Agenda - Item 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7  Clerk to Board of Commissioners 8  County Finance & Administrative Services Office 9  Orange County Library 10  Chapel Hill Public Library 11  Carrboro/McDougle Branch Library 12  Orange County Website - http://orangecountync.gov 13 14 Commissioner Jacobs said he does not recall if the tax increase, which will be 15 implemented due to the voter approved bonds, will remain in effect after the bond has been 16 repaid. He asked if any commitment was made to the public, and if the increase will just 17 become embedded in the County budget. 18 Bonnie Hammersley said she does not recall that conversation, but it is the will of the 19 board to determine what is best at that time. 20 Commissioner Jacobs asked if the Board can discuss this question during budget work 21 sessions. 22 Commissioner Price said the previous Manager said such an increase remains, and 23 becomes an embedded part of the budget. 24 Commissioner Burroughs said she does not think the current Board can bind a future 25 Board. 26 Commissioner Jacobs said when the Board passed bonds in 2001, the Board made a 27 pledge to the public to not keep the tax increase once bonds were paid off. He said future 28 Boards were not bound, but Commissioners that adopted the pledge did feel bound. 29 Commissioner Burroughs asked if the Board at that time held to the pledge by dropping 30 the 7 cent tax increase once the bonds were paid off. 31 Commissioner Jacobs said he could not remember. 32 Bonnie Hammersley said there was nothing in the education campaign that addressed 33 this question for the bond. She said the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) can raise and 34 lower taxes at its discretion, whoever it sitting at a particular time. 35 36 3. Public Comment 37 Elizabeth Welsby said she has three teens in the CHCCS system, and she thanked the 38 Manager for presenting a conservative budget. She said she is grateful for the funds being put 39 aside for deferred maintenance, but fears it is not enough. She is here to talk about the safety 40 of the students, and some of the expansion budget items are really important for the safety of 41 the students; specifically the middle and high school psychologists. 42 Carlyn Welsby (her daughter) said she is in the 10th grade at East Chapel Hill High 43 School, and has been participating in recent demonstrations against gun violence in schools. 44 She said she is asking the BOCC to stand with the students to support mental health 45 professionals in the middle and high schools. 46 Elizabeth Welsby said she hoped that the BOCC would fund the entire expansion 47 budget, but funding the psychologists is $377,000. She also expressed support for the 48 Compass Center’s request, of which she is part of as well. 49 Cordelia Heaney said she is the Director of the Compass Center, and she thanked the 50 Board for its consideration of the outside agency proposed funding for the Center. She 51 FY2018-19 RECOMMENDED BUDGET DOCUMENT AVAILABILITY