Orange County NC Website
Laura Blackman made reference to the Capital Funding Policy and that there was a <br />discussion at a work session in January, and the Board requested to look at the draft policy. <br />Chair Carey verified that the Board never adopted the language, but adopted the plan <br />and the practice, and the plan was implemented. Budget Director Donna Coffey said that the <br />County has been practicing the policy to a certain extent. The Board has agreed to allocate four <br />cents of the tax rate to recurring capital. Three cents would be far school capital and one cent <br />would be far County recurring capital. To date, only two cents have been allocated to the <br />school recurring capital, and the County recurring capital has not been allocated. <br />Donna Coffey gave background on the Capital Funding Policy. Since 1996, the County <br />has had one in place. In November 2004, the Board adapted a policy of practice that said that it <br />would allocate 60% of pay-as-you-go capital funding to schools and 40% to the County projects. <br />Fallowing the adoption of this policy, in May 2005 the Board chose an option on haw to allocate <br />school construction impact fees, etc. <br />Donna Coffey went over the highlights of the policy, which is incorporated by reference. <br />Regarding lottery proceeds, last year the state said that Orange County could expect $2.7 <br />million in lottery proceeds this current fiscal year. The County budgeted $2.4 million to offset <br />debt service, which was the equivalent of two cents. The first quarter deposit in October was <br />promising. The second quarter proceeds were dawn significantly. Based on the numbers from <br />DPI, the County will be about $300,000 short an lottery proceeds collections. One of the <br />recommendations is to budget lottery proceeds in arrears -not include them in the current <br />revenue stream, but once it is collected, then it can be budgeted. <br />Commissioner Nelson asked if there has been feedback from the school boards an haw <br />to divide up the lottery proceeds and it was answered no. <br />Laura Blackmon said that the collections of lottery proceeds are very unstable as far as <br />the collections. There are bills being introduced that may change the distribution of the <br />proceeds. <br />Donna Coffey said that attachment 3 shows all of the bills introduced related to the <br />lottery. <br />Commissioner Nelson said that it would be helpful to have input from the school boards <br />about the spending of the lottery proceeds, as early in the budget process as possible. <br />Chair Carey said that mast of the bills seek to allocate funds based on average daily <br />membership. He asked if this was in the County's favor. Donna Coffey said that it is allocated <br />now an average daily membership, but a lot of the counties want to see the effective tax rate <br />come out of this. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked about budgeting in arrears. Donna Coffey said that in the <br />2007-08 year, no lottery funds would be budgeted. In 2008-09, the County would budget the <br />amount that was collected in 2007-08. <br />Commissioner Gordon suggested acknowledging this practice in the capital funding <br />policy of budgeting lottery proceeds in arrears. Chair Carey agreed. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked about the four cents on the ad valorem tax rate and asked <br />haw the County would be able to handle this. She said that by the time the upcoming debt is <br />issued, there will be no room to implement this policy for several years. She suggested <br />restating the policy somehow to say that the equivalent of revenue equal to four cents is the <br />targeted rate, however, it might be awhile before it can be done. She suggested having a <br />bigger footnote (attachment 1, fourth bullet}. <br />Laura Blackmon suggested some language as follows: "The equivalent of the revenue <br />estimated to be produced each fiscal year, not to exceed four cents on the Countywide ad <br />valorem tax rate, so that there could be adjustments depending upon the fiscal nature of the <br />upcoming year." <br />Chair Carey said that Commissioner Gordon is probably right and they are not going to <br />be able to do four cents in the next few years. However, he likes the affirmative statement that <br />