Orange County NC Website
7 <br /> <br /> Two Step Process to Decide; 1) Municipalities Allocation 2) Eligible Uses 1 <br />Allocation by June 1 2 <br /> Inform Town Finance Officers of Federal and State Guidelines, Tracking 3 <br />Expenditures and Reporting Timeframes 4 <br /> Implement Funding Plan 5 <br /> 6 <br />Questions 7 <br />Commissioner Dorosin said the BOCC is discussing two things: the allocation formula 8 <br />and the plans. He said the recommendation for the formula is to do it per capita, and asked if 9 <br />there are any alternatives to this method. 10 <br /> Gary Donaldson said per capita is fair and reasonable, but another alternative could be 11 <br />on the ad valorem. He said the staff recommendation would be to use the per capita. 12 <br /> Commissioner Dorosin asked if staff looked at a comparison of the options. 13 <br /> Gary Donaldson said yes, and the ad valorem option would be higher for the county and 14 <br />less for the municipalities. 15 <br /> Commissioner Dorosin said it would be helpful to hear all options and their comparisons, 16 <br />when there is more than one option. 17 <br /> Commissioner Dorosin said the second decision is what the funding plan would be. 18 <br /> Bonnie Hammersley said staff will bring a recommended funding plan to the Orange 19 <br />County Board of Commissioners, and she will be meeting with department heads and will find 20 <br />out what they need, and her staff will prioritize. She said $2.6 million is not a lot of money, and 21 <br />the County will have to spend quickly. She said staff will probably bring it to the Orange County 22 <br />Board of Commissioners at the May 28th work session, and the towns have to submit their plans 23 <br />at the same time. 24 <br /> Bonnie Hammersley said the other option is to give the towns a portion of these funds, 25 <br />which would be totally voluntary on the part of the County. She said there will be no other 26 <br />monies in the CARES ACT for municipalities. She said the plan will be brought forward as soon 27 <br />as possible, and staff is open to suggestions. She said there are many Covid related expenses, 28 <br />and any local funds would have to be used before the CARES ACT funds; however, Orange 29 <br />County has not put aside any local money. She said after CARES ACT funds have been spent, 30 <br />then petitions can be made to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 31 <br /> Commissioner Dorosin said the two things that these funds can be spent on are on 32 <br />County needs and small business grants. He said he hoped that any plan would include funds 33 <br />for these two things. 34 <br /> Bonnie Hammersley said the BOCC must decide if it wants to give funds to the towns, 35 <br />per capita. She said she did not think to include ad valorem as an option. 36 <br /> Chair Rich said these monies have to be spent between March and December 2020. 37 <br /> Commissioner Bedford said she had a concern about using the per capita allocation as 38 <br />outlined, although she thinks per capita is fairer than ad valorem. She said things like the 39 <br />health department and DSS, which are countywide, have had a lot of expenses. She asked if 40 <br />the total of these expenses is known, and said these expenses would only be incurred at the 41 <br />County level. She said it may be better to give the towns half of the suggested percentage, and 42 <br />when the staff has the first quarterly report, staff can adapt the funding. She said postage to 43 <br />mail paper-voting ballots will also be a County expense. She said her concerns are the per 44 <br />capita percentages are too high, and she would like to try to stagger the plan and funding. 45 <br /> Bonnie Hammersley said the County is in charge of many of these services, but the 46 <br />entire county is taxed for these purposes. She said they have spent about $495,000 to date. 47 <br />She said there are some things that will be centralized within Orange County, such as masks. 48 <br />She said the consultant who will come on board to lead the recovery will be shared amongst all 49 <br />the partners, and all plans will work together and complement one another. She cautioned the 50