Minutes - 19890530 - Laserfiche WebLink

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303 contribution is only a partial reimbursement for the use of the squad's facilities and equipment. The proposed fee violates the long standing tradition of volunteer service in Orange County which is made possible by the generous donations of its citizens. Although the short term gains may appear to be significant, the long term impact will be disastrous. The squads ask the Commissioners to consider their position and to allow them to continue to do a good job of providing free medical ,- service to the citizens of Orange County. The Board of Commissioners scheduled a special meeting for June 12, 1989 at 6:30 p.m, in Superior Courtroom, Hillsborough, NC, to discuss the user fee recommendation with the rescue squads. BUDGET WORK SESSION CONTINUES Commissioner Willhoit mentioned that programmatic school equity is what he hears the public requesting. He hopes that information can be gathered on both systems -390 that an effort could be made to equalize them. He was not satisfied in setting a specific dollar amount. He asked what the dollars were buying and felt this could be ascertained by comparing what the schools are offering, the number of administrators, etc. Commissioner Marshall stated that she had a real philosophical problem with that approach because the School Boards are elected and how they say they will spend school funds is one of the issues on which they are elected. She indicated that although the Commissioners give a lump sum, the citizens come and ask for specifics . for the schools. By giving a lump sum a large pool of money is created for the School Board to work with. They should be able to look at long-term funding and come up with programs in that way. She stated that she believed the Commissioners should not be in the "program" business. Chairman Carey stated that he was interested in what Commissioner Willhoit mentioned but that he did not believe it should be viewed as a basis for decision making. He stated that the Board of Commissioners cannot guarantee that even if programs and staffing is discussed jointly with the School Boards, that the outcome of the Commissioners decision will have any impact on the ultimate decision made by the school boards. As elected officials the Board of Commissioners owe it to the public to set some reasonable goals and provide information that the public can understand where the county is headed. Also, the School Boards need to know what to expect. The public will get their information about how the money is spent from the school boards. He stated that he did not believe they could control any of that. He mentioned that requesting the data implied that the Commissioners would have some influence over how the money was spent and that is not true. Commissioner Willhoit stated that he agreed that the Commissioners could not control how the money is spent but they could help the citizens become better informed. He also felt that this information would help them know what the goals are so that they could better justify making those expenditures. Commissioner Marshall indicated that she felt this kind of discussion should be an internal one between the School Boards and their Administration. Commissioner Hartwell referred to the Social Services budget and noted it has increased almost 20* this year. The budget that can be controlled has increased approximately 4%. A great deal of effort was made in DSS to hold that to 4%. The remainder of the increase is outside of the control of DSS. Medicaid reform is the