Minutes - 20080408 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

received from Sports Endeavors and its offer for naming rights at the West Ten Soccer Complex. Parks and Recreation Director Lori Taft and her staff, the Visitor's Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce, and others have been trying to get sponsors for this program. The goal is to have brochures to distribute, asking for help in funding. Lori Taft said that the Parks and Recreation Department originally worked with Planning on this, specifically because of the zoning in this area, which is different because of the economic development district. There has been a plan worked out for this. There is still work to be done on the campaign, and hopefully people will start calling indicating interest in helping. There will be a package coming back for approval in June with a brochure, cover letter, and return card. These will be mailed out to targeted businesses (most all are in Orange County or do business in Orange County). Laura Blackmon said that the County was initially approached by Sports Endeavors for some naming rights, but also these funds will be used for operations, because this will be an expensive complex to maintain. Anything that is raised in this method would not have to come from the general fund to pay for supporting this facility. She said that if the Board is ok with this package, then the staff will move ahead. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the fourth bullet point in the brochure and said to make sure that the "tens of thousands" statement could be backed up. She suggested just putting "thousands." She also asked that the quotes be checked for approval from Mia Hamm and Paul Bryant. Chair Jacobs said that this is located in central Orange County and not in northern Orange County, and the brochure repeatedly says that it's in northern Orange County. Also, there are a couple of places where there is a word missing, and he pointed these out to staff. He also thinks that fitness is an important component, and this should be worked in. Chair Jacobs said that he did not realize that the Board had decided that this was exclusively a facility for young people. Lori Taft said that this was not decided, but youth in the community were prioritized. Chair Jacobs said that it reads like it is exclusive. Commissioner Gordon made reference to signage and said to make sure that businesses can do the same thing the County can, and that the County is not given preference over businesses. Laura Blackmon said that the changes in sign ordinances would be for the EDD overall. The staff will bring this back to the Board with a more complete package. (8 3. Use of Unbudgeted Sales Tax Refunds for Capital Projects Laura Blackmon said that the CHCCS sent a letter to Pam Jones requesting the sales tax refund for Carrboro High School. Most of this was done while she was not here, but she was around when there was some sales tax refund budgeted for Morris Grove Elementary. She is drawing upon that knowledge for this item. When the Carrboro High School was done, the expectation was that there would be a sales tax refund for this facility totaling $450,000. There is a lot of background information regarding when the State decided that the schools could not receive sales tax reimbursement for construction of facilities. There is nothing about what happens if the amount received was neither above that which was budgeted nor below that amount which was expected. Based upon the letter received, the anticipated sales tax reimbursements for Carrboro High School is $450,000. The total received was $912,756, which resulted in over $462,000 in unanticipated project-related revenue. She said that she wants to discuss developing a policy so that each time this comes up, the policy will be followed and there will not be separate decisions. The letter listed four items that the money would be used for: additional furniture, performing arts equipment and supplies, spectator stands for the competition field, and additional textbooks. The options are listed on page 3: