Orange County NC Website
5 <br /> 1 Chair Jacobs asked if the Board can authorize the manager to approve allocations within <br /> 2 his purview over this summer, after consultation with the chair/vice chair, to fund programs that <br /> 3 may be cut by the state. <br /> 4 Clarence Grier said there is still $350,000 that can be put into the social justice reserve for <br /> 5 contingency items over the summer. <br /> 6 Chair Jacobs said the Board agreed by consensus. <br /> 7 Paul Laughton said there is already $100,000 in the social justice fund and this would <br /> 8 bring it to $450,000. <br /> 9 <br /> 10 Decision Point 2 <br /> 11 County Fee Schedule Decisions <br /> 12 Clarence Grier said there are only two fees that will change: 1) $59 will be eliminated for <br /> 13 rural recycling, as well as the $19 for multi-family service, and 2) there is a change in the <br /> 14 estimated Mebane rates for the Efland Water Sewer System, as Mebane has decided not to <br /> 15 increase rates. <br /> 16 Commissioner Gordon said she would like to remind the Board that there was discussion <br /> 17 about changing the solid waste convenience center (SWCC) fee. <br /> 18 Chair Jacobs said he and Michael Talbert wrote to the towns and no response has been <br /> 19 received so far. <br /> 20 Commissioner Gordon said the question is whether to change the SWCC fee this year or <br /> 21 wait until the advisory group meets. <br /> 22 Chair Jacobs said there will be a discussion on property taxes in the next item, and this <br /> 23 might have a bearing on whether to raise the fee. He said there is also a difference of opinion <br /> 24 regarding whether fees are the way to pay this. He said the fees would be larger than the impact <br /> 25 of the property tax, which would magnify the changes. He suggested waiting for feedback and <br /> 26 discussion with the towns. <br /> 27 Commissioner McKee said this is part of a larger discussion, and he would prefer to wait <br /> 28 until the towns weigh in. <br /> 29 Commissioner Dorosin said he is opposed to raising the fees; but he would support <br /> 30 eliminating the fees and having the costs covered by the general fund. <br /> 31 Commissioner Pelissier said the Board should not do anymore piece meal decision <br /> 32 making, and she would defer making a decision about fees at this point. <br /> 33 Commissioner Price said the inspection fees are going up 40 percent, and asked for an <br /> 34 explanation of this. <br /> 35 Craig Benedict said the fees are going up from $38 to $50, which is about 20 percent. He <br /> 36 said there was discussion in 2006 about raising fees incrementally by about 10 percent each <br /> 37 year. He said this was frozen in 2008, and a recent study showed the rate of$50 to be a <br /> 38 reasonable rate. He said this increase is an effort to catch up. <br /> 39 Commissioner Price said some of the fees are going up more than 20 percent. <br /> 40 Craig Benedict said some of the higher rates are commercial rates, and these are not <br /> 41 residential rates. <br /> 42 <br /> 43 Decision Point 3 <br /> 44 Funding for Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools and Orange County Schools <br /> 45 Clarence Grier referred to the gold sheet regarding unassigned fund balance. He said the <br /> 46 expected total revenues at the end of the fiscal year are $192,957,950, and total expenditures are <br /> 47 expected to be $187,318,733. He said this gives an expected increase in the general fund <br /> 48 balance of$5,639,217. He said the projected excess general fund unassigned fund balance as <br /> 49 of June 2014 totals $1,911,124, and the projected ending general fund unassigned fund balance <br /> 50 as of June 30, 2014 totals $35,280,170, which equates to an increase of 18.83 percent. <br />