Orange County NC Website
9 <br /> 1 Joal Broun referred to the portable classroom cost per student, and asked if that is <br /> 2 assuming that the portable classroom is a permanent fixture or used for as long as needed. <br /> 3 She asked if there is an average that is used. <br /> 4 Julie Herlands said it is based on what is in the ground today, within each school <br /> 5 system, and within each level of school (elementary, middle and high), leading to the number of <br /> 6 portable classrooms per students. She said if portables go away in the future, a higher level of <br /> 7 service will be needed. <br /> 8 Pat Heinrich asked if the calculations used to determine capital cost are a lagging <br /> 9 number; based on what is being spent today to determine impact fees for the level of service <br /> 10 provided in the future. <br /> 11 Julie Herlands said the dollars are in current dollars; what it costs today. She said it is <br /> 12 recommended that the County apply an inflationary factor to the whole schedule to keep up with <br /> 13 the increase in construction costs. <br /> 14 <br /> 15 Orange County Schools <br /> 16 <br /> 17 OCS Student Generation Rates (graph) <br /> 18 <br /> 19 OCS Levels of Service (graph) <br /> 20 <br /> 21 OCS Cost Per Student Summary(graph) <br /> 22 <br /> 23 OCS Maximum Supportable Impact Fees (graph) <br /> 24 <br /> 25 Commissioner Price asked if there is a reason that portable classrooms are included in <br /> 26 this schedule. <br /> 27 Julie Herlands said there is some level of capacity that is being provided by a temporary <br /> 28 facility currently. She said this capacity cannot be replaced in the fee calculation with a better <br /> 29 or higher level of service. <br /> 30 Craig Benedict said the capacity of portable classrooms is not counted with the School <br /> 31 Adequate Public Facilities Fee (SAPFO) as a determinate to decide whether additional <br /> 32 buildings are needed. <br /> 33 James Barrett said a policy decision has been made that portables are acceptable, <br /> 34 because it is assumed that capacity can exceed 100%. <br /> 35 Commissioner Price said she thought the goal, moving forward, was to do away with <br /> 36 portable classrooms, as they are unsafe. <br /> 37 James Barrett said the assumption is that portables will remain because funding is not <br /> 38 provided for new buildings until capacity is at 105 to 110%. <br /> 39 Commissioner Dorosin clarified that there is no formal plan to get rid of portables, and <br /> 40 the answer was yes. <br /> 41 Todd LoFrese said it would be wonderful to do away with portable units. <br /> 42 Steve Halkiotis seconded this statement. <br /> 43 Rani Dasi asked if the impact fee rates are updated regularly. <br /> 44 Julie Herlands said a full restudy is recommended every three to five years, and an <br /> 45 update on the costs, with an inflationary adjustment, annually. <br /> 46 Rani Dasi said if a project was approved in November, where a new building would <br /> 47 replace a number of portables significantly changing the square footage, the cost of said project <br /> 48 would be greatly understated if these numbers were not included. <br />