Minutes - 20080925 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

There were no changes in the governmental funding. The licenses and permits also had no changes. The charge for services will be decreasing about$660,000 because of the loss of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools School Construction Impact Fees related to the decline in new housing. There are no changes assumed in investment earnings and transfers to other funds. There is an expected decrease in the Projected General Fund Revenues of$3.7 million. Regarding General Fund Expenditure Assumptions, there is an expected increase in debt service of$1,891,000 for the County and $850,000 for the schools. Regarding education, there is a projected increase in 385 new students, which will result in an additional $1,232,000 ($3,200 per pupil) in education funding. Regarding Employee Pay and Benefits, the implementation of a classification study would be approximately $4.1 million, which is about 10% of total salaries. This is an estimate. Health and Dental increases will be about$500,000 (15%). There will be some new facilities opening next year, such as: Central Orange Senior Center, Northern Park, Fairview Park, Library, Emergency Services Facility @ Meadowlands, Hillsborough Commons and Office Building. The total for this is about $2.5 million. The Medicaid reduction in expenditures is $5.2 million. Next year, there could be an increase in expenditures of almost $6 million. The net result is a shortfall of$9.5 million. Laura Blackmon made reference to two newspaper articles about the current budget situation in the State. Chair Jacobs asked about one penny on the property tax and Donna Coffey said that it would still be about$1.27 million. It will go up a little with the revaluation. Superintendent Pedersen said that he put together this list, also realizing that it is going to be a difficult year. Salary increases are beyond the school system's control, but a 3% salary increase equates to about $1.2 million. Health insurance rates are expected to go up this year. There was an increase in students of 300+ this year and something similar to that is expected next year. There was an $800,000 grant this year, which enabled the school system to fund some things that it normally would not have been able to fund. Superintendent Rhodes said that OCS has some of the same increases as CHCCS. He does not know about health insurance increases or salary increases. There are a number of housing units coming online in the district. There are some pressures in the Exceptional Children division. He said that OCS is working hard to moderate the energy and fuel costs as aggressively as possible. Steve Halkiotis said that he heard on the news this evening that anticipated health insurance costs are growing by about 5%. He is worried about the Governor's pronouncements of 2% cuts. He said that three of the OCS Board members, including himself, just came on in July and he has been impressed with Superintendent Rhodes' ability to redesign, realign, and reassign. He appreciates the ability and willingness to do this. He said that the revenue stream from the impact fee source is holding steady at this time. Commissioner Nelson asked the school board members if there was any reaction to the County's budget numbers. The next few months will be difficult from a financial standpoint. The main issue that he wants to put out is the credit issue. If the credit situation is the same or worse in February when the County has to borrow money for Elementary School #11, then it might not be able to borrow money or the terms might be a lot more expensive. He thinks that it would be wise to have an early conversation about how to handle that situation. Jean Hamilton asked what would happen if there were a credit problem in February.