The Chapel Hill weekly., 1932-02-26

| Public education is by far the lar
gest project that the county has on
It's hands. Our schools employ 147
teachers, white and colored, who give
/ instruction to 1888 white children and
.99l colored children. making total
of 1924 children enrolled in our
schools. This is more than IA of our
total population.
Contrary to general opinion. the
entire cost Of the schools, with the
exception of the Is cents levy from
the Counties. was not assumed by
the state We are spending this
school year Sl36,025.01. OF this
amount $S2606.32 was allotted US by
the state and the balance, $53,4l8.69,
was appropriated by the county How
ever. this last sum is not for the
purpose Of supplementing the state
appropriation. Under the new school
| law the counties are required to buy
new trucks needed TO consolidate
small schools, which consultations
were also reQuired&@by law. The
counties are also required to bear the
expense Of maintenance of the school
! buildings, as we'll as the construc
! ton Of, or additions to, any buildings
needed The countys appropriation
for this purpose is $9,474.81 In ad-
/ I;., III oh
quircd to provide their own debt ser
vice Our appropriation for this IS
| $685. ,34S23, which will be discussed
more fully later.
| want to point out to you that oar
total appropriation for schools for
the year 1882, $136,025.01, is a
reduction of $44,824.24 from the
amount for l930-31, Which Mas $ 80
| 84925. For the year l9303l we re-
ceived from the State equalizing fund
$39, 900 as compared with the $82,
| 6O632 which we will receive for the
current year However, we pay to the
state approximately $27 900 which
will make net amount of $50, $685.
| to be realized from State funds. And
the state pays to the Chapel Hill dis
trict $l8,400 for the Gmonths term.
Thus you see the state is actually
spending for schools in the county
only $35, 900 more than it paid in the
| last fiscal year.
/ A moment ago, the remark was
made that the present way Of financ-
ing the schools was a complicated af
fair When you stop to think that
! the county pays to the State $4,000,
the State pays back to the County an
appropriation of $500 and in ad
dition to this the county has to appro-
pirate $33 600, you can easily see that
the system has It's complications.
The debt service fund Of the
county was also materially changed
| because Of the new laws. You re
member that in 1929 the tax on gaso-
/ line was increased from four to five
cents and it was provided that the
revenue derived from this increase
be RENTED to the counties, to- be used
bv them either for road maintenance
or to apply on interest and principal
| payments on bonds issued for road
purposes. Orange county'S portion OF
this fund was approximately $4,000
per year, and our board OF commls-
si0ncrs elected to use this IN the debt
service fund Because Of this reVcn-
uc we were enabled for the year
lJ3O-3l to reduce our rate for this
fund to - cents.
When the state highway commits
sion relieved the county Of road
maintenance July ], 1891, it also re
Ileycd US Of the revenue from the
gasoline tax Because Of this, even
though our debt service obligations
decreased about $4,000 in 1891 32
| from the previous year, We had 70
! increase the tax rate from II cents
to ~ cents on the 500 valuation
The budget Of the debt service for this
year is $44,992 80 as compared with
, 49,9l5.OO last year. The change
was brought about because last July
lst we finished paying off IN full q
| $99, 900 bond issue Of 1927 road and
bridge and funding bonds.
A few minutes ago said that our
school debt service budget for the
year amounted to 33,31s.23 This
amount added to the county debt ser
/ wee requirements gives a total oi
| $78,34O.73 that the county Is paying
| this year on It's term obligations; 500
900 Of this is for interest while our
out standinR Indebtedness will be re-
4ffuccd by $4,000 and $4,000 will ne
paid to the Chapel Hill special
charter district At July !, 1892, We
will owe $G18,30l.lO This amount
represents net debt; that is, it is All