THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090394
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CURRITUCK LENGTH: 99 lines
Candidates have been working for months to make sure voters recognize their names on ballots next month.
Now, local leaders want to make sure people also are familiar with two other election issues that could provide communities with millions of dollars without raising taxes.
One is a $1.8 billion statewide bond referendum that would double the rate of school construction.
The other is a $950 million bond referendum that would speed up road improvements, particularly in urban areas.
Both were discussed Tuesday at news conferences throughout the state, including one in Currituck County.
If the school bonds are approved in November, all 100 North Carolina counties will be eligible for at least a million dollars to upgrade or build new schools.
North Carolina has one of the fastest-growing student populations in the nation, with statewide enrollment increasing nearly 25,000 annually, according to the North Carolina Partnership for Schools and Roads.
The private organization is leading the campaign to pass the school referendum, which would create 100,000 additional classrooms statewide and reduce the state's 4,800 mobile classrooms by 2,000 units.
The money also would help upgrade aging facilities, many of which were built 40 or 50 years ago and now have structural, water and sewer problems or fail to meet fire codes.
In Currituck County - one of the fastest-growing counties in the state - the bond referendum would provide $3,002,491 for school construction.
Individual funding for school systems would be based on current enrollments, rate of enrollment growth, size of the system and ability to pay.
Under the plan, Wake County schools stand to gain the most with almost $124 million in allocations. Mecklenburg is second with about $120 million in state funding.
Money for all projects would come from existing state revenue sources and require local matches.
``To our current residents, there's absolutely no tax increase,'' said Mary Ellen Maxwell, chairwoman of the Currituck County Board of Education.
``We are just in a win-win situation should that pass,'' she said.
That's because Currituck already met the local match requirements when its voters passed a $16 million school bond referendum in 1993.
Otherwise, officials said, Currituck would have had to come up with $7 million to accept the funds.
Currituck officials said the state money from the bond issue would likely be used to build an elementary school in Moyock or Jarvisburg.
Most residential growth in Currituck County is taking place just south of Chesapeake, in Moyock. That trend is likely to continue after N.C. 168 is widened to five lanes next year.
``Northern Currituck will look a lot like the Great Bridge area,'' predicted Ronnie Capps, the Currituck schools superintendent.
``So it's very logical to look there first'' for a new school, he said.
But Lower Currituck could also see rampant growth with the completion of the highway widening, which will cut commuter time to Virginia to under an hour, Capps added.
While Currituck is in a good position to accept state money because it already has met its match, other localities may not.
Some school districts may not want to support the referendum because they cannot afford to take the money.
These areas, however, may be entitled to $650 million set aside for small systems and low-wealth systems.
The other referendum discussed Tuesday was for roads, which does not require a local match.
Traffic on North Carolina streets and highways has increased by 50 percent during the past decade, according to the Raleigh-based Partnership for Schools and Roads.
The state's major urban highways now are the fifth-most congested in the country, ranking behind New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Illinois, the organization said.
A statewide road bond referendum would accelerate projects already planned, with the lion's share of funding - $800 million of the $950 million - being used for urban loops and intrastate roads.
Most communities in northeastern North Carolina would benefit from the $150 million set aside for secondary roads.
Currituck, for example, would receive $466,309 for paving dirt roads.
``Right now we have 30 miles of unpaved roads in the county,'' said County Manager Bill Richardson. ``And this would speed up the process.''
Money for the state road construction would come from revenue generated from a Highway Trust Fund created by the General Assembly in 1989.
Currituck officials emphasized Tuesday that these referendums took years to reach the ballot.
Several people commended the bipartisan efforts of Democratic Senate President Marc Basnight and Republican House Leader Harold Brubaker.
Business and industry leaders also have rallied around the referendums, which should generate jobs and enhance economic development.
``It's not just good for schools and roads,'' Richardson said. ``It's also good for the statewide economy. This is going to bring a lot of construction into the state.'' ILLUSTRATION: THE BENEFITS
What counties stand to gain from two statewide referendums:
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