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28 <br /> 1 Vice-Chair Fowler asked if the Town of Chapel Hill still contributes to the Visitors Bureau. <br /> 2 Kirk Vaughn said the base contribution is $200,000. <br /> 3 Vice-Chair Fowler asked if restoring the solid waste fee to $146 would cover the need. <br /> 4 Kirk Vaughn said the fee doesn't grow as quickly as inflation, but they will have to balance <br /> 5 the fee against costs. He said that the solid waste fund has a healthy cash balance. He said it's <br /> 6 a capital-intensive program, and part of the use of fund balance is making sure that they are not <br /> 7 borrowing as much so there isn't as much debt service in the solid waste funds. <br /> 8 Commissioner Bedford said they've bought a lot of heavy equipment in the past year. <br /> 9 Kirk Vaughn said it is an expensive enterprise to manage. <br /> 10 Commissioner Carter asked if it is possible to share some of the cost impacts of changes <br /> 11 to SNAP and Medicaid with the municipalities. <br /> 12 Kirk Vaughn said in general towns can't give funds to the county for a service that towns <br /> 13 aren't allowed to do. <br /> 14 Travis Myren said staff would research the question. <br /> 15 Commissioner Greene asked about the unreimbursed HOME expenses. <br /> 16 Kirk Vaughn said it is a balance over 30 years. He said over 30 years they have not been <br /> 17 filing correctly with HUD to the tune of about $30,000 a year. He said there is a period that can't <br /> 18 get reimbursed for anymore, and that is a loss of$600,000. He said there are more recent years <br /> 19 that Housing can still file reimbursement for and that's about $300,000. <br /> 20 Commissioner McKee asked how this was allowed to happen and what we are going to <br /> 21 do to prevent it in the future. <br /> 22 Travis Myren said losses precede the current staff and that the Budget Director is aware <br /> 23 and paying attention. <br /> 24 Kirk Vaughn said Housing staff said that HUD said the county has smaller staff support for <br /> 25 the HOME program than other similarly sized programs. He said if they add staff, they may be <br /> 26 able to include, but it would be an additional county cost. <br /> 27 Commissioner Bedford asked if closing capital funds that have been sitting on the books <br /> 28 is still in process. <br /> 29 Kirk Vaughn said they were doing this for multiple funds, and they identified a surplus of <br /> 30 $300,000 in the county capital fund. <br /> 31 Commissioner Bedford asked if the CIP document will have fewer funds. <br /> 32 Kirk Vaughn said they identified that they could close them, but an action must be taken <br /> 33 in the ERP so that the report does not include those. <br /> 34 <br /> 35 Slide #27 <br /> Orange County FY 2026-27 Budget Guidelines <br /> • Alignment with Strategic Plan priorities and performance measures <br /> Additional expenditure requests will require reallocation of existing funds or new <br /> revenues <br /> Analyze current service levels,cost recovery, and staff alignment <br /> Continue Long-Term Financial Planning Department Reviews <br /> • Continue Interdepartmental and Intergovernmental collaboration initiatives <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> 27 MIR 9'F1 UAR[II.INA <br /> 36 <br />