Commissioners vote, approve lottery fund application


Vance County Board of Education Chair Tommy Riddle appeared before the Vance County Board of Commissioners on Monday night to ask for approval of an application to access the Public School Building Capital Fund for the North Carolina Education Lottery.

Riddle said that it was first in the process, and similar to the procedure by which the ADM (Corporate Tax) Fund is accessed. First, the school board approves the application, which must in turn be approved the the county board.

Riddle indicated that the application had been approved by the school board earlier Monday afternoon.

According to Riddle, the money is to be used to purchase the land upon which the new schools, an elementary school and a middle school, will be built. $276,000 is currently available, with $1.1 million projected revenue for building construction in Vance County in the first year of the lottery.

The chair of the school board said that the process of purchasing the land would be left up to the commission.

Riddle noted that the entire school board, with the exception of Ronald Kinsley, was present, along with Vance County Schools Financial Officer Rudy Ligon and Superintendent Norm Shearin to answer questions regarding the application.

He told the commission that if the application was approved by November 25 that the funds would be received by December 1.

After a motion to approve the request was made, Commissioner Deborah Brown asked if the funds were intended for the purchase of two properties, which was confirmed.

Commissioner Tommy Hester asked if the Education Committee had seen the request. Commissioner Danny Wright replied that he did not know.

The motion passed with no opposition.