Agenda 06-18-19 Item 8-a - Minutes

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26 1 Commissioner Dorosin said the Board started a conversation last week of giving a flat 2 percent increase across the board, and whether this creates disparities between those who are 3 at the top and those at the bottom. He said he would like to revisit the idea, and possibly 4 having a differential scale, or some other way for more equitable distribution. 5 Commissioner McKee said the increase means something different to a person making 6 $30,000 than it does to someone making $150,000, and those at the bottom tier need the 7 money more than those at the top tier. 8 Commissioner Greene said since it is at the base pay, it is compounded every year. 9 Chair Rich said this is not for now, but for future discussion. She said it is important to 10 add it to the base pay, as bonuses are nice but do not help with retirement; only the base pay 11 does. 12 Travis Myren resumed the PowerPoint presentation: 13 14 • Information Technologies – page 295 15 • Total expenditure budget - $4,076,614 16 – Increase of $628,598 Over FY2018-19 17 • Software Maintenance and Licenses 18 – Increase of $615,168 19 – Funds Maintenance for 111 Software Programs 20 21 Commissioner Dorosin said the increase of over $600,000 is a lot, and asked if this is 22 unusual. 23 Jim Northup said this is not unusual with the timing of the multi-year contracts, but there 24 are savings up to about $116,000 over the term of 5 years. He said multi-year contracts are 25 pursued every year, and they sometimes stay the same, but usually do not increase. He said 26 there is typically a 2-4% increase in software maintenance across the board for existing 27 applications, and the multi-year helps to keep it at 4% or less. 28 Chair Rich referred to page 327 and the Tuition Refunds, and asked if the specifics of 29 the refunds could be clarified. 30 Travis Myren said this is for employee reimbursement for tuition for professional 31 development activities. 32 Commissioner Greene referred to page 306 - Community Services - and asked if there 33 is a unifying thread to these items; e.g.: Arts Center and Kidzu. 34 Travis Myren said the common denominator is that these items do not fit into the 35 departments’ budgets, but have some relationship to Community Services. 36 Paul Laughton, Finance and Administrative Services, said the outside agencies are 37 included in the outside agency section, but are also included in whatever functional leadership 38 team with which they are associated. 39 Bonnie Hammersley said staff will go through the non-departmentals as it goes through 40 the functional leadership teams next week. 41 Travis Myren said staff can re-format the list after the budget process is completed. 42 Chair Rich clarified that the items are not doubly listed. 43 Travis Myren said correct. 44 Commissioner Dorosin offered an amendment to add to the list due to the extreme 45 funding discrepancy between the school districts, due to the district tax at Chapel Hill-Carrboro 46 City Schools (CHCCS). He proposed reducing the CHCCS district tax one cent, and add one 47 cent to the ad valorem tax, which would be used for education. He said this would hold CHCCS 48 harmless and add to education to the Orange County Schools (OCS). 49