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Swain County commissioners approve using interest earnings to cover $2.6 million school match
Summary
The board voted 3–1 to use interest earnings from the county's state-grant account to meet a required $2.6 million local match for a $52 million middle-school grant; commissioners heard project timeline and architect invoice projections during discussion.
The Swain County Board of Commissioners voted to use interest earnings in a state-grant account to fulfill a required $2.6 million county match for a $52 million middle-school grant.
County staff member Lottie presented details and said the $52 million award requires a county contribution of $2.6 million for the early planning and design phases. Lottie told commissioners that the match is intended to pay billing coming in from the architect and early project expenses and that the grant language expects those match funds to be used early in the project.
A motion was made to take the match from the interest earnings rather than borrowing. The motion was seconded and carried 3–1. The board did not publish individual roll-call votes in the transcript; commissioners raised questions about account balances and timing during debate. Lottie said the interest account held between about $5.5 million and $6 million, and she said using interest would not drain the account and that the $52 million grant principal remained untouched.
Mark, a project presenter, provided payment projections tied to the architect contract: invoices listed in the discussion included approximately $24,000 for an April invoice, an expected $37,000 invoice for May and a series of projected monthly billings (for example, about $27,000 in the next period and larger projected needs of $60,000 to $65,000 in later months). The architect contract was described as capped at 6% of an early $40 million construction estimate, which would total about $2.4 million for architecture services under the current estimate.
Commissioners voiced concerns about water and sewer availability at the school site and about escalation in construction costs; Lottie and staff said they are working with town, state and federal partners to secure funding for utilities and that a congressional office was being asked to consider a $6 million federal grant request.
The board recorded the motion as passing 3–1 and directed staff to proceed under the chosen funding approach. No vote count by name was provided in the meeting transcript.
Ending: With funding source decided, staff will continue architect and planning work while seeking additional utility funding and federal support, per staff remarks during the meeting.
