MINUTES
STATE
OF NORTH CAROLINA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
COUNTY OF HENDERSON MAY 29, 2008
The Henderson County
Board of Commissioners met for a special called meeting at 7:00 p.m. in the Courtroom/Commissioners'
Conference Room of the Historic Courthouse.
Those present were: Chairman Bill Moyer, Vice-Chairman Charlie Messer, Commissioner Larry
Young, Commissioner Chuck McGrady,
Commissioner Mark Williams, County
Manager Steve Wyatt, Assistant
County Manager Selena Coffey
(arrived late), County Attorney Russell Burrell, and Clerk to the Board
Elizabeth W. Corn.
Also present were: Research/Budget
Analyst Amy Brantley, Deputy Clerk to the Board Terry Wilson, Communications
Officer Pam Brice, DSS Director Liston Smith, Sheriff Rick Davis,
Engineering/Facility Services Director Marcus Jones, Board of Elections
Director Beverly Cunningham, Assessor Stan Duncan, Human Resources Director Jan
Prichard, Soil & Water Conservation District Director/Conservationist
Jonathan Wallin, Health Director Tom Bridges,
Emergency Services Director/Fire Marshal Rocky Hyder, Finance Director J. Carey
McLelland, Planning Director Anthony Starr, Internal Auditor Darlene Burgess,
Code Enforcement Director Toby Linville,
and Environmental Health Director Seth Swift.
CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME
Chairman Moyer called
the meeting to order and welcomed all in attendance, stating the purpose of
this meeting was a public hearing with respect to our FY2008-2009 Budget.
Commissioner Messer made the motion for the Board to go into
public hearing. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Chairman comments re: editorial
Chairman Moyer spoke to
an editorial that was in this morning’s Times-News. It stated that the Commissioners ignored the
request to pay for two new school nurses.
He stated that the Commissioners had a lengthy discussion with Tom Bridges, Public Health Director, with respect to
the need for additional school nurses.
The Board also heard from the school system on that subject. There were a lot of questions and answers but
no action has been taken with respect to any items in the budget other than
preliminary action with respect to the fire departments because if we were
going to have to bring all the fire departments in we would have had to
schedule that. We had discussion to
whether that was necessary and decided it was not. Despite what the newspaper said implying that
the Board took action on this, there was no action taken with respect to any of
these items. He doubts whether there
will be action taken this evening as well.
The Board will have a public hearing and hear from the citizens. The Board had a good workshop with a lot of
discussion. The Board will try to move
some of these issues to resolution at the meeting next Monday, June 2.
Public Input
Chairman Moyer explained
the process for addressing the Board, stating that the Clerk to the Board will
identify the person who is first on the list and then will give the name of the
next person who will speak so they can be ready. Each person will have three minutes to
speak. When the timer beeps your time is
up so please wrap up your comments at that time. He explained that this is a
time for the public to make comments, not a time for dialogue.
1.
Maurean Adams – Ms. Adams distributed a hand-out and spoke
from it. She is Executive Director of the Children and Family Resource
Center. She addressed a question that was raised at
the Budget Workshop on May 27 regarding funding requests from the Children and Family Resource
Center. Ms. Coffey asked her to come and explain the
differences. Ms. Adams stated that these are two separate requests. The County
is not funding the same thing twice.
The
first request through the Alliance for $17,700
will be used for programs and services of the Children and Family Resource
Center which are programs
that directly impact the quality of early care and education of children. What
these programs do is make it possible for families to stay in the workforce,
decrease the burden on social services, decrease root causes of abuse and
neglect, and prepare children to succeed in school. Please consider fully
funding this request. Not one dime of money you give to CFRC program and
services through the Alliance
is used for United Agenda for Children.
The
second request was sent directly to the County for $25,000. This would provide a second year of funding
for the United Agenda for Children. The
Children and Family Resource Center
is the fiscal agent for the United Agenda for Children, a coalition of over 50
organizations --- that is why this request came in from the Children and Family Resource
Center. United Agenda for
Children is a three year project. They
are at the end of year 2 of the project and year 1 of county funding. This
year, county funding will allow them to develop and implement appropriate
strategies around the priority issues identified. What they are about dovetails
with the county’s own strategic goals. She spoke briefly to the need for additional
school nurses, stating that in the wings there is excitement building around
the possibility of school based health centers. While this does not solve the
school nurse ratio issue it will provide more access to health care
specifically mental health, another United Agenda priority. She stated the
Board of Commissioners has made an investment and asked them to help them
capitalize on that investment by seeing implementation through. With Board
support the United Agenda for Children can help the Board of Commissioners
achieve it’s goals. She said “Please consider funding the United Agenda for
Children at some level. Thank you.”
2.
McCray Benson – Mr. Benson is President and CEO of the
Community Foundation of Henderson County.
He offered four points in the Board’s consideration of this budget
process:
1). Recognizing your leadership role and
responsibility
2). The vital
link between our community’s public sector and the community’s independent
sector
3). To highlight
some advantages currently available in our community
4). To challenge
us to use our Dollars and Sense to the greatest good possible.
He
thanked the Board for holding this hearing and for their personal contribution
of leadership to our community. “The responsibility you carry to support
achieving successful outcomes and improving the quality of life is central to
everyone’s life in this community. We know by experience that a slowing economy
will make short-term assistance more urgent while we also require a long view
for preventing costly future consequences. Our community started building
momentum when together the County
Commission and the
Community Foundation, along with others, sponsored the United Agenda for
Children. Approximately 300 persons representing the diverse characteristics of
our community spent a full day expressing concerns and putting a voice to top
priorities. In every category by age, gender, race, and income level school
nurses took the number one spot and then mental health services, affordable
housing and four more top priorities. These top priorities were further
supported by the recent Henderson County Community Health Assessment conducted
by the County’s Health Dept. and the Partnership for Health, school nurses were
called out as a high priority. The last
up-date of the needs assessment conducted by the Alliance for Human Services showed Health and
Mental Health as the top issue in Human Services. It is important that our
public officials and administration take an active role in hearing and
responding by actively supporting solutions to these top issues. This support
will keep our human capital engaged. I urge you to use your leadership for
collaborating beyond budget lines. These issues require everyone’s commitment
to finding solutions. I challenge you to bring some sense of using this
momentum to our community’s advantage. Help us find the cross-cutting solutions
to these top priorities and keep the civic engagement building while addressing
both near-term and long-term objectives. You have the influence to bring the major
players together and address workable solutions for these top issues. Again, I
thank you for this hearing and your leadership in these matters.”
3. Bill
Reedy – Mr. Reedy is principal of Flat Rock Middle School. He thanked the Board for their support in the
past for public education. Over the last four years Rugby and Flat Rock Middle Schools have had ten room
additions that housed a grade level, improving the facilities. Hendersonville
Middle School has a new facility Apple Valley School is just over 12 years old. He stated “We must start now to support the
elementary, middle and high schools to meet the capital needs of our students
and staff. We have a good group of custodians
and maintenance personnel who work daily 25 facilities covering over 2,000,000
square feet. These men and women have great pride in their work but they are
fighting a battle of having roughly 700 to 1,000 people daily entering and
using each of the facilities. We need your help to do what is right for the
children and adults of the community and to properly fund our daily maintenance
costs. . . We must adequately repair and maintain existing structures. We are addressing what we can with volunteer
efforts. For example, painting is done by prisoners during the summer. Volunteers
during the summer and school year also work throughout the schools. Volunteers can help with landscaping issues
or have helped with landscaping issues, irrigation plans as well as
construction projects. Volunteerism is a
support effort and one we are proud of in Henderson County;
however, it is not the way to meet such complex budget needs of a school
district of our size. Henderson County
has outstanding schools that are constantly ranked in the top 15% of the
schools in the State. . . we have evidence of academic success in all four
classes and all four subjects, increased usage in the application of technology
in the classroom. We have class sizes that allow students and adults to develop
both educational and trusting relationships that develop and support a
successful school experience as we prepare the students for the future,
programs that address both the social and academic needs of our students. We
have outstanding elective and exploratory programs. We have good counseling programs to work with
the growing social, family, and economical issues that our students face daily,
issues that we as a school system need help with to maintain our current
success. An increasing diverse population, both by economic indicators as well
as changing ethnic indicators, attracting professional staff in a competitive
market for quality educators. An increase in the local supplement is a step in
the right direction to maintain and compete with surrounding districts.
Extending programs like school nursing and social workers to meet the variety
of needs of our students present to any school.
A number of years ago I heard a Governor say that the road to success
must go by a schoolhouse. It is our
charge as educators to make sure that we educate our students to the best of
our ability in offering effective programs that allow our students to be
successful. Obviously we need your help to make sure that Henderson County
Public Schools is properly funded to support education. Let’s not play the
“what if” game five years from now.”
4. Jerry
Smith – Mr. Smith is a teacher at Hendersonville High School. He is also the Chairman of the Apple Country
Greenway Commission. He is the father of
three children, one of which is in the current school system and another that
will begin in July and the third will begin school in four years. He stated
that as a voter he trusts his School Board.
The people on that School Board have been elected and re-elected and
know a lot about how that school system runs. They have come to the County over
the last few years with a budget which is detailed in the needs for our county
and he trusts that they know what we need. His question to the Board was “Why
don’t you?” They put together a detailed
budget that explains the needs. “I encourage you as a teacher, as a father, and
a voter that you take to heart what they have asked for in this budget ‘cause I
promise you they are not wasting your money. As we look to the future, we’re
going to need another High School probably by the time my children get to be in
High School by the way our growing needs are and the way our High Schools have
grown. I agree with the previous speaker that if we’re going to set a standard
for meeting these needs, the time is now. And if every year the School Board
puts together a budget, you cut it; it’s going to be hard for us to justify
those expenditures in the future. I know
it’s difficult in this climate where we have voters who vote against tax
increases. I feel for you ‘cause you are simply representing their views up here
on the board but there’s got to be a way to find the money for a School Board
that’s doing everything they can to educate our kids. There are thousands of
parents out there volunteering their time everyday and we want to know that the
County Commissioners who are here, sitting in front of us tonight, reward that
work that we put in our school system by paying for the things that we
need. . . I encourage you as you think
about this that some of us are going to be around a long time with kids in this
school system for up to twenty years, please think about that as you’re funding
and set the standard now that our School Board can be trusted in what they put
together for your budget. Thank you.”
5. Melissa
Germain – Ms. Germain is a teacher at Hendersonville High School.
She spoke to the need of the school budget and the need to fully it, including
an increase in the supplement pay for teachers. She said it is time to show
teachers that they are valued and appreciated the way other counties value
their teachers. If this doesn’t happen Henderson County will lose good experienced
teachers and will not attract new ones.
“Without good teachers and the necessary resources how will we continue
to be the best?”
6. Matthew
Gruebmeyer – Mr. Gruebmeyer is a freshman Principal at East Henderson High
School (EHHS). He addressed buildings and facilities. He is thrilled to be in
this job, and especially thrilled to be at EHHS because he works in a place
that supports education. The East Henderson
community has been extremely generous. East Henderson
has a new field house that was built with very little local money, very little
school money, but was built instead because of the volunteers of basically one
individual. We certainly appreciate that. Just this year we received a brand
new piano because of the needs of our vocal and other musical groups. We’ve received tuxedos. “One of the biggest
gifts that I have offered to our teachers here in my first year has been a new
classroom that was an indirect benefit of our field house and it was amazing
when those teachers saw us talking about that new classroom and how we were
going to use it. That one classroom was
a huge benefit to us. When I got to East
I think I felt a little bit like a new homeowner when I walked around that
building and kind of did that walk though that new homeowners do and I’ve got
to say I was started by what I saw. You would be started too if you were to see
what we have at East High. Let me just
give you a couple of examples. When we had this last rainstorm there were at
least a dozen leaks in our buildings at East High. Instead of working with that homeless student
I was working with my custodian to find enough trashcans to hold the water that
was coming through our roofs onto classrooms that were full of children. If you were to pull up in the front of our
school, you would see windows that are fogged because of the broken seals. It’s the most public part of our school and
yet it contains some of the most egregious conditions of our school. The
chimney that’s so often referred to is not as controversial as one might think.
The high price tag is related to the fact that it’s an existing and operating
chimney. It vents an existing boiler in the basement of that building. My job
though as a principal is to keep my eyes on the prize and that prize is student
learning. And when I have a student tell
me that she’s having a hard time concentrating because she doesn’t feel safe at
my school because of the open nature of our campus and the fact that we have
gates that have been repeatedly unfunded that’s hard for me to think
about.” He also spoke about the
efficiency of his teachers, stating that almost half of the teachers at East
High have no working office space. He
saw a math teacher today storing graded papers on top of a refrigerator in a
workroom. He asked the Board to think
very carefully about the budget and to remember the conditions of things at
East High because the eye’s on the prize of student learning and that happens
better in a facility where it is clear that the community values education as
much as we’re trying to motivate our students to value it.
7. Tommy
Manning – Mr. Manning is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who retired
here about 2.5 years ago. He is an
individual investor here in Henderson
County and President of
the Hendersonville High School Catbackers, a Sports Boosters Club. He addressed
the differences between the Sheriff’s Department budget and the Education
budget. The Education Department is
supposedly getting a 5% increase in budget and the Sheriff’s Department will
get a 2.7% increase in budget. However, the Sheriff’s Department no longer
includes insurance costs in his budget. Capital costs such as patrol cars are
not in the budget at all. The range of
the Sheriff’s costs such as the utility bills in the Sheriff’s budget are
shared with other county departments so therefore they are not actually
reflected in the Sheriff’s budget. They are reflected on other department’s
budgets. He stated that the 5% increase
that the School Board is getting – a lot of that was from previously committed
indentures from previous fiscal years.
Mr. Manning stated that the schools are in deplorable condition. He said
that he would rate our schools as third rate schools, stating it is disgusting
to see what the teachers, the students, and the administrators have to put up
with as far as the infrastructure in our school system. One example he gave was that at Hendersonville High School they cannot even use the
track, it’s unsafe. They cannot have trackmeets at the High School because it
is unsafe and there is nothing in the budget and nothing that is being done to
correct the situation. “Anything you can
do to help out the School Board’s budget and do the right thing is much
appreciated. Thank you for your time.”
Late arrival
Selena
Coffey arrived at this time in the meeting, 7:35 p.m.
8. Steve
Kirkland – Mr. Kirkland is the Executive Director of United Way of Henderson County
and a proud resident and taxpayer. He
was present to speak on behalf of United Agenda for Children. United Way is a funder of United Agenda for
Children. He stated that the mission of United Way is to improve lives by
mobilizing the caring power of communities. They achieve that mission by
strategically engaging and building relationships with diverse community
stakeholders, contributors, and partners. Through that they identify goals,
choose a limited number of critical issues, develop impact strategies,
implement the strategies, and then measure and communicate results. He asked
“Now what has United Agenda for Children Done?
It has begun with gathering a coalition of community leaders and
educating and getting them on board from the very beginning. They had the
wonderful Speak Out for Kids event that was a memorable day where community
goals were identified by the folks that live here and know the issues. The list of critical issues was scribed:
school nurses, mental health and on down. There is an amazing collaboration of
the private and public sector that are cued up and already working on these
issues. We just need some help with the
resources to keep going. The measurement and results – there has been a
phenomenal amount of communication coming from the staff and volunteers that are
in charge of this effort. United Way has been a funder and is on the
implementation team for United Agenda for Children. We applaud not only the methodology but the
heart that United Agenda for Children is and ask that the Commissioners keep
them alive and kicking for another year.
9. David
White – Mr. White was present to discuss the match for the 5311 Program
which serves Human Services and medical transportation in Henderson County.
$22,999 is the local match on the admin. and $15,256 is the local match on the
capital. Each one of these dollars will
be met with $5.00 of Federal and State funds.
The purpose of the 5311 Program is to transport elderly disabled and
other folks like Sheltered Workshop and others to where they need to go and
most of them certainly have mobility challenges. They don’t have other ways to
get around if we don’t provide the service. You get a savings by having one
vehicle for instance picking up twelve people to go to the Sammy Williams
Center or some other
activity like that or the Sheltered Workshop rather than twelve vehicles on the
road every morning and every afternoon by providing that service. On the
administrative side – as many programs as we serve with the 5311 vehicles and
the 5311 dollars you have to have someone to organize it, providing driver
training, who’s making sure the routes are reviewed and where possible the
services are combined. So some of the programs that are coordinated under the
5311 program where vehicles are shared and costs are shared are Henderson County Schools Balfour and Second Start
Programs, certainly the ROAP (Rural Operating Assistance Program for elderly
and disabled) Program, the Henderson County medical trips and Medicaid,
Vocational Solutions (they run three routes for them every day). On the capital match – this match would allow
them to get four new vehicles (local match), you’re paying $15,000 to get in
$152,555 worth of capital equipment.
There are a couple of computer included but most of it is vehicles. They have not received new vehicles in four
years from the State of NC
due to their budget problems at the NCDOT so these four vehicles are sorely
needed. The four vehicles to be replaced all have over 100,000 miles, some have
over 120,000 miles. The type of driving that is done on those vehicles is rough
on vehicles, a lot of stop and go. He
asked the Commissioners to please support the local match for Apple Country
Transportation’s 5311 Administrative and Capital Projects.
10. Stan
Kumor – Mr. Kumor addressed school funding. “School funding is comprised of
three components – local, state and federal money. Totaling the three components results in the
amount spent per student According to DPI’s 06-07 data, which is the latest
available public data on their website (excluding nutrition programs), Henderson County spends around $1,500/student and
ranks 48th in the state out of 115 school districts. The state gives
us around $5,150 which ranks 92 out of 115 school districts and the feds
contribute around $575 which ranks 68th. Our total per pupil
expenditure in 2006-2007 was $7,231.78 which ranked us 91st out of
115 school districts in the state. By far the largest chunk of money comes from
the state. It varies widely among school districts from $11,284 (Hyde County)
to $4,679 (Cabarrus
County). In doing this
research I found an interesting table among all the statistical financial data
on schools. A table giving the rank of the counties by average income. I found
this curious that this data should be included on this website. Henderson County ranted 19th. By
correlating rank of average income versus state support rank I found a
significant correlation. The poorest counties in general get more money and the
richest counties the least. In conclusion, if we are waiting for the state or
federal government to help us with our schools; it’s not going to happen. The
state views us as a wealthy county and in their eyes we have the where-with-all
to take care of our own schools. If we want better schools, we are going to
have to step up to the plate ourselves period. A one cent increase in the
property tax would give us approximately 1 million in additional revenue –
enough to give the teachers a supplemental pay increase and fund additional
school nurses, that would amount ot $25 per household, since the average house
in Henderson County is valued at $250,000. I for one am willing to pay an extra $25 a
year for school nurses and a very modest increase in the teacher’s supplemental
pay. Since our tax rate is the 85th lowest in the state, I don’t
view this as a crushing burden. Haven’t we learned from recent history on
construction costs that procrastination in the present costs us more in the
future. If we do nothing today, it is
likely that we will have to have a large property tax increase in the next two
years.”
11. Karen
Mathiesen – Ms. Mathiesen is a Home Economics teacher at Hendersonville High School
and is Vice-President of Henderson County Association of Educators. She is a
County native and an alumna of HHS and has taught in Henderson County
for more than 17 years. She said that no one falls under more scrutiny than the
school system. “No one hears more criticism than we do. We are always a
political football and I see no end to that but we believe in accountability.
We teach accountability at all levels and we accept that responsibility. If you look at the facts you will find that
Henderson County Public Schools have made its constituency proud in every
conceivable area: academics, athletics, fine arts, career and technical
education, community outreach, volunteer service. We serve students from the profoundly
disabled to the brilliant, from the culturally deprived to the culturally
advantaged, from the poorest among us to the wealthiest. We take whoever walks in the door and we do
the very best we can to see that that student reaches his potential. The School Board represents us and has
brought you a fair budget. I’m sure you
would agree that there are no frills in this budget. We are so far behind now
because of the years and years of neglect by this very body. You have an opportunity
to do the right thing for this school system and fund this budget. When you
dismiss the budget you dismiss us, the students, the parents, the teachers, the
staff, the administrators and even the taxpayers. No one likes to pay taxes but
we would certainly rather build schools than jails. We would certainly rather
hire teachers than policemen. When did anyone in public office ever regret
spending money on children, whether it was for their health or their education?
When students come to us we’re very generous with our time, our wisdom, our
training, our energy, and our money. We expect you to do the same for us. We deserve your support. We expect your support. We cannot tolerate
your continuing to be stingy with the funding on such a critical issue as
public education. You must fund this budget. Show us you believe in us and in
what we are doing. Man up and do the
right thing. Find the funding and fund this budget and thank you so much for
your hard work.”
12. Fran
Shelton – Ms. Shelton is the Band Director at Hendersonville High School. She explained that the band had the
opportunity in the past six years to go out and represent Henderson County
with some marvelous students. She said she was present to sing the
Commissioners’ praises. “I want to tell you we have gone against 25 of the
finest High Schools in the United
States.
We performed at Carnegie Hall. We
performed at Boston Symphony Hall and 2 weeks ago the Kennedy Center. We play against the most expensive High
Schools, the largest High Schools from the largest cities in the United States
and when it all comes out in the end and they say ‘and the award winning band
goes to Hendersonville High School’ from Henderson County. People look around and they are in
disbelief. So I’m here to applaud you
for what you have done for the children of Henderson County and you probably
haven’t heard that a lot and I’m here to let you know that when we took our group of students out the
response that we got is unbelievable about Henderson County and what going on
in education in Henderson County. People
cannot believe what’s going on in a small mountain community. Another thing I
want to bring to your attention is that does not happen by the band director. I
am not the reason for the success for our program, it starts in the elementary
school, it goes on through the middle school and eventually to the high
school. We have amazing teachers. We
have an amazing school board, a wonderful superintendent and I get to work for
a wonderful principal. I have wonderful
community support and I have wonderful band parents but I’m here to tell you
what Henderson County has that’s going on that is
great! And I’m here to tell you out of all of these venues that we’ve had the
opportunity to perform at how strong Henderson County is and how people are in
disbelief across this country that we can bring a product from a small mountain
community as our high school band and come back and represent this community
and represent you the way that we’ve been able to. So I’m here to applaud everybody in this
audience because they’re the reason for the success of the children in Henderson County. I would ask you to continue the
support. I’m here to let you know what
you were doing up to this point has been great and you can compare that to all
these schools throughout the United States and what we’ve been able to do and
you’ve given us that opportunity and to let you know how much we appreciate
your support. But we need your continued
support and our school board has asked you to continue to support our children
of Henderson County and that’s what we’re all about.
I think our first consideration has to be our children of Henderson County
but thank you so much. Thank everybody in this audience for giving us and the
group of children that I teach the opportunities that we’ve had and I just came
to honor you in the successes that we have had and let you know you’re an
intricate part of what we are doing at Hendersonville High School
in our bandroom. So thank you very
much.”
13. Wendell Capes – Mr. Capes is the grandfather
of seven students in the Henderson County Schools. He said they have had 12 at one time. His three daughters were students in the Henderson County School
system also. He stated that they all appreciate what the County Commissioners
have done for the schools but they think the Board can do better. The school
nurses is something that we really need, we don’t have enough. He said we also need better maintenance for
the schools and to not fund the operating budget for the schools costs a lot
more in the long run. The mental health programs also need funding. “We have a
granddaughter that needs mental health care. We also have a granddaughter that
needs help for her speech in elementary school and she’s not getting it because
the funding is not there for the special help and that really should be there.
So I just encourage you to fund the school budget. Another penny or two on the tax rate is not
that bad for a county that has the resources that we do and we should take
better care of our kids and I ask you to please do that.”
14. Ann
Matteson – Ms. Matteson is a teacher at Hendersonville Elementary
School. She stated that she is also a taxpayer in
Henderson County and she realizes that in most
instances you get what you pay for. “How
many of us have bought that less expensive item only to learn later that it was
of poor quality and had to be replaced much sooner. With that in mind, I would
again like to address the needs of our schools. I have watched with great
interest every year that local school administration and school board have gone
begging for sufficient funds to ensure that our schools are top notch, not that
poor quality. For years capital improvements were put off in this county as
unnecessary or impossible to financially support. Consequently we continue to play catch-up
with capital needs as our county grows beyond a population of 100,000. To use debt service on these capital needs to
demonstrate a higher level of county support for the schools is morally wrong.
These are things that should have been addressed years ago. It appears that the county budget preparers
are engaged in a shell game, moving money around to serve their own
agenda. I applaude Chairman Moyer for
his comments about this practice. The
children of this county are our future.
While there may be many in this county who do not have children or
grandchildren in the schools they too are vested in a well educated population.
They need firefighters, police officers, auto service technicians, bankers,
landscapers, hair stylists, accountants, carpet installers, shop keepers,
journalists, librarians, and the list goes on and on. Many of these workers have families and are
attracted to a community because of the quality of the schools. We need to make sure we have that quality,
that we attract these people to Henderson
County. In a few years some of you, and I, may need
the assistance of well trained healthcare workers right here in Henderson County.
I think we will all want someone who had a highly qualified teacher who
pushed that worker when they were a student to excel, to be above average. I don’t think any of us will want someone who
is below average taking care of our health needs. Yet we continue to fund our education
below average, substantially below. I
fear that because of the lack of funding for educational needs in Henderson
County I may be in a situation where I have to depend on someone who is not
capable of meeting my needs, whatever they may be, dental, legal, or just
checking out at the grocery store. We
can do better in this county. We must do
better and I am counting on you. The kids are counting on you and whether the
rest of the people in this county know it or not, they are counting on you.
Thank you for your time and attention and your diligence in making a tough
decision.”
15. Diane
Dotson – Ms. Dotson is a third grade teacher at Marlowe Elementary School. She is also a member of the Henderson County
Association of Educators which represents the majority of teachers in Henderson
County Public Schools, the county’s largest employer. “We educators have been urging the Board of
Commissioners to increase the supplemental pay amount for two years. Besides all the many reasons educators
deserve a pay raise, there is the fact that we are in competition with
neighboring counties to hire and retain teachers. These neighboring counties already pay more
and two are increasing their supplemental pay higher. As a teacher I can tell you it is hard to
keep up when you are coming from behind.
As other counties, who no doubt also are looking at tight financial
constraints, increase the amount spent on education Henderson County
falls to a lower rate. The time will never be convenient for you to raise
educators pay. If we must wait until a
time when you just happen to have a lot of extra money on hand to spend on
education, we are in for a long wait indeed.
I wonder if in the future you will be looking back wondering why Henderson County got left so far behind in the
maintaining of quality schools and teachers.
I hope I’ll be around to remind you. I urge you to amend this budget to
include a supplemental pay increase for educators, support education. Thank
you.”
16. Linda
Soble – Ms. Soble is a teacher at West Henderson
High School and president
of the Henderson County Association of Educators. “Tonight I challenge you to
do the right and fair thing for the educators of Henderson County.
For too long our local supplement has been inadequate when compared to what our
peers receive in surrounding counties. In Buncombe County
I would receive twice my local supplement as it is here. Does Buncombe County
value their educators twice as much as Henderson County?
Next year the Buncombe supplement is expected to be raised to 8% and to a
maximum of 15% . For the most experienced teacher that’s triple our local
supplement. A Transylvania County Commissioner reported to me their teachers
would receive 7.4% next year. There is nothing right or fair in keeping our
supplement at 5%. It’s not fair to say
the money is given to the school board to disperse as it sees fit. Given your
proposed budget, increasing our supplement would eliminate jobs. Would you ask a peer to give up his or her job just so that you could receive
an increase? Would you ask children to learn in classrooms where they receive
less individual instruction due to decreasing teaching positions. I doubt you
would answer yes to either question but you would ask educators to continue at
the same level of supplement. The excellent results from our efforts in the
classroom are not in line with our local compensation. Henderson
County ranks 6th
in the State in SAT scores. All 21 schools achieved either high or expected
growth in the NC ABC results. These
efforts should be applauded and rewarded.
Gone are the days where a pat on the back and a thank you are
sufficient. They will not put gas in our
car so that we can drive to work in order to spend endless hours outside of the
school day grading papers, planning lessons, and in staff development so that
we can do what we love – educate children. Yes, you have tough decisions to
make. These decisions may not be popular
but we ask that you do what’s right for Henderson County Public Schools. Make
schools a high priority and let’s move forward with a fully funded budget.
Thank you.”
17. Ken
Butcher – “I really came here because I had a rare moment of clarity one
time and it was at a concert that Fran and her band was putting on, just a
month or so ago, before they went to Washington. And I was just inspired by it and it just
made me realize that all the years I was on the Board (of Education) we never
even had the right kind of meetings with the Commissioners. I could tell
because if they – if you were inspired, if you really got what was going on we
would have meetings where you (the Board of Commissioners) would sit there
saying ‘What else can we be doing for the school system’ instead of prove to me
beyond any shadow of a doubt that there’s no possible way you can get by
without it. So I’m really just here as a civilian tonight, as a taxpayer. We
haven’t talked much about tax tonight but you need to raise the tax OK. I read
in the newspaper that some of you went into this process already making up your
mind that you would not raise taxes and I know that that can’t be true because
how could you possibly know what the tax rate should be before you go through
the budget process. Mr. Kumor gave you the numbers to fully fund this budget
and even go on do things we really should be doing is a couple bucks a month. I can easily afford that and so can everyone
else. Thanks. Do the right thing.”
18. Walt
Cottingham – Mr. Cottingham is a teacher at Hendersonville High School.
“I appreciate your coming to this meeting tonight. I appreciate the job you
have to do. I understand it is a difficult task but you asked for it. You even went out and ran for it. I don’t
know why you did that but knowing a couple of you personally I understand your
civic duty and your civic conscience and how you would want to fulfill it. I
also would like to say I’m tremendously impressed by this whole process. I
teach things about world geography and world history and it’s so great to see a
democratic process with such a polite audience, with people who are so well
spoken and kind and genteel. We have not had a single bullet fired at all in
this meeting and I think there is something to be said for that so I respect
you and I respect the audience and thank you for listening to us. I also
understand that a lot of the points that have been addressed you have heard
over and over and as we would say in Latin probably adnauseam and so I won’t
say all of those. I want to give you a little bit of my own perspective. I’ve
been teaching school for 33 years. I’m not leaving. If you don’t raise my
supplement it won’t matter as far as my job security goes. So if you want to
use me as an argument for that you can say ‘we’re gonna keep some of these old
teachers because they’re not gonna leave anyway. Well that’s kinda the way it
goes but that’s not the real problem I think.
The real problem has to do with fully funding the school board’s budget
for all the reasons that you’ve heard. I’m concerned for those reasons. I’m
concerned for the failure to completely fund it and I’m concerned because I
have the fear that we’re going backwards a little bit. What I find particularly
disturbing in Henderson
County is the lack of
vision regarding education. This is a wealthy county based on all the
demographic data we have heard. We have an excellent school system in many many
ways and you’ve heard some of those tonight but I think we’re going to struggle
to continue to do that. I think that
there are a lot of signs that I see in the schools that are discouraging.
You’ve heard the statements about nurses and teaching salaries and maintenance
needs. My particular contention here is that none of those should be issues. In
this county with it’s prosperity we should have a model school system. We
should be graduating students who have had 13 years of foreign language
instruction. We should have first rate technical capabilities. We should have
model clean healthy facilities. We should have students in large numbers
graduating with the skills and knowledge to participate actively in the finest
Universities in America.
We have some of all of these things but we don’t have enough of them. I’m
saying that what we’re asking for is not what we should be asking for. These things: nurse, supplements, facilities
should be givens. We spend so much time trying to catch up that we have no
chance at vision for the future. We
spend so much time and effort trying to patch together what we can for
education we don’t have a chance to get ahead. I hate that, it goes against all
that I believe when I talk about helping my students reach their full
potential. It’s like going down Green River
with a leaking innertube when you could be going down in a kayak. So in brief, I’m saying pay attention to the
school board, there is vision there. There are voices of wisdom there. I’m saying something a little more radical
too – raise my taxes! I never thought I’d say that but I care enough to put my
money where my mouth is. Don’t fail to help us. Raise my taxes.”
19. Alan
Broadhurst – Mr. Broadhurst is a teacher at Hendersonville High School.
He is a relative new-comer to this area. He has two children in the public
school system here. He has been teaching for 18 years. He’s a national board
certified teacher. He did that because the state gave him a raise for what he
did. My name is Alan Broadhurst. You can call me thorn, you can call me
squeaky, cause I’ll be a thorn in your side as long as I’m here until the
schools get what they deserve. Call me
squeaky because a squeaky wheel eventually gets what? The grease. I believe in participatory democracy. What I teach at the High School in Hendersonville – I teach
advanced placement, government and politics and U.S. History. It’s disappointing to me that there aren’t
more people here. There should be a lot of people here tonight but they’re not.
Sometimes I wonder if our elected leaders appreciate the fact that we don’t
participate enough. Well I do
participate. Look at this facility. It’s just amazing, it’s beautiful, I love
it. I’m not gonna harp on taking a tour of all the schools cause I know you’ve
been asked to do that. I don’t know if
you have or not but you should. Let Dr. Page take you around and show you. We don’t have this. We don’t have chairs like
you all have. We don’t have microphones. I’m not saying you don’t deserve them.
We deserve them. The kids deserve them.
It’s not about me. I won’t teach better with more money but I’ll stay
here with more money. And it’s not about the supplement either. It’s about
fully funding the budget. What Jerry Smith said earlier about trust, you must
trust the Board (of Education). I am from the coast of North Carolina but I do
not believe in coasting and I believe that is what this county is doing,
sitting back and letting things coast along until it’s gonna be out of control
and we don’t know what’s going on, just watching it go by. I don’t think that’s
the way to run government with my tax dollars. This is about needs versus
wants. It’s not what we want in this
system. It’s not what we want for our students, for our children. It’s what we
need. John Kennedy once said ‘We don’t need to do the Republican thing or the
Republican solution or the Democratic solution, we need the American solution.’
To national problems, to state problems, to local problems and we need
solutions from you guys. That is what you’re elected to do and sometimes the
solutions aren’t popular solutions so I’ll echo Walt, I’ll echo a lot of
people, raise my taxes. I supported the land transfer tax. I have no problem
being taxed a little bit extra in a county that is this wealthy. I don’t want to have to spend money on things
that I have to spend money for. I have a 15 year old son eating me out of house
and home, you know what I’m talking about. This summer we have to buy him
braces, $2,000 - $3,000. I do not want to spend that money to put braces on my
son’s teeth but I have to do it. Where
am I gonna find the money? I’ve got to find the money somewhere so what will I
do? I’ll teach summer school, I’ll run a summer camp. I have worked every single summer of my life
to get what I need for my family as well as devoting my entire career to the
students of this state. You have to do what is needed to be done. Find it. Do the work. I do it. I also believe in transparency. If you don’t
vote to fund this budget and I’m not threatening, well maybe I am in a democratic
way, small d. We want to know why you don’t support the budget. Very very very
clearly why you don’t support the budget. I teach my students all the time and
I said it to them today that this is not about us versus you or you versus us,
anything in politics. I teach them all the time that you guys work for us and
I’ve had politicians from the national, state, and local level tell me that you
guys, women all across the state and the country that work in the government
work for us. It’s democracy, it’s the people’s house, it’s the peoples’
courthouse. Prove it. If you work for
us, then work for us. And if we’re really your boss like politicians say then
listen to your employers, which is us. Please fund the budget. I demand you fund the budget. I’m a taxpayer
and the students of this county deserve it. Alan Broadhurst, 104 Harmony Lane, call me. Thank you.”
20. Jennifer
Henderson – Ms. Henderson is the new CEO of Blue Ridge Community Health
Services. She spoke in support of United
Agenda for Children and the top priority of school nurses. “Blue
Ridge is the community health center that provides family
medicine, pediatric medicine, mental health, dentistry services, and community
outreach and health education. Blue
Ridge has also been operating a school based health center at Apple Valley Middle School
since 1994 which includes primary and mental
health services. Last year fourteen thousand members of this community
visited Blue Ridge for services equaling
40,000 encounters. At Apple Valley
in particular almost 800 students accounted for 6,000 visits to that health
center. Many of our students would have been denied access to health care by
other providers because of health insurance.
Our patients, both adults and children are typically the most disadvantaged,
the least insured, have the greatest barriers to accessing health care and are
the most vulnerable to chronic illness. Blue Ridge Community Health Services is
proud to be a member of the United Agenda for Children Coalition. Shortly after
I joined Blue Ridge the United Agenda for
children sponsored ‘Speak Out for Kids’. This event exemplified for me the
community spirit in Henderson
County. They brought
together the community, the faith community, the education community, the
health and human services community, business community, minority community,
there were civic leaders, students, professionals, teachers, parents, all there
to give a voice to the most valuable asset we have for our future – our
children. As a coalition member I was invited to attend an action meeting
regarding one of the top priorities for Speak Out for Kids – school nurses.
Honestly I was quite shocked that the children in Henderson County
do not have access to some sort of health care professional during the
day. It’s a far different situation that
I was used to where I used to live. During the meeting I shared with coalition
members information about the benefits of school based health centers. After
the meeting I really felt called to action by this nursing crisis. Since that time and I would say literally an
hour after that meeting, I began working in strong collaboration with the
schools and the health department to develop a plan that expands school based
health centers in many schools to a allow full physical and mental health care
access to children who might not otherwise be able to access care. The thing
that I want to make very clear, while this is an exciting endeavor that we’re
approaching here, this does not replace the need for school nurses. Having a
school based health center in one school has the potential to significantly
improve the health status of students at that school but will do nothing for
students across town at another school who do not have access to a school based
health center. All students must continue to have access to school nurses. This
combined commitment to expanding school based health, the schools and the
health department was a direct result of the United Agenda for Children, it’s
coalition and the community that gave voice to our children. I very strongly
urge you to continue your support of United Agenda for Children and it’s
important work, the importance of funding school nurses. Thank you.”
21. Danette
Wesson – Ms. Wesson is a teacher at Etowah Elementary School. She lives in Etowah and she is a member of
the Henderson County Association of Educators. She spoke to the Board about
fully funding the school budget. “First, I know some of you may still have
children in school and some don’t. Whether it’s your children in school, your
neighbor’s children in school, or your grandchildren Mr. Messer as they get a
little bit older, who do you want to take care of their medical needs? Would
you want a teacher with a BS in Education or a registered nurse? Hopefully we won’t have that issue for you or
your children or your grandchildren but we need to think about that. Surely it’s not gonna take a tragedy for the
county to decide to step up to the plate.
Thank you Mr. McGrady for stepping up to the plate. And while you’re
looking at this beautifully restored courthouse, I’ve enjoyed the air
conditioning ‘cause there’s not any on my hall so it’s nice to be here
tonight. I recently completed several
months worth of work in an effort to become nationally certified in
teaching. I attend numerous workshops,
professional developments, and the United Agenda for Children Speak Out in an
effort to be more informed and more educated to engage students in learning. I
recently had a night-time end of the year party for my students along with my
assistant. Anything that we purchased
was paid for out of pocket. We didn’t mind to do it. We enjoyed it. The children had a wonderful time! The
parents and the grandparents had a wonderful time! Many week-ends and events
are spent working on things for my students or for those future kindergarten
students. Parents have my e-mail
address, my school phone number, my home phone number so that they can reach me
anytime they have any questions or concerns.
There are many afternoons spent late into the day or that begin before
the required time of 7:45. These times are often teacher meetings, grade level
meetings, parent conferences, or if I’m lucky to work in the classroom. All of these things are said in an effort to
give you a glimpse in the day of a teacher.
While I enjoy my profession and I reap many rewards when seeing the
progress of my students, it does not pay my bills. I met and got to know a teacher recently from
Buncombe County.
Fellow Henderson County
teachers and I talked to her about coming to Etowah to teach. While working at
our school was a great idea to her and intrigued her, she said ‘I can’t even
consider doing it with the Buncombe
County supplement being
10% and your’s only 5%.’ This is something that affects us and will continue to
have an adverse affect on retention and recruitment of quality teachers in Henderson County. Please consider the teachers.
Please consider how you will answer the children, the grandchildren, and
neighbors when they ask you ‘why do the county scores keep dropping, why do
teachers keep leaving, why are parents pulling children from public school, and
more importantly what could you have done to prevent this from happening?’ Thank you Mr. McGrady for stepping up and
recognizing this need. The County has
the ability to pay but it has lacked the desire. Please let teachers know you appreciate them
so they don’t move to other counties to teach.
Yes, planning is important so plan to keep and retain the quality
educators that you are fortunate enough to have in Henderson County.
Thank you.”
22. Richard
Waters – “Folks, I guess I’m going
to be the only one to fire a bullet here. I brought some statistics also. They
almost agree with Mr. Kumor’s. And also, I’d like to tip my hat to Fran
Shelton. I wrote the history of the Hendersonville High School Band and she
carried on a wonderful tradition set forth by Jim Stokes who founded the
Community Band, the Hendersonville Symphony, of Earl Martin, of a lady by the
name of Josephine Osborne who saw Julian Helms
taken out of the High School before he could finish the band semester
that year and she was the music teacher at Rosa Edwards and suddenly we had a
music teacher/piano teacher teaching a whole bunch of kids and took ‘em out to
Greensboro and won a lot of honors. And so that tradition has been here for a
long long time. I’m a product of the Henderson County School System. I spent
eight years at Dana. I spent three years at Hendersonville High School.
Now that doesn’t seem to add up to 12 years but by the same token I also spent
my primary education years in Washington,
DC. I’ve got some statistics here because right
now I’d like to thank Mr. Steve Wyatt
for balancing the budget. I wish I’d
have brought my checkbook and let him balance it because all my life I’ve been
trying to live within my means. And
somebody said this is a wealthy county,
this is also a wealthy school system.
According to information that I got off of Google. If we’d a had Google
I’d probably have graduated as the Valedictorian of Hendersonville High School.
According to Google, last year (from the Department of public instruction)
Henderson County Schools had 100.8 million dollars to spend. We’ve got a wealthy school system. Can’t you folks do a little bit better with
managing your funds, a little bit better than this? It says that you’ve got or are expecting $32
million. I think last time you got about
$29 million. Thirty-two million you are
asking for the County
Commissioners this time.
Fifty-nine point two million dollars was the state revenue that you got last
year and you got nine point four million, almost nine and a half million
dollars in Federal funds that would come to a total of $1.8 million. This comes to about $7,700 dollars per
student. I had a friend that sent her
daughter to a school in Washington,
DC, a private school, and her
tuition was $5,000 and so I’m wondering here.
Also, you’re teaching the bulk of the students here in this county but
we’ve got four or five other private schools plus a charter school plus we also
have 642 youngsters that are home-schooled and they all seem to be doing fairly
well. Anyway so basically what I’m talking about here right now is that we’ve
got a lot of money. You folks are allocating a whole lot. Balance the budget. We need oversight. I want
you to take a good close look at these figures right here. It says right here that instruction – the
total salaries are $59,198,000. That’s a whole lotta money. You’re almost equal to what Pardee Hospital
pays in their salaries. But you have about 1,800 employees I was told, 806 are
teachers and all I can say is folks stretch those dollars. I don’t have a fixed income, I have a broken
income. Thank you.”
Close the Public Hearing
Commissioner McGrady made the motion for the Board to close the public
hearing. All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Many people got up and left the
meeting (it was noisy) so Chairman Moyer called a brief recess.
Chairman Moyer called the meeting
back to order.
Board Discussion
Chairman Moyer informed the Board
that the tentative schedule is to discuss the budget again and possibly approve
it at the meeting on Monday night, June 2. He felt the Board should try to get
as close as they could tonight to give staff some direction as to what they
need to do (if there will be changes to what the County Manager
has recommended). Once staff has
reworked any figures he asked that the Commissioners be given copies even
before Monday or sometime Monday with information or a revised budget that
reflects the direction from the Board.
Chairman Moyer felt that one of
the things that came out of the hearing tonight was that the Board did not lack
in information, except for detailed fuel information. He said the Board
certainly has the necessary information from the School Board. The
Commissioners have heard the School Board’s position with respect to school
nurses and other issues. He couldn’t think of any other additional information
he needs but feels the Board should now talk through some of the issues and
give direction to the County
Manager and staff.
Fuel
Chairman Moyer stated the
suggestion from the County
Manager is to consider a
$500,000 fuel reserve because of what’s happening with the cost of fuel. At one of the earlier meetings the Board
asked that detailed information be put together with respect to fuel usage in
gallons, usage by departments and what that would mean if the cost goes to
various levels. Chairman Moyer’s
preference would be that if we’re going to raise the fuel amount we ought to do
it as part of the budget where it is now and if we want to we could identify a
portion of that increase as not available for spending unless the County
Manager so authorizes it. The County Manager’s
goal is a 10% reduction in usage for each department.
2009 Target Fuel Usage
Steve
Wyatt reviewed with the Board a chart showing the county
departments with per gallon usage and lists a 10% reduction. The most recent
average fuel price was $3.5135. Projected fuel usage comes to $620,000. $405,000 is in the current year budget for
fuel. Staff had taken different projected fuel prices and prepared a chart, $4,
$5, $6, $7, etc. Currently there is
$525,000 in the budget for fuel and $500,000 set aside (emergency fuel fund)
that is not part of the budget. He asked
the Board to evaluate that. Mr. Wyatt stated that when fuel prices go beyond
about $5.50 that’s about when the money that is available, both already
budgeted and set aside, evens out. When
you go to $6.00 gallon you’re slightly over.
Chairman Moyer proposed raising
the current $525,000 to $900,000 and authorize the County manager to continue
his 10% reduction plan and to freeze whatever portion of the $900,000 he feels
appropriate so it cannot be accessed without coming to him. If fuel goes to $10
gallon we’ll be back looking at how to deal with that.
Following discussion, it was the
tentative direction to the County
Manager to change the
amount to $850,000 for fuel. The Board would like to be notified as to how the County Manager
with be controlling this.
Revenue item
Chairman Moyer stated there was
one revenue item to clean up. He stated
that with the volatility of the sales tax it is hard to project figures.
Assessor Stan Duncan had supplied a figure that we might end up with a little
more than $100,000 sales tax. Chairman
Moyer felt we should just keep with the current numbers for the time
being. If this pans out we may end up
with a little cushion. The Board was comfortable with that.
DSS/Medicaid
Chairman Moyer stated that at the
meeting on Tuesday there was quite a discussion about the Medicaid situation
along with the implications and problems association with it. Chairman Moyer stated at a minimum DSS needs
one additional Medicaid supervisor and four social workers. The total cost (county share) is
$120,000. The Chairman recommended
funding that and adding it into the tentative budget. Following some
discussion, it was the consensus of the Board to go along with the Chairman’s
recommendation.
WCCA/Transportation funds
Chairman Moyer stated that when
you look at the money coming from the government and look at how much this
helps a group of people who simply would not be able to get this transportation
any other way, you see the need to continue. If you see the old red vans you
know that we need to transfer those vans out.
The administrative cost was $22,000 and the cost for vans was $13,000
and is already in the recommended budget. Chairman Moyer felt it should not be
an issue, that it should stay in the budget as is. Consensus of the Board was
for it to stay.
Amy Brantley clarified that the
administrative cost of $22,999 was in the proposed budget but the capital part
of it is not. An additional $16,000
would need to be added to the budget, if the Board so chooses for the capital
cost. Chairman Moyer authorized the County Manager
to add that cost to the budget.
Public Schools
Chairman Moyer recommended action
in three areas:
1. Cover
the Bruce Drysdale nurse position (one position) plus one more -$132,000.
Much discussion
followed regarding this issue. This
would give us the net gain of
one school nurse
and one replacement.
2. Shortfall
in uncontrollable expenses - $90,000, add back in.
3. Maintenance
issues – add $100,000 and earmark for maintenance.
At this time Chairman Moyer is
not proposing any teacher supplement.
There was much discussion about
school nurses and school based clinics, etc. and the difference in their
duties.
Following discussion it was the
consensus of the Board to go along with the Chairman’s recommendations.
United Agenda for Children
Chairman Moyer did not recommend
funding the $25,000 for this. They are part of the Children & Family Resource
Center.
Commissioner McGrady disagreed
strongly. He stated that the United Agenda for Children is just the fiscal
agent for a large group of non-profits. He further stated that it is not at all
true that the Board only funds non-profits through the Alliance piece, that’s
just one set of non-profits. Commissioner McGrady stated that the Board made a
one-year commitment to this. It is a three-year process. They’ve asked for two years of funding. He supports the County Manager’s
recommendation. This is already included
in the recommended budget.
Commissioner Messer stated that
there were problems with this last year, timing wise.
Commissioner Williams agreed with
Chairman Moyer, stating that he didn’t think $25,000 would make or break the
organization. He stated that the Board of Commissioners is still serving the
children but have moved the moneys around some; taking money from this but
putting money back for school nurses, adding folks at DSS who will be caring
for the children and adding money into the school from what the original
proposal was which will also be for children.
Commissioner McGrady stated that
he applauded last year when the Commissioners funding this and was gratified to
see it as a recommendation in the Manager’s budget this year. He hopes that the
Board can find $25,000 to continue to support this.
7th Ave. District
Chairman Moyer stated that the
Budget had kept all the other contributions the same except for the 7th Ave.
District. He recommended keeping this amount the same ($500), not approving the
increase to $700. The Board seemed to agree.
Revenues
Chairman Moyer supports taking
the remainder money needed for the discussed changes out of fund balance -
$257,750 although this will take us below 12% in fund balance currently. He
thinks that the available fund balance at June 30 will be higher than projected
so far, with the directive that at the end of the year any additional fund balance
would be earmarked to stay in fund balance because we would be taking monies
out prematurely. Chairman Moyer rounded it up to $300,000. He felt it was well
justified with the good that would be done with that money. The consensus of
the Board was in agreement with the Chairman.
Commissioner McGrady stated that
he expects to vote against this budget (as he said on the radio this morning).
He thinks more money should be put towards schools.
No vote was taken, only the above
directions to staff so they can bring figures back to the Board as soon as
possible so the Board can review those prior to the meeting on Monday evening.
Adjourn
Commissioner Messer made the motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:50 p.m.
All voted in favor and the motion carried.
Attest:
Elizabeth W. Corn, Clerk to the
Board William L.
Moyer, Chairman