By Thomas Goldsmith - Staff writer
News & Observer, May 17, 2010
RALEIGH -- Garner's beloved Southeast Regional Library will remain open.
Wake County schools will operate on the same amount of money as last year, even though there may be several thousand more students to educate.
And the county's ABC board will make sure to be known as good neighbors by kicking in an additional $3 million in nonrecurring help, saving cuts elsewhere.
Those are some of the early indications today as Wake County manager David Cooke prepares to unveil his proposed county budget for 2010-2011. The county's board of commissioners has to approve an annual budget by June 30.
Wake County's 140,000-student school system, which gets more than $300 million annually from the county, had already tempered expectations by asking only for a status quo budget. Because enrollment is projected to increase by a few thousand students, that means per-pupil spending will actually go down.
Garner, where civic leaders and citizens had vocally protested a tentative decision to close the facility, got its wish to keep it open. Officials hinted last week that delaying some capital projects could free up operating funds for purposes perhaps to include the Garner library.
The extra money from Wake ABC comes as some county ABC operations across the state have been under close scrutiny, bringing calls to increase oversight of the independent agencies.
A public comment period was scheduled begin at 3 p.m. |
