In addition to the discussion surrounding the budget, Guilford County commissioners engaged in a spiritied debate over the right date to place $640 million in bonds on the ballot. Frankly, the discussion revealed just how clueless our local government is.
Eastern Guilford High School, which is on the $440 million school bond, came up during the discussion. As I’ve said before, anyone with a direct interest in Eastern Guilford should be concerned because, if the school bond fails, no one has any idea about how to pay for the new school.
School board chairman Alan Duncan spoke before commissioners and told them they took the initiative to put Eastern on the bond because county commissioners never made it clear where the money to rebuild Eastern will come from, even after last month’s highly-charged meeting.
During last night’s discussion on Eastern Guilford, a couple of commissioners showed just how out of touch they are on the issue. Commissioner Mike Winstead actually asked how much insurance money the school system was going to get for Eastern. Ever read the local paper, commissioner? The preliminary settlement was right there on the front page. Then, of all things, Commissioner Linda Shaw repeated her mistaken belief that GCS was somehow going to receive $42 million from the N.C. Department of Insurance. Superintendent Terry Grier cleared that matter up weeks ago. If I know about it, then why doesn’t Shaw know about it?
Considering the fact that the school system makes up roughly one-third of the county’s budget, you’d think commissioners would be a little more un tune with what’s going on a few blocks down Eugene Street.
