Minutes 06-06-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1. Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Ruby Pittman, CHCCS Finance Director, and James Barrett, CHCCS Board of Education member, said there is no official presentation, but this is more of a question and answer time. Commissioner Price said the manager's recommended budget is $4 million, which is $4 million less than what the schools asked for. She asked for an explanation from the manager of why it was cut this much. She would also like to hear from the school officials about what that cut would mean. Commissioner McKee arrived at 7:15pm. Frank Clifton said there are several aspects with school funding. He said there is an established policy that the county will try to maintain 48.1% of general fund revenues dedicated to schools. He said this number goes straight to schools and includes operations, capital and debt service, and the dollar distribution changes year to year. He said there are also several programs in addition to this that are funded with $3 million in school related funds. He said that any additional allocations to schools are split based on the number of students, as governed by state guidelines. He said that if the additional $3 million is included the percentage is closer to 49%. He said there has been a 3.2% growth in revenue based on existing revenue streams and the existing tax rate, which equates to just over $3 million. He said that $2.4 million of this was allocated to schools, based on accommodating the growth in student numbers. He said CHCCS has the district tax, which can be increased to make up for what the county does not fund. Frank Clifton said the key element for the Board is that there is almost no growth in the tax base. This creates a choice of priorities and what to fund. He said staff did what could be done within current revenue streams, and it is the Board's decision whether to do more and how to address that. James Barrett said the school board has not had a discussion of what programs will be cut based on the current funding recommendations. He said the CHCCS budget also does not include other cuts from the state; and some of these items in the budget are state mandated programs, such as health and pension programs. He said the district would need to take other cuts if there is no additional funding. He said there are reductions in this package that the Board of Education (BOE) has already voted to take, and many of these were difficult decisions. He said there has been very negative feedback regarding some of these cuts, such as foreign language classes. He said the biggest mandatory expense is the Northside Elementary School opening. He said that this is a critical need, and if funding for this opening is insufficient, money will have to be pulled from other areas. Commissioner Rich questioned why the county would build a school without being prepared to fund the opening. She said she was with a group of people that did not come to the public hearing and these residents were not in favor of raising taxes. She said this is because these residents cannot afford it. She said the Board needs to look at what can be done without hurting residents. She feels it is important to look at what can be done to support the opening of the school. Commissioner McKee said he is hearing the same thing about holding the line on the general property tax. He believes there is room to accommodate the basic needs without a tax increase.