Chuck Hughes, Board of Education, Salibury, N.C.
♦ My apologies to the citizens of Rowan County and two of my colleagues for leaving them stranded at Monday’s Board of Education meeting when I left early due to a family issue requiring my attention. My early departure left a five member board: Chairman Wagner, Mr. Allen, Mrs. Cox, Mrs. Kennedy and Doctor Miller (Mr. Hunter was out of town.)
The first meetings of the month, as was Monday, August 10th, are by history and design a work session where issues are discussed in depth then set aside for a formal vote at the “business session” at the following meeting.
It is important to know that the $500,000 for furniture for the Central Office Building (COB) was initially donated by a private donor. When the cost of the COB climbed well above what was anticipated, the donor was lobbied (it is not clear to me by whom) to allow the dedicated donation for furniture to be re-purposed to cover the overage for the steel, brick and mortar of the building proper. This left funding for furniture in the void with no clear plan on how the furniture would be funded OTHER than taking it from our already stressed budget.
When the $500,000 for furniture appeared in the July budget resolution, I was clear that I would not support pulling $500,000 of taxpayer money, money that could be used for other pressing needs, out of our budget to pay for furniture that had earlier been covered. The absence of my vote today left a majority who pushed for a vote on a budget issue that should have been postponed until the following business session on August 24th. The vote to take the $500,000 from our reserve to pay for previously funded furniture was three to two, with Chairman Wagner and Mr. Allen dissenting.
In the end, a vote that should have been delayed until August 24th adds another $500,000 of Rowan County tax payer’s dollars to their initial $6.5 million expenditure. Cost of Central Office Building will be $8.5 million and small change of which $7 million will now be paid for by tax payers now that another $500,000 for furniture will come out of our budget. That money would have gone a long way in addressing safety needs.
