Sen. Neal Hunt sponsored a bill stripping the Wake County Board of Education’s responsibility for school construction and giving it to the Wake County Commissioners.
In the Senate debate on the bill, Sen. Hunt claimed it was a “common sense bill” that would save taxpayers money. He cited an offer to purchase a school site that was twice the property’s appraised value.
The only problem is that the purchase was vetted first by a committee consisting of citizens jointly appointed by the school board and the Wake Commissioners. It wasn’t just the school board’s responsibility.
And do you think the inflated price had anything to do with the fact that the committee co-chair Billie Redmond’s Trademark Properties real estate firm stood to make $250,000 on the sale? Certainly not.
Ultimately, both boards rejected the offer and, in any case, the Wake Commissioners always have the last say in land purchases. So why the need for a separate bill? It’s just another example of the state butting into the business of local governments. These supposedly small-government Republicans are anything but.