Minutes 04-24-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Frank Clifton said that the County is very close to the 17% reserve fund policy and they are planning to do preliminary estimates of revenues and expenditures. He is going to propose a policy that states that any money left at the end of the year is to be set aside to fund the retiree health insurance fund. He said that the changes they make will have a gradual impact. There will be no impact on existing employees or existing retirees. Emergency Services Clarence Grier said that staff will be proposing increases in expenditures for Emergency Services (911 and ES) in FY2012-13 to improve response time. These proposals will be provided prior to completion of the effort of the Board's appointed Emergency Services Work Group and the expected consultant's report. The final allocations can be adjusted based on later input, but considering the importance of these services to the public, necessary increased financial commitments are a reality. School Districts and Education Requests for Funding Both the Orange County and the Chapel Hill — Carrboro City Schools districts have requested increases in the per pupil allocation that the County provides to each district in the FY2012- 2013 budget. Orange County Schools has requested an increase in the per pupil allocation from the County that would increase the current expense allocation $220 per pupil. This would raise the County's current expense allocation for both school districts to $3,322. This would represent an increase of$6.07 million based the projected average daily membership (ADM) provided by North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NC DPI) for both systems. This funding request would represent 3.95 cents on the current property tax rate. Chapel Hill — Carrboro City Schools has requested an increase in the local per pupil allocation increase of$67. This requested increase in the local per pupil allocation for current expenses would increase the per pupil allocation to $3,169. This funding level would represent an approximate increase in the current expense for both school districts of$3.05 million, which would represent 1.98 cents of the current property tax rate based on the projected ADM provided by NC DPI for both systems. Frank Clifton said that Clarence Grier has looked at each of the schools' fund balances and both have a generous fund balance and maybe this could help the schools fund some of their requests. He said that the schools have had little variance in revenue growth and remain basically flat. He said that the County is at a point in time that the schools are at or above the 48.1% limit and to fund the requests would require a tax increase. Commissioner Hemminger asked about the increases in per-pupil. Discussion ensued about the formula staff used to calculate this information and Clarence Grier— at end of meeting— brought forth a hard copy for them to review. Commissioner Hemminger asked if the same amount was given to each student whichever formula amount they choose and staff said yes.