Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
14 <br /> 1 Commissioner Hamilton asked what gets the fund balance from $8.5 million to $12 <br /> 2 million. <br /> 3 Jonathan Scott said that out of the $5.5 million they have appropriated, he thinks they <br /> 4 will only spend $1.5-2 million. He said they are required to pass a balanced budget. <br /> 5 Commissioner McKee asked what the minimum fund balance is supposed to be. <br /> 6 Jonathan Scott said it is 5.5% or roughly $4.5 million. <br /> 7 Commissioner McKee asked if the required amount Is $4.5 million, what is the purpose <br /> 8 of having a fund balance projection of$12 million. <br /> 9 Jonathan Scott said the purpose of the $12 million is where they will end at the end of <br /> 10 the year, and it gives his Board direction on what will be needed to balance the budget. <br /> 11 Commissioner Bedford said that part of the fund balance issues is just timing. She said <br /> 12 that the school system received federal allotments, but they did not know how much <br /> 13 beforehand. She said that you do not have to spend all the money in one year, but the timing <br /> 14 does allow the use of future fund balance that is from the federal dollars. <br /> 15 Commissioner McKee said that is logical, but his concern is that it is a trend of very high <br /> 16 fund balances of the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools systems to have above what is required. <br /> 17 He said that by carrying more than what it is needed, they are not addressing concerns and they <br /> 18 are losing teachers and are unable to recruit new ones. He said the county has allocated more <br /> 19 cumulative increases per student than the 20t" funded in the state and he is trying to understand <br /> 20 it. He said if it is funded, it will require a 1 cent tax increase. He said that it will not affect a lot of <br /> 21 people but there are thousands that it will. He said that he needs to be able to understand why <br /> 22 the system needs to carry the fund balance. <br /> 23 Dr. Nyah Hamlett said the Board uses fund balance to balance the budget and to <br /> 24 address non-recurring expenses. She said they used fund balance for bonuses. <br /> 25 Jonathan Scott said they also purchased shade structures with it. He said that if they <br /> 26 appropriated $8 million to balance the budget, then they would have $4 million in <br /> 27 unappropriated fund balance and if they spend it all, they will have an $8 million reoccurring <br /> 28 expense and he would have to request $8 million next year from the county. He said that would <br /> 29 just be a request to cover the costs from the previous year and would not even begin to address <br /> 30 continuation costs for the next year. He said that if they do that, he will have an $11 million <br /> 31 request and only have $4 million in fund balance. He said that using fund balance for recurring <br /> 32 expenditures is dangerous because they can quickly find themselves at a significant funding <br /> 33 cliff. <br /> 34 Chair Price said teachers said they are still using their own funds to fund school <br /> 35 supplies. She asked if fund balance could be used for that. <br /> 36 Dr. Nyah Hamlett said they used ESSER funds to allocate $20 per student across the <br /> 37 district so they could use that funding for instructional materials and supplies so there have <br /> 38 been funds allocated for those purposes. She said there are other sources that provide support <br /> 39 for those services. <br /> 40 <br /> 41 Dr. Monique Felder, superintendent of Orange County Schools, made the following <br /> 42 presentation: <br /> 43 <br /> 44 <br />