Steve Mensing, Editor
♦We caught up with Rowan County Commission Chairman Jim Sides after Tuesday afternoon’s county commission budget work session and he obliged us with a telephone interview:
Steve Mensing: Jim just watched county commission video of today’s budget session. It’s gratifying that our county is Johnny-on-the-spot with video footage of entire commission meetings and today’s budget session. This video and Access 16′s TV recordings provide a real opportunity for Rowan citizens to view our Rowan County Commissioners in action without an intervening distorted filter. Important words are not edited out, no slight-of-hand misattributions, and no manufactured reality as is the case in some news reporting. Nothing matches a video camera’s ability to cover an entire proceedings without a distorting lens. At the end of this interview we are going to provide the unedited county video–truly the only way to really know our county commissioners and what they actually said.
Jim Sides: I agree Steve. You hit the nail square on. An unedited video provides the actual–the true facts of the matter and I am heartened that our citizens get the benefit of a camera’s straight up truth.
Steve Mensing: Let’s get down to tacks. Tell us about the lottery funds in regards to our Rowan-Salisbury Schools. Give us some background.
Jim Sides: Lottery funds, since their inception, were allocated by the county to pay debt service for Carson High School. Carson High School was built with funds from the 2002 bond program. This is part of the $76.9 million dollar bond issued for the schools. Lottery funds were originally around $2.7 million dollars. The state has reduced the county allocation of lottery funds to approximately $1.5 million dollars per year. The county continued the debt service payment at the $2.7 million dollar level each year, even with the reduction of funds by the state.
Steve Mensing: What about the lottery funds held in escrow?
Jim Sides: Lottery funds are held in escrow by the state in a Public School Capital fund until drawn down by the county each year. Rowan county draws its share of the lottery proceeds down each year to pay the debt service on the bonds. There is a state form for the drawdown of the funds which must be signed by both the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners and the Chairman of the Board of Education. This has been the practice since the inception of the program and there has never been a problem with both chairmen signing the form. This year, Dr. Richard Miller refused to sign the form, which meant the county was not able to draw down the lottery funds, after having already made the $2.7 million dollar debt service payment. This prompted us (the county commissioners) to vote to withhold monthly sales tax payments of $150,000 per month from the schools to recoup the lottery funds. The School Board then voted to require Dr. Miller to sign the form so that the county could request the funds and prevent withholding the sales tax. Since the School Board voted to have Dr. Miller sign the form, the county went ahead with the issue of the $150,000 sales tax check this month.
Steve Mensing: What about this matter of a disclaimer that Dr. Miller wrote on the form?
Jim Sides: Dr. Miller signed the form, stating he was in agreement with the drawdown of the lottery funds. However, when he signed the form, Dr. Miller also wrote in a disclaimer on the form beside his signature indicating he did not agree with the intended use of the funds.
Steve Mensing: Couldn’t this disclaimer, next to a signature, be problematic–have a negating effect?
Jim Sides: Well Steve, the County Finance Officer feels this will prevent the release of funds. There was also a disclaimer letter attached to the form, signed by all members of the School Board which we did not feel presented a problem.
Steve Mensing: A the special meeting of the Board of Commissioners today, the commissioners voted to withhold money. Could you tell us about that?
Jim Sides: We voted to withhold the $150,ooo sales tax money, already given to the schools, from this years current expense allocation. The vote was also to reaffirm our intent to withhold all future sales tax distributions until we were fully reimbursed for the lottery funds we were unable to draw down. Once that issue is resolved, and the lottery funds are drawn down by the county, these funds will be restored.
Steve Mensing: Jim thanks for your input.
Jim Sides: Always my pleasure Steve.
Video: Rowan County Commission Budget Work Session, June 10, 2013:
http://rowancountync.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=382
