Agenda - 04-07-2015 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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29 1 items just because they are not on a bond. He said just because a bond is passed, it does not 2 mean that the public is supportive of the item. He is not expecting full buy-in, and he is 3 prepared for this. 4 Commissioner Jacobs said he would be perfectly comfortable doing what Chapel Hill did 5 with the use of bond and private financing. He said a statement can be made to reflect these 6 intentions, and the public can still be asked to speak into it. He would like to see all of these 7 options on the table at the same time. He said the schools could probably tell you how that 8 money could be spent, but for some of the other issues, people could provide discussion. He 9 said the suggestion based on Chapel Hill's approach may be the best approach. 10 Chair McKee said the absolute priorities can be determined and included in the bond, 11 and then the other priorities can be done in staged intervals. 12 Commissioner Pelissier said when she said she would like to limit the topics for the bond 13 referendum, she also presumed all along that the Board has their CIP and would fund topics 14 accordingly. She said this discussion points to the need to find a different way to engage the 15 public in the CIP. She said the Board does not start out informing the public of the debt 16 capacity before taxes would need to be raised. 17 Commissioner Dorosin said it may be good at some point to vote on the bond priorities, 18 and then he would like some more information on the other idea of funding. He does not like 19 the idea of just saying that items will go on the CIP, and he would like to see items spelled out 20 in an independent resolution. He is interested in a different type of strategic funding, but it 21 needs to be clear. He suggested that this be put on the agenda for a vote and information be 22 provided on the Chapel Hill funding model. He said, following this, there could be a public 23 hearing to gather the desired input. 24 Commissioner Burroughs said if they pursue this concept, she is interested in hearing 25 from Bonnie Hammersley regarding the strategic thinking about the CIP. 26 Bonnie Hammersley said she has some school information and the recommended CIP, 27 which includes items that would not be considered part of the referendum. She said staff could 28 take a look at this more closely as to how items fit into the CIP. She said the renovations being 29 done by Carrboro are creating more seats and putting off building a school. She said this 30 creates some more room. She said it is possible to look at different options to determine the 31 maximum ability on the CIP and the bond referendum or a hybrid model. 32 Chair McKee said he would like to get the priorities from OCS as quickly as possible so 33 that the finance department can compare these numbers with the total borrowing capacity. He 34 said this could help with an informal discussion at a work session. 35 36 Public Comment: 37 Submitted by Bonnie Hauser via email 38 Dear Commissioners: 39 40 As you know, many of us will be in Efland or Carrboro tonight discussing affordability and 41 cannot appear at the county commissioner meeting to offer our view on the possible bond 42 referendum. Please accept this as public comment and enter it into the public record. There is 43 growing sentiment throughout the community that it is too premature to county to ask its 44 citizens to approve a bond for schools or other initiatives. 45 46 Affordability is a major issue in Orange County, and a 5% tax increase will make things worse. 47 We'd prefer to see the county pursue better planning and priority setting. Based on your 48 budgets, it appears that county plans to continue to spend lavishly on parks, offices and waste 49 facilities while schools sit in embarrassing disrepair waiting for voters to approve a bond and a