Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
APPROVED 08/19/2003 MINUTES <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSSONERS <br />Budget Presentation and Work Session <br />May 22, 2003 <br />7:30 p.m. <br />The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Budget Presentation and Work <br />Session an Thursday, May 22, 2003 p.m. at 7:30 p.m. at the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom <br />in Hillsborough, North Carolina. <br />COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Margaret W. Brown, Moses <br />Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordon, Stephen Halkiotis and Barry Jacobs <br />COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: <br />COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill, Sean Borhanian <br />COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County <br />Managers Rod Visser and Gwen Harvey and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All <br />other staff members will be identified appropriately below} <br />NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE <br />PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. <br />1. Presentation of Manager's Recommended FY 2003-04 Budget <br />John Link expressed his appreciation to Budget Director Donna Dean, Budget <br />Analysts Paul Laughton and Rooney Mestas, Personnel Director Elaine Holmes, <br />Finance Director Ken Chavious, Assistant County Managers Gwen Harvey and Rod <br />Visser, Director of Purchasing and Central Services Pam Jones, Clerical Assistant in <br />the Budget office Devon Isaacs, and the department heads and the school <br />superintendents for their cooperation. He said that the proposed budget tries to strike a <br />balance between meeting the existing service needs of the County citizens and also <br />pursuing important service initiatives that have been discussed for some years - <br />improved response in technology, emergency medical services, and providing <br />appropriate support for recreation and parks. He made reference to the chart and said <br />that 48.3°~ of the County budget goes towards education. The next highest area is in <br />Human Services at 21.8%. <br />The recommended budget calls for an increase in the tax rate of three cents, <br />going from 83 cents to 86 cents per hundred dollars of valuation. Over one cent goes <br />toward addressing the debt service for the sold bonds from 2001. <br />General Revenue Highlights: <br />Regarding the general revenue, the largest source of revenue is the property tax <br />(65°~} and sales tax (15°~). The Board has petitioned the General Assembly for many <br />years to pursue alternative revenue sources to reduce the reliance on property tax. The <br />tax base has increased by about 4-4.5%, which means it has gone up $400,000,000 to <br />a total of $9.8 billion. He reported that the tax collection percentage would be close to <br />the 98.7% that was achieved last year. This is the top rate in the State. The County's <br />financial picture remains solid. This budget calls for an appropriation of two million <br />