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Moore County's Board of Commissioners approved on Tuesday night funding for classroom smartboards and information technology [IT] improvements in the schools, but the schools didn't get precisely the money they had asked for.
 Picking up in their January 19 meeting an item tabled two weeks earlier, the Commissioners looked at several sources for the $500,000 Moore County Schools [MCS] was requesting, $340,000 for smartboards in the middle schools and $160,000 for other IT initiatives.
MCS had asked for $192,000 in bond interest and $308,000 in bond premium. The former is interest that has accrued on school bond proceeds that have yet to be spent and so are invested in interest-bearing accounts. None of the commissioners suggested any problem with the schools using these funds, since the bonds were approved by the voters and sold to fund school initiatives.
But the bond premium is a different matter. The county gets these funds when an investor buying the school bonds pays more than face value for them. Commissioner Nick Picerno told The Times that there can be tax advantages in that sort of transaction, but the key point is that, unlike the bond interest, the bond premium must eventually be repaid by the county to the bond holder.
The bond interest is a bonus the county receives for investing bond funds wisely. The bond premium is a debt that must be repaid with tax dollars. Because of this, Picerno questioned using the bond premium money to fund school initiatives, suggesting that it instead "go back to the taxpayers" — i.e., be used to pay off the indebtedness.
His fellow commissioners agreed unanimously, approving MCS' request for funds, but building a total of $375,000 in funding that included bond interest and state refunds of sales taxes paid on items purchased for the schools. That was $125,000 short of the total the schools asked for, but the commissioners indicated that any additional interest that accrues on the invested bond proceeds through the end of the fiscal year can also be used for the smartboard and IT initiatives.
Local ABC Control supported
Also on Tuesday night, the Board unanimously approved a letter to Governor Beverly Perdue, NC House Speaker Joe Hackney and NC Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight strongly supporting continued local control of alcoholic beverage sales. Recent scandals involving the compensation paid ABC managers in the Wilmington area and liquor-company-funded dinner parties for Charlotte-area ABC officials have many state leaders and legislators calling for reform of the state's ABC system, which relies on local boards in each county to manage alcohol sales. Some have called for the privatization of liquor sales, allowing private companies to run retail outlets, as is the pattern in South Carolina, for example.
Moore County ABC Board Chairman John Garner of Seven Lakes West told the Commissioners that the local operation has none of the problems of the big-city ABC Boards getting all of the headlines. "It is and should be a very strictly-controlled situation," Garner said.
Unlike a father and son team of New Hanover County execs who were reportedly paid a total of $400,000 last year, Garner said Moore County ABC's General Manager Pam Smith makes $54,000 to manage an $8 million operation. ABC Board member Thomas Kees explained that the Board had researched salary levels across the state and developed a system of salary ranges for various types of employees.
Because the local board runs the county's four liquor stores, the county, the sheriff's department, and local non-profits all benefit, Garner said. In FY2009, the board provided $433,00 to the county, $156,00 to the Sheriff's Office for law enforcement services, $309,000 to the Moore County towns that have ABC stores, $72,000 to alcohol rehab programs, and over $2 million to the state.
The 13.28 percent profit margin of the Moore County ABC operation ranks it seventh in the state, Garner added. "We manage our system with the highest of standards and efficiency,” he said.
Other business
In other business on Tuesday night, the Commissioners:
• Approved, on the recommendation of consultants Davenport & Company, Wells Fargo Securities as lead underwriter and BB&T Capital Markets as secondary underwriter for the sale of securities in late spring or early summer to fund the county’s construction of a new jail, public safety building, and government center.
• Approved a preliminary engineering report on a $3.2 million project that will connect the Town of Vass with the county’s Addor Wastewater treatment plant. The report will be used to make application to the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural development office for $2.2 million in grants and loans to help fund the project.
• Authorized the submission of a preliminary engineering report for Phase 3 of the East Moore Water District to USDA - Rural Development as part of a funding request for the project.
• Approved the $124,000 purchase of eight replacement vehicles from Bill Smith Ford and Phillips Ford.
• Authorized Public Utilities to seek federal stimulus funds to help pay for the replacement of an antiquated and inefficient health system in the county’s health department.
• Heard from West End resident Bob Stolting that a rezoning request for the Pine Forest development, expected to come before the Board in February, will impact a longleaf pine forest that is of national significance. |
