For the commissioners to fund a new public school, they must budget money for the studies and fees that the county, towns and utilities require for all new construction.
Commissioner Barry Jacobs said town and county governments treat new schools just like any other type of development. He also said the commissioners need to talk about waiving these fees to simplify the school construction process and bring down the cost of building schools in Orange County.
"We're just taking the money out of one public pocket to put it in another public pocket," Jacobs said.
Jacobs said the commissioners sent the issue to the county staff at Thursday's board meeting. The staff will review the idea of waiving the fees and make recommendations to the commissioners in the near future, Jacobs said. The commissioners have not brought the idea to the towns yet. "We don't know how people will react," Jacobs said. "This is still in the beginning stages."
David Kolbinsky, an Orange County Board of Education member, said he supports the waivers because the schools would not have to sell as many bonds to cover initial costs and would not have to pay the interest on those bonds. The board spent about $400,000 on studies this year for two new schools.
"Whatever we could do to keep the initial costs down would be good for us," Kolbinsky said.
Because the county government funds the schools, county fees on schools go right back into the county budget, Jacobs said. But this plan means Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough would lose money from their respective budgets.
Carrboro Planning Department Director Roy Williford said Carrboro would lose around $90,000 in fees for every new school. Carrboro has built two new schools in the last 20 years.
"It would be a drain any time it occurs, but it would not be very frequent," Williford said.
