Orange County NC Website
<br /> <br /> <br />Commissioner Marcoplos asked if the lottery system could be further explained. <br />Travis Myren said these funds are drawn down from the state, and applied to offset debt <br />service. <br />Commissioner Marcoplos asked if the BOCC controls the fund into which the state <br />moneis flow. <br />Travis Myren said state lottery monies go into the state fund, and the County draws it <br />from there. He said he is not sure how that pot of money is established. <br />Paul Laughton, Finance and Administrative Services, said staff receives lottery <br />estimates from the state, and there is a quarterly allocation that the County can go to on the <br />State’s site, to see how much has been received. He said staff then comes to the BOCC most <br />quarters and does a quarterly application for debt service. He said both school boards passed <br />a resolution a few years ago to use the lottery funds as additional pay-go money. He said the <br />districts get the funds, and the County applies for the debt service, which allows the districts to <br />avoid filing with the State for different projects. <br />Travis Myren asked if there is a formula for establishing the amount of money in the first <br />place. <br />Paul Laughton said the lottery sales proceeds are state wide, and were capped at $100 <br />million in 2007/2008. He said prior to the cap the County used to receive around $2 million, but <br />now only receives about $1.3 million. <br />Commissioner Greene clarified that the state lottery funds are intended for education, <br />but the General Assembly (GA) has decided to use these funds for other things. <br />Several members said yes. <br />Joal Broun, CHCCS Board Chair, said, in 2008, the GA started raiding the schools’ <br />lottery funds due to the recession. She said the remaining amount of lottery funds go into the <br />general fund. <br />Jennifer Bennett, CHCCS Assistant Superintendent, said it is ADM driven, as far as the <br />allocation that goes out for capital. She said over time more and more of the lottery funds are <br />going to cover other state public school funds-type expenditures that would have normally been <br />general operating funds. She said the schools watch this budgeting process carefully. <br />Chair Rich asked if the ADM count the charter schools. <br />Jennifer Bennett said it is the LEA ADM, as the charter schools are not eligible for <br />capital. <br />