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APPROVED 611 212 0 0 7 <br />MINUTES <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />BUDGET WORK SESSION <br />April 19, 2007 <br />7:30 p.m. <br />The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Budget Work Session on Thursday, April <br />19, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. <br />COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Commissioners <br />Barry Jacobs, Valerie P. Foushee, Alice Gordon, and Mike Nelson <br />COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: <br />COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill <br />COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon and Assistant County <br />Manager Gwen Harvey, and Deputy Clerk to the Board David Hunt (All other staff members will <br />be identified appropriately below}. <br />Chair Carey asked for a moment of silence for the tragedy at Virginia Tech. The <br />moment of silence was observed <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he hopes that sometime in the near future that someone <br />from OPC will talk about the ways in which mental health reform in North Carolina is putting <br />more people on the street with less supervision. He said that same of these people have some <br />of the same problems that the shooter at Virginia Tech had. He said that cutting the funding for <br />case managers becomes more of a public health and safety issue. He wants to bring this to a <br />higher level of consciousness. <br />Chair Carey said that he would bring this to the OPC Board's attention at the next <br />meeting. <br />1. Fiscal Year 2007-08 Budaet Update <br />Laura Blackmon said that there are several topics tonight. The first is an update on the <br />budget issues for the coming year. She referred to several attachments in the packet. <br />Budget Director Donna Coffey went through Attachment 1, General Fund Revenue <br />Outlook. The current year tax rate is 90.3 cents per $100 valuation. One cent for the current <br />year brings in $1.2 million. Next year it is projected that one cent will generate $1,247,881. She <br />then went aver the chart on Attachment 1. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked for the fund balances of both school systems and the <br />County for the April 30t" meeting with the schools. The staff has this and will provide this <br />information, including historical information. <br />Laura Blackmon said that there will probably not be a lot of natural growth in revenue <br />because the sales tax has remained flat for several years, the lottery proceeds are not as much <br />as was originally thought, and there is not a large increase in property taxes. She said that, <br />unless there is some economic growth, there will not be a lot of flexibility with the budget. She <br />said that at the rate the County is going now with growth rate and the continued high debt <br />service, the County will not be able to meet needs in the future. <br />Laura Blackmon then went over Attachment 2, which lists the budget drivers. <br />Chair Carey asked about the timeline for Durham Tech opening and Purchasing and <br />Central Services Director Pam Jones said that the plan is for it to be open for continuing <br />education in March 2008 and then in the summer session of 2008. <br />