News-Record.com

From WMFY late last week, we learned that renovations to War Memorial stadium "will most likely be funded with bond money."

The report, filed by Frank Mickens, expressed this news with a sense of certitude that surprised us and residents in the nearby Aycock neighborhood. We knew that a bond referendum was a possible way to pay for the repairs to the historic structure, but the city council hasn't yet discussed any specifics, pending the results of an architectural study that would tell them what needs to be done and how much it will cost.

Mickens' source for the story, Deputy City Manager Mitch Johnson, said this morning that he never implied that a bond referendum is likely, only that it is a possibility. He said that neither the council nor City Manager Ed Kitchen has instructed the staff to prepare for a bond offering. But he did say that borrowing money with voter say-so would be an option if the council voted to go that route.

"Obviously, if we're talking about a significant amount of money, it would require a bond referendum," Johnson said.

One of the key factors, he said, was whether the economy recovered by the fall of 2006, the earliest that a referendum could be organized. The city has a lot of needs, but if the economy is bad, bond votes might have to be delayed.

"We know there's things that the community would want to do, but can the commmunity support it? That's the question," he said.

When Inside Scoop called Mickens for his side of the story, the WFMY reporter said that Johnson told him Friday that a bond vote is the "most likely" scenario by which the repairs are paid for. Mickens suggested that Johnson may be backing down from that assessment after catching flak from folks in the city.

"He's changing his story," Mickens said.

Meanwhile, council member Sandy Carmany responded to a blog post by Aycocker David Hoggard saying a bond referendum was only a possibility not a certainty.