By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer
The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a resolution of intent to adopt a $175.3 million 2010-11 budget, including changes to the proposed budget that would restore funding to several county departments and nonprofit agencies.
The board won’t officially approve the budget until Tuesday, when commissioners could decide to make last-minute changes.
The budget maintains the current ad valorem-tax rate of 85.8 cents per $100 of valuation and represents a $2.3 million decrease from the $177.6 million 2009-10 budget and an $8.5 million decrease from the 2009-10 amended budget. The budget would also maintain the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools special district-tax rate at 18.84 cents per $100 of valuation.
County Manager Frank Clifton presented a budget to the board in May that included across-the-board cuts to allocations to county departments and services, nonprofit agencies and both school districts. Commissioners added about $411,000 in funding to county departments and nonprofit agencies to Clifton’s budget.
Board members said they wanted to add $38,000 in funding to the Economic Development Commission budget, citing the need to increase the county’s sales-tax base. The addition would allow the department to continue its marketing campaign to attract new businesses and to advertise the new value-added food processing center, which is scheduled to open in Hillsborough in the fall.
“It seems to me that if we are serious about economic development … this is not the year to cut the budget of the economic development department,†Commissioner Steve Yuhasz said. “If we can show that even in a tight budget year … we recognize that economic development is one area that we can apply resources to that may help us get out of some of the problems that we’ve created, then that’s a message we can send to some of the people that we’re trying to attract.â€
Commissioner Mike Nelson suggested restoring the funding cut from the county’s library system, about $170,000, in order to keep the Cedar Grove Library open and maintain hours of operation at the county’s other libraries. However, county library director Lucinda Munger pointed out that keeping the Cedar Grove Library open involved about $107,000 in hidden costs. She asked to be allowed to present the board with a three-to-five year library plan in the fall that would address bringing library services to rural Orange County and establishing a Southwest Orange County branch library.
With about $20,000, Munger said, the county could keep its main library open 60 hours a week instead of 54 and keep the Carrboro Cybrary open 30 hours a week instead of 20.
Board members voted to add $50,000 to cover the added hours and any costs incurred as a result.
Other additions to the county manager’s proposed budget include:
• $17,000 for the county Board of Elections;
• $65,000 for the Health Department;
• $45,000 for breastfeeding counseling;
• $132,000 for the Department of Social Services;
• $18,000 for the Child Care Services Association;
• $2,000 for the American Red Cross;
• $2,000 for Big Brothers/Big Sisters;
• $10,000 for the Triangle Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic; and
• $32,000 for Adolescents in Need.
Despite the additions to the budget, several board members said they did not want to increase funding to schools proportionally. In 2001, the board targeted 48.1 percent of the overall county budget for annual spending on both school systems. Commissioner Alice Gordon said she wanted to increase the funding to the schools as the overall budget increased, but other commissioners disagreed, citing school positions funded out of the county budget.
Recommended funding for both school districts totals about $84.1 million and represents a $1.3 million decrease from 2009-10 funding. However, the funding maintains the per-pupil allocation of $3,096, mostly cutting long-range and pay-as-you-go capital. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools had requested a $62 per-pupil increase, while Orange County Schools requested no increase to the per-pupil rate.
The board will take a final vote on the budget at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Southern Human Services Center on Homestead Road in Chapel Hill.