for the increase in the district tax. <br />Dennis Whitling asked clarifying questions about tuition revenue, which were <br />answered by Superintendent Pedersen. <br />Superintendent Carraway made reference to the OCS budget and added that <br />they used local funds for startup costs for Gravelly Hill for materials and supplies. They <br />