DATE: Monday, September 1, 1997             TAG: 9709010102

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

TYPE: Letter 

                                            LENGTH:  159 lines

LETTERS TO EDITOR -- THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT -- NORTH CAROLINA

Matt Pelly, a 14-year-old resident of the Outer Banks is being hospitalized in Cleveland, in need of a heart transplant. He had no sign of serious illness until July, when he was rushed to the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Virginia with an enlarged heart. While he was at Children's Hospital, many of his good friends went to visit him. He received many cards, and Whalebone Surf Shop sent posters, stickers, and other cool things.

Then news got around in early August that Matt had been moved to the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland. There, it is hard for his friends to visit him, but his best friend, Shawn Daniels, went to Cleveland to see him. Matt receives phone calls and cards from friends. His birthday is Tuesday, so he will be receiving many new cards and presents while in the hospital.

Matt has had two open heart surgeries, which has delayed his chance of getting a heart for up to 30 days after the last surgery occurred. His mother, Debby Pelly, and stepfather, Howard Goldstein, are staying at the Ronald McDonald house so that they can be with him daily. Debby and Howard own Confetti, a clothing store in Duck. The people managing the store while Debby and Howard are at the hospital are raising money to help with the medical bills. Donations are being collected at NationsBank in Kitty Hawk. Please help Confetti raise this money for Matt and his family.

Jessie Mauney

Manteo High School

My responsibility, as the Water Director for Dare County, is to ensure the consistent 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week delivery of a quality drinking water to all of our customers on our water systems. That we do now very well, that is a fact.

As far as an ability to produce any extra water above our present 9.5 million gallons per day (MGD) here are the facts:

We can expand our RO Plant with five individual, additional 1.0 MGD units in modular expansion, without major building or equipment modifications. This plant, which produces 3.0 MGD of the 9.5 MGD we can produce, is designed already to eventually produce 8.0 MGD.

Our maximum one-day delivery from these plants has been 7.502 MGD (on July 4.) This is the brief peak day that occurs on the Fourth of July weekend every year. One of the remaining most recent 364 days reached 7.0 MGD, one day reached 7.131 MGD last year, average this summer - 5.433 MGD, average the peak month of July 1997 - 5.839 MGD; we averaged 3.531 MGD through the year 1996. We have four additional spare wells that can pump 500 gallons per minute each, installed now to handle the future brief one- to three-day peak demands.

We have the delivery capacity from these three plants of 15.490 MGD with the pumping system in place today.

We have 13.150 million gallons in water storage, north of the Oregon Inlet, to add an additional source of water for our own emergency use during brief peak demand periods.

Could we afford to help a neighbor who has asked for help in an emergency situation? With the facts I have mentioned, can I legitimately tell my Board of Commissioners, no we cannot afford to? Could we use the reciprocal favor if Caffey's Inlet were washed out in Duck creating our emergency? Whatever they could help us out with, we will gladly take and pay for, and it will be appreciated. All at the expense for the materials and labor for the hookup to be paid for by Carolina Water Service. Is an interconnect for emergency purposes a good idea? We have over 10 interconnections for emergency water with Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head now. If we cannot afford to help them out, in an emergency, we do not have to and will not.

I cannot say that the facts before us prove it unwise to agree to this reciprocal emergency water sales pact.

Robert W. Oreskovich, Director

Dare County Water System

Since June 9, 1997 there has been great speculation and rumors throughout Dare County concerning the financial status of the Dare County Schools. The School Board and the administration have been the subject of credibility questioning often based on erroneous information or uninformed sources. The financial concerns of the school system did not start in 1997; roots may be traced to the spring of 1993.

In 1992 the school system had a fund balance of approximately $3.4 million. This number is not totally accurate because funds for the bond project of 1989 were part of this fund. The Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education had difficulties that spring in arriving at a budget for current operating expenses. After much public debate each body appointed a committee to negotiate a budget recommendation. The commissioners involved were Doug Langford, Clarence Skinner and Robert Williams. The Board of Education members were Allen Burrus, David Daniels and Sam Twiford Jr. After much discussion, an agreement was reached that reduced the county appropriation from $5.5 million to $4.4 million. The difference was to be made up by using the fund balance of the system. When fears arose concerning the elimination of a school-based fund balance, the commissioners stated their fund balance was there to protect the school system. Since the agreement was reached, the system honored its commitment to spend down the fund balance.

For the next four years the county increased its appropriation only to reflect cost-of-living adjustments mandated by the state, and for specific projects, including five technology teachers, eight reading English teachers, a truant officer and a second teacher for the academically gifted at Cape Hatteras School. Supplements were increased by $1,000. On the capital side, the commissioners funded a comprehensive technology program that is the model for the state.

During that period of time not one increase was funded for the basic operational cost of the system. The student population increased from 3,665 in 1992 to 4500-plus for this year. During those years the electric bill for the system increased from $392,582.39 to $643,783.60. In one year paper costs increased by 28 percent, and the general inflation rate for educational-related business has been fairly steady at 4.5 percent. No additional county appropriations have been made to address neither the growth in the student population nor the associated increases in the basic operational costs of the school system. Money for supplements have not reflected the scale established that has incremental increases for service years. While the commissioners have contributed greatly, the increases continue to not address the growing population or increased costs. Imagine a family of three living on the same dollars today that were earned in 1992 while adding two more children to that family and maintaining their living standards. Schools cannot be satisfied with providing the same level of services. We must always strive to provide more.

In accordance with the 1993 agreement, the system returned to the county to request $305,000 in additional funding to meet the unanticipated needs for the year. Electricity increases already have been addressed. Other items included attorney fees for one exceptional children's case that will exceed $100,000. (A case that can have far reaching effects throughout the state and perhaps the nation.) Federal law requires schools to provide service to students who don't speak English. Every item on the list presented to the commissioners represented a need that had to be addressed. The $305,000 of needs were the result of either unfunded mandates or the rise in providing basic services to schools. Only Commissioner Langford appeared to remember or to be informed about the original agreement between the two boards. Could the school system have done a better job in presenting these requests early? Absolutely! The internal controls to insure earlier detection are now in place and will be used to detect the needs as they occur.

No money was stolen. No money was misappropriated. The pressures of growth are too great to be overcome without additional funding. Questions have been raised about the system's requests for advances on their funding. Monies for the school system are appropriated monthly with 1/12 arriving on the first of each month. Schools are front loaded businesses with the demand greatest at the beginning or in months when large cash expenditures are generated such as November and May with supplement payments. Speculation was voiced that the system had spent the "incentive money" when they were not paid until August. By the payment date, 2/12's or two installments of the money or $40,000 of the incentive allotment was actually in the school system account. Without a fund balance, cash flow will be an ongoing problem for the system using the present allocation method.

In 1993 when Hurricane Emily devastated Cape Hatteras School, the funds for recovery came from the school system's fund balance, not from additional funding from the commissioners. These expenses, in excess of $300,000, helped speed the elimination of the fund balance.

The commissioners have demanded cuts which have been made in the central office. These demands were very specific. (These cuts will not be enough to offset the years of under-funding for the basics.) Other cuts are being made with a determination to protect the classroom. Some of the cuts will upset people and produce more criticism for the Board and the administrative staff. It is a no-win proposition for all involved. At the same time, we are faced with the desire to improve services and expand opportunities for children. Expansion can only occur when the basic needs of the system are met, and an understanding exists for the need for contingency funds to address the unpredicted needs that occur.

It is easy to cast stones at the board and me, but it requires a much clearer understanding of a very complex funding dilemma to truly solve the problem.

Every new student is a joy but providing for those student's basic needs must become a mission for our community.

H. Leon Holleman

Superintendent, Dare County Schools

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