The Wake County School Board was informed of imprisoned former Speaker Jim Black?s offer to use some undeveloped Mecklenburg County real estate to pay off his criminal corruption fine prior to the deal going through, according to board chairman Kevin Hill.
Meck Deck blogger Jeff Taylor first broke the story of Black?s settlement in mid-June, and Carolina Journal has reported on it two times since then (6/22/09 and 6/29/09).
As part of his state sentence, Black was fined $1 million. He paid half of the fine in cash last year, which by law goes to Wake County public schools, but says that he has been unable to liquidate his remaining real estate (which is valued around $4 million total) to pay off the second half.
So, Black offered two parcels of undeveloped real estate in Matthews, which the Wake County DA and school board attorneys accepted to satisfy the debt.
There is some question, however, about the value of the parcels, and how much difficulty the Wake County Public School System will face in finding a buyer.
Even so, Hill says that the school board was kept in the loop and gave their OK to the deal.
?The BOE has been informed and discussed this issue,? he wrote in an e-mail today. ?We discussed it at length in closed session.?
School board member Ron Margiotta, however, says that he was never informed of the deal, and he can?t recall it coming up before the board for consideration.
