I’m not talking about the $10k trip to Reno — while the N&R reported that Guilford County Commission chair Skip Alston has decided not to go, the High Point Enterprise says today’s editorial that Alston “indicates he isn’t going.”
The issue today is —surprise — Alston and the GCS school board are sparring over money. But this time the dispute is over $17 million in federal stimulus bonds, the so-called qualified school construction bonds.
I’ve written about the issue here and here. As you can imagine, I think utilizing federal bonds is a bad idea, even if school officials claim it will save taxpayers $5.5 million in interest. Call me skeptical, but it’s my belief taxpayers will never see that savings.
The issue today is whether or not Alston will give the go-ahead to apply for the second round of bonds. School board members seem to think he had signed off, but apparently the official word —-coming from Alston himself —-is “Alston has had a change of heart.”
As you can also probably imagine, County Manager Brenda Jones Fox is MIA, while another commissioner contacted for comment —-in this case Bruce Davis —- says he doesn’t know anything about it.
That’s the second time this week a commissioner has acknowledged he’s out of the loop. Kirk Perkins told the N&R yesterday “it was news” to him that an incentives hearing for the proposed American Express data center had been delayed.
