Tabor City tribune. (Tabor City, N.C.) 1946-1991, 1957-08-28
School lunchroom Deficit Nov
Cause Cut Off I'm Federal Aid

one i'll the County GyStem oper-
ating in the red" and the pos
Sibility that the llinchroom pro-
gram may lose Federal aid this
year was also emphasized in a
Joint meeting of the Columbus
County Board of Education and
the Columbus County Board of
Commissioners.
The two boards heard Coun-
~ School Auditor Preston Doug
las of Lumberton explain the
audit of county schools.
1t was pointed out during the
meeting that the Tabor City
School lunchroom would prob
ably lose Federal aid unless ST.
653.84 were replaced in the
lunchroom fund by Sept. 16tn
Then the lunchroom opens.
Douglas explained to the group
that the school fund was in a
-o-mingled Bank account and
that there Was nothing to indi-
cate cmbezzlement" in the ST.
653.84 deficit.
Mrs. Annc w. Maley, state
supervisor Of the school lunch
program. stated IL letter OF
July 10, 1857, to County School
superintendent T. Ward Guy,
that the Sl,f53.84 had been used
10 pay bills of other schoo! acti-
vItlcS. She termed this practice
not permissible" and urged
Guy to take whatever action ne
ccSSary to have the funds re-
placed to the lunCnroom account
by the time 1878 operations
began.
{ II. Primer, Tabor City
school principal for the past 10
years, said this morning that this
Gccucd replacement III the lunch
room fund was not an unusual
situation and that in past years
II had been taken care of by
diversion of other funds to that
account.
Prior To last nights meeting
.ot the County Board Of Educa-
ton, the Tabor City School cash
balance, as of June 80, 1857,
was Sl5l.77. The Board ins .ruct-
ed local school committeeman to
place s579.9i. now III me cam
merry fund, n the general fund.
This brings the total balance to
S73l.68.
1t is believed that the lack OF
rooney in the school account will
make it impossible to transfer
adequate funds 70 the lunch
room account. There was a
strong feeling expressed by
both members of the County
Board Of Commissioners and the
Board Of Education that this
money should be raised through
iVSul SOllClldtlOIlS.
OF the 81 schools audited in
Columbus County by Douglas
he noted that the Tabor City
School was the only one operat-
ing in the red. A total of s4.-
8@1.l2 was listed under accounts
payable. The surplus account for
the Tabor City Schools shows a
deficit of s4,099.44. This figure
represents the accounts payable
less the cash balance of s731.68.
Primer said this morning that
the school had operated in the
red for several years. He listed
chief reasons for this as the two
fires suffered at the school. The
fire that destroyed the old high
school building occurred several
years ago. In this fire, accord
ing to Pinn,r, the building was
not insured and the school in
Cured the loss of equipment
which amounted to between So
600 and $4,000.
Too, he recalled the loss of
football gate receipts caused in
1884 when Hurricane Hazel hit
this area and kept what was
expected to be a large crowd.
away from the ball game. The
also destroyed $3.50
worth of lights which had TO be-
replaced out of the school fund.
The meeting of The two offic-
ial county groups was conducted
oil highly impcrsonal level
with the main object being re-
storation Of luncheon funds at
Tabor City in ordc- TO eliminate
the possibility of losing Federal
aid to the lunch program.
Douglas, in reporting on the
audit of the schools, stated,
Schools should not incur LA
oilities 1t can't pay in the cur
rent years operation"
The audit showed that in 1856
the Tabor City School owed Sc
O38.56. This is compared with
the present indebtedness of S4,-
S3l.l2 representing a reduction
Of Sl20743. However, none of
these figures reflest the S1653 "a
involved in the lunchroom prob
lem. Actually, the deficit in the
lunchroom fund tends TO indi-
cate that the school operation is
approximately $500 deeper in
the red" than il was at the end
Of the 1955-56 schoo; term