By Karissa Minn
kminn@salisburypost.com
Rowan-Salisbury Schools will continue to receive the $690,000 increase appropriated by the county, but commissioners may decide to withdraw it in March.
Commissioner Jim Sides made a motion to revert those funds at Monday’s meeting of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners.
Sides said when the previous board voted on the increase during budget discussions, it did not know that $900,000 of N.C. Education Lottery funds would be withheld by the state. That money had been budgeted to pay down debt from school bonds.
“We still have to make those debt service payments,” Sides said. “The money has to come from somewhere, and if this motion is not passed, that will be our undesignated surplus funds.”
He said the county has been spending its fund balance year after year, and the school system has more than $7 million in surplus funds from the county. Rowan County faces a $3 million to $4 million “hole” in the budget in the year ahead, he said.
Commissioner Carl Ford seconded Sides’ motion, pointing out that the school system recently received $4.2 million in federal Education Jobs Bill funds.
“Let the school system draw down its fund balance, which is what we’ve been doing for a couple years now,” Ford said.
Commissioner Jon Barber said the $4.2 million to the schools from the federal government will only go so far to make up for up to $14.6 million in cuts from the state, resulting in severe losses of teachers and teacher assistants.
Barber said he won’t support the motion now, but he would be willing to look at it again the second meeting in March, when the fate of the lottery funds will be more certain.
“While the General Assembly said they would withhold lottery money from all counties, as of today they have not done so yet,” Barber said.
He said the state has given back withheld lottery funds before, and the new General Assembly going into session Jan. 26 may prevent it from being taken in the first place.
Commissioner Raymond Coltrain agreed with Barber.
“The funds haven’t been withheld yet, and decisions in Raleigh tend to be made moment-by-moment,” Coltrain said. “I’d rather wait and hope things are going to be more positive.”
Commissioner Chad Mitchell said he also hopes “the legislature will begin to wisen up” and decide not to hold back the lottery money.
Mitchell made the original motion in June to appropriate the funding in order to pay for state-mandated increases in benefits for county-funded positions.
He said Monday he is willing to consider withdrawing it in March but would rather just address next year’s appropriation.
“When we discuss the budget for 2012, we’ll probably have to look at school funding,” Mitchell said.
Sides’ motion failed 2-3, with he and Ford voting in favor of it.
In other news, the board unanimously approved a rezoning of 31.72 acres used for the Webb Road Flea Market before it burned in September.
Rowan County Senior Planner Shane Stewart said Webb Road Flea Market LLC met with planning staff a few months ago to talk about redevelopment options and future uses for its 35-acre site.
According to the request presented Monday, the flea market owners could have rebuilt in the same footprint without meeting new zoning standards, but they wanted to be able to use a different layout.
“They decided that another zoning district would provide some more flexibility for both potentially rebuilding flea market and also future outparcel uses,” Stewart said.
The land will be rezoned from 85-ED-4 retail center to commercial, business, industrial (CBI). Stewart said both allow retail, finance, insurance, real estate and service uses, but CBI zoning adds light manufacturing and some wholesale uses.
Contact reporter Karissa Minn at 704-797-4222.