Agenda - 04-28-2015 - 1 and 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Per the April 2011 Board approved County Capital Funding Policy, County and School recurring capital needs will be identified and reviewed during each annual operating budget cycle, and recurring capital appropriations will be approved by the Board of Commissioners as an element of each annual Orange County Budget Ordinance. For the current fiscal year, Commissioners funded $3.0 million (the equivalent of approximately 2 cents on the property tax rate) for schools recurring capital. Long -Range Capital - supports school capital projects through the County's Capital Investment Plan (CIP) with Pay -as- you -go funding, which includes dedicated half -cent sales tax revenues and property tax earmarked under the Board's current Capital Funding Policy. Similar to Local Current Expense funding, the amount of money counties allocate to long -range capital expenditures is discretionary and varies from county to county. Long -Range Capital (PAYG) funding of $3,724,849 was approved in FY 2014 -15. School Related Debt Service - repayment of principal and interest on School related debt, including general obligation bonds and private placement loans. North Carolina statutes require counties to pay for school related capital items such as acquisition and construction of facilities. In instances where counties borrow monies to pay for such items, the State mandates counties repay the debt. The amount of money counties borrow for school related projects is discretionary and varies from county to county. Debt Service funding for Schools of $16,608,984 was approved in FY 2014 -15. Fair Funding — established in FY 2006 -07, these funds are split equally between the two school districts, to offset costs of safety and health services such as School Resource Officers and Nurses. The State does not mandate counties to provide funding for these services. Fair Funding of $988,000 was approved in FY 2014 -15. It is important to note, the 48.1% target only includes funding for the items identified above - current expense, recurring capital, long -range capital, school related debt service and fair funding. It does not include additional non - mandated County financial support Orange County Commissioners commit to schools. Examples of such appropriations include supplementing state funding for school health nurses to staff each school with at least one school health nurse. Funding in the current fiscal year for this contractual agreement between the County Health Department and each school district is approximately $697,000. (This agreement/contract has been in place since 2001) FY2015 -16 School Budgets Based on the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's projected Average Daily Membership (ADM) enrollment for FY 2015 -16, Orange County Schools enrollment would decrease by 172 students, and Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools enrollment would decrease by 150 students, for a total decrease of 322 students over both school systems. Orange County Schools is requesting an increase in the local per pupil allocation of $81. This requested increase in the local per pupil allocation for current expenses would increase the per pupil allocation to $3,652. This funding level would represent approximately the same current expense for Orange County Schools of $28.1 million with an increase for both school districts of approximately $450,000, when this increase of $81 per pupil is also applied to Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools. This would represent .275 cents on the current property tax rate. Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools is requesting an increase in the local per pupil allocation of $302, plus funding for an additional 100 charter students in the district. This requested increase