Agenda - 11-19-2013 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 1 Clarence Grier said that is the benchmark that would most likely be used. He said these 2 items would have to be financed, with consideration of the debt capacity. 3 Chair Coffey asked what the equivalent of$1 million in debt would be in debt service. 4 Clarence Grier said this would be $80,000 4100,000. 5 Chair Brownstein said the threshold needs to be defined as to what is unfunded. She 6 said this clarity is needed before next budget process. 7 Clarence Grier said there is a monthly meeting of superintendents and managers, and 8 this will be discussed at that time. 9 Chair Coffey said it would be good for the school collaboration group to hear this 10 discussion. 11 Commissioner Gordon asked if each of the boards will get the same template to use for 12 the budget process. 13 Clarence Grier said yes. 14 15 3. Proposed County Jail and Chapel Hill —Carrboro City Schools Middle School #5 16 Discussion 17 Chair Jacobs said these are the two biggest ticket items on the horizon. He said that 18 these needs must be defined to have starting parameters for a possible bond in 2014. 19 Clarence Grier said the state has given the county a 50 year land lease for the new 20 county jail facility. He said the jail will cost approximately $30 million and house 250 prisoners. 21 He said construction will begin in 2015, with completion by 2017. The state has given the county 22 5 years to complete the project. 23 Clarence Grier said the Culbreth science wing has been approved to alleviate 24 overcrowding. He said this pushes out the need for a 5th Chapel Hill/Carrboro middle school by 25 two years. He said the project will be completed in years 2017-2020, and the cost is projected 26 to be $43 million. 27 He said the total of these two projects is $74 million. He said there are no projects for 28 Orange County Schools addressed here, and there is a possible need for an 8th elementary 29 school in Orange County. He said the debt service for the two big items, measured over 20 30 years, is $4.9 million with 3 cents on the tax rate. 31 Chair Coffey said DPI projected that Orange County Schools would grow by 82 students 32 this year. She said there were already 186 new students as of the 10th day of school. She said 33 the bulk of this has come at the high school level. She said the County is already over 100% at 34 the high school level, which means that this number will be bumping up to 110% over the next 35 couple of years. She asked for some consideration of how far the 500 student addition will go 36 at Cedar Ridge, versus a 1200 student high school. She said the cost effectiveness needs to 37 be considered. 38 She encouraged the Board to consider the new facilities needed by Orange County 39 schools as bonds are being discussed. 40 Chair Brownstein said the other piece to this is the need to address the issue of older 41 schools and the need for new construction. She feels that this issue must be addressed. 42 Commissioner Gordon said there is a process in place to handle school growth, and that 43 is the SAPFO process. She said the County gets new student enrollment numbers in the fall, 44 and these are reviewed by the technical committee. She said projections of growth are not the 45 problem; however the funding of growth is another question. She said that if a bond were 46 initiated, this would involve a bond committee and a process. 47 Chair Jacobs said this is a discussion about two different things— 1) projections 2) two 48 large projects as the impetus for when the Board would make a decision about a bond. He said 49 this grows into the question of other perceived needs of the older schools and whether these 50 would be addressed with a bond or not. He noted that the jail is a pressing item as this land is 51 leased and must be used by a certain date.