Curious little item in the real estate transactions listed in last week’s Charlotte Business Journal, which I now repeat verbatim:

James B. Sr. and Betty C. Black to The Wake County Board of Education, Facilities Building 1551 Rock Quarry Road, Raleigh, 27610, metes and bounds Town of Matthews Morningstar Township PIN 193 43 201/202, $500,000.

Recall that in addition to a prison sentence for bribery and corruption, Black was fined $1 million upon his conviction in 2007. He paid half of that total, from unknown sources, one year ago. He was given until January 1st to pay the rest. Perhaps he received another extension, but in any event Black desired that the money go directly to Wake County schools, as state law can permit.

Black pledged his former Uptown office on Tryon St. as security for the fine. The property has a tax value of roughly $1.1m.

In addition to the office and his Matthews residence valued at almost $500K, Black owns several more parcels in and around Matthews. This brings us to the legal notice from last week pulled from filings with the county clerk.

The property in question is actually two vacant parcels on Rice Rd., one of eight acres, the other just over an acre. Together they have a tax value of under $140,000. A 6.5 acre parcel across the street sold for $37,500 in 2002, to a concern controlled by Black’s son.

Yet a few weeks ago in May, Judge Donald Stephens signed off on allowing this Rice Rd. land to settle Black’s outstanding $500K debt. Why in the world did Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby go along with that? Did he even know the value of property in question? If so, from what sources?

I had assumed, incorrectly it turns out, that the Matthews property mentioned in news accounts of the May deal was Black’s property in downtown Matthews, along John and Charles Streets, a collection valued at around $450,000. Not until I plugged in the parcel ID number from the notice was it clear that Black gave up perhaps $125K worth of vacant land to settle a $500K fine while holding onto at least $2 million worth of other property.

One more slick deal, it would seem. No wonder the guy thinks President Obama should set him free — he truly thinks he has done nothing wrong.

Let’s watch and see what Wake County gets out of their new “gift” of land that has been vacant for 40 years — and what Jim Black gets out of the wealth a North Carolina court inexplicably allowed him to keep.