Agenda - 05-22-2003-2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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end, both the County and school recommended CIPs include all capital needs that have been identified, regardless of whether there is sufficient anticipated pay-as-you-go revenue or designated debt financing to pay for them. In the interests of comprehensiveness, the CIP also integrates projects that have been or will be funded fully or in part from $75 million bonds approved by voters in November 2001 and $37.875 million to be funded over the next five years through alternative financing mechanisms. The timing of bond sales and alternative financing for those projects was approved by the BOCC on September 3, 2002. The Board of Commissioners may want to focus on at least two specific issues in addition to any general review of individual project proposals from either school system. First, the Board mentioned its interest in knowing specifically how the County's debt capacity calculations (self- imposed through BOCC policy, at 15 percent of annual General Fund expenditures) would affect the ability to finance all projects, including those listed in the proposed CIP as "unfunded". The Budget Director has prepared several charts (attached) and will explain in more detail at the work session the relationship between projected debt capacity over the next 5-10 years and the additional debt that would be needed to finance unfunded projects. The second topic the Board may wish to address in more depth is the siting and budget for the proposed third high school in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School system. That topic will be the subject of a public hearing on May 27, and is tentatively slated for discussion at several meetings and/or work sessions during the month of June. The Superintendent has submitted a number of responses (memo attached) to various concerns about the project scope and budget, as raised by the County Manager during an April 24, 2003 work session on the proposed Rock Haven Road high school site. The Board is not expected to make any decisions on project allocations at this meeting. Changes to the CIP can be made during several work sessions over the coming weeks before the Board formally adopts the plan in late June 2003. The May 20 and June 5 public hearings on the proposed 2003-04 operating budget will also afford citizens the opportunity to comment on the schools portion of the 2003-2013 CIP. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no direct financial impact associated with the preliminary discussion of the schools' CIPs. However, the Board will make substantial allocation decisions, for both County and school capital projects, involving millions of dollars later this spring. Board funding decisions for FY 2003-04 will be enacted through capital project ordinances that will be adopted in June 2003. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board discuss school capital related topics and identify additional information about specific projects that the Board may need during upcoming budget work sessions.