News-Record.com

A half-hour of recognitions preceded the regular business in Thursday's Guilford County commissioners meeting, and they spanned from naming bridges to hearing bagpipes.

In a somber moment, the board named the Eugene/Elm Street bridge over I-40/85 in honor of L.E. Pace, a state trooper who died while on-duty in 1963.

The High Point Central High School Men of Valor Excelling program was recognized for receiving the President's Volunteer Service Award.

And then there were bagpipes. Redhead Commissioner Linda Shaw (she's a Republican, too)read the proclamation recognizing April as national Scots, Scots-Irish Heritage Month. Bagpiper David Thomas serenaded the board. (The bagpipe starts at 37 minutes in the video.)

Also, May is now the month for foster care awareness and mental health month. And The week starting May 4 is arson awareness week.

At the Hillary Clinton rally today we ran into a Guilford College senior wearing a body-sized triangular suit that had a photo of a slice of pizza.

"Loving pizza is the common denominator of human existence," Johanna Breed told Scoop. The statement might be the truest piece of almost-political rhetoric that Scoop has ever heard
(27 second mp3).

Breed said she was there to shoot for a spot as Hillary's running-mate. But after a while Breed showed her true colors. She supports Barack Obama in the presidential primary, and only happened to have the costume on hand.

"I'm actually an Obama supporter, but I just thought this was funny," she said. Though if Clinton approached her, the Guilford College art major might reconsider, Breed said (44 second mp3).

Clinton's press secretary hasn't gotten back to Scoop about the chances of a Clinton/Pepperoni ticket in 2008.

Update: Here's today's story on the 2007-08 county budget. What do you want your board of commissioners to fund?

After Tuesday, when most bonds in Guilford County received the nod from voters, you can likely count on a couple things happening in the 2008-09 budget.

Some commissioners will likely mention that voters could have made things easier in by passing the quarter-cent sales tax. Property tax may well go up. And there could even be more cuts.

All that comes at a time when food stamp claims are increasing at the Department of Social Services, the Sheriff's Office was required to add 28 deputies at the beginning of the year that will be permanent positions and many of the community groups that were cut in last year's budget want to get back on board.

One Soopster mentioned after tonight's Primary results came in that "the real election begins tomorrow."

Nay. Budget season begins tomorrow.

Now all those things that Guilford commissioners talked about - particularly tax increases - are going to come up.

And the referenda that passed only technically gives the board the clearance to issue the bonds. They don't have to, and they don't have to issue them for the full amount.

Soon we can see what the commissioners think about this upcoming budget season.

Most of the time, we simply ignore the calls asking for us to investigate the great ketchup famine of 1996 or the relationship of some elected official to Area 57.

This morning was a touch different when a caller asked about who pays for these bonds, particularly the school bonds.

The caller wanted to know what happened to the North Carolina Education Lottery proceeds that were intended to build new schools. Then the caller implied that people who don't own property in Guilford County are probably the folks who voted for the bonds, because renters don't have to pay property tax.

We reported last year that the North Carolina Education Lottery wasn't putting up the revenue that was expected. Here's a handy .pdf showing the breakdown from the 2006-07 ticket sales.
While the lagging lottery isn't the only reason bond supporters used to justify that the schools needed the money, it is one of many factors.

As for the property-owners-only-pay-property-tax argument, it's true only to the extent that the person who owns the land pays the property tax bill. Rest assured, every time rent goes up for a person, a part of that increase also goes to cover higher property taxes.

City Council is considering new rules for its speakers from the floor session, a regular public comment period at the beginning and end of each council meeting.

Councilman Zack Matheny recommended that council limit the first session of the meeting to city issues only. The session at the end of the meeting could be used for everything else.

The city's legal department ruling: No way. City Associate General Counsel Jamiah Waterman says the Constitution of the U.S. and state law are pretty particular on this point.

Government can limit the "time, manner and place" speech takes place. But not the content.

Limiting speakers to city business would not be content-neutral, Waterman concludes in a memo to council (which you can read here.)

And -- highlighting a point made by Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small and others -- Waterman says "city business" is ambiguous, vague and gives too much discretion to council to determine who can and cannot speak.

"Depending up the circumstances, topics as varied as the war in Iraq, global warming, abortion or A&T's homecoming events can be considered city business,"Waterman wrote.

So, the speakers from the floor can keep doing what they do. Score one for the First Amendment, and the local residents of Crazytown.

Here's some extra fun stuff that didn't make it into the paper today ("Council cuts budget to avoid tax increase"), in case you were dying to know all the gory details of this year's budget debate.

Council asked the city manager to keep the tax rate flat for next year. He offered them nearly a dozen ways to save or make the city money to get there.

Here are some of the cuts they approved and items they kept in the budget:

Ways the city will save money:
$2 million: cuts for road repaving
$200,000 — no coliseum suite renovations
$1.65 million — delayed payoff of parking deck debts
$60,000 — reduced staff at lakes
$200,000 — cut landscape contract
$600,000 — revenue from increased refuse fees
$200,000 — savings from a rolling hiring freeze

Items the council will keep in the budget:
$550,000 — housing and community development fund
$65,000 — street light fund
$679,000 — nonprofit funding
$100,000 — neighborhood grants

Things I'd still like to know: how many street lights can you buy for $65,000? And how many roads will you pave with $2 million?

We caught up with Guilford County commissioners this week to see what they think now that the dust has settled on the May 6 votes for $671 million in bonds and the quarter-cent sales tax.

Guilford voters approved all the bonds except for the $20.2 million for parks. And they refused the sales tax.

But few commissioners managed to hold closely to what the voters wanted in their districts.

Below is the list of what commissioners said they wanted before the election, which excludes at-large commissioners John Parks and Paul Gibson:

District 1, Bruce Davis: No to the $412 million school bond and jail bond. Yes to other bonds. Undecided on sales tax.

District 2, Steve Arnold: Yes on Eastern Guilford. No to the other bonds and sales tax.

District 3, Linda Shaw: Yes to bonds and sales tax.

District 4, Kirk Perkins: Yes on bonds and the sales tax.

District 5, Billy Yow: Yes on the jail bond and sales tax. No for the other bonds.

District 6, Kay Cashion: Yes on bonds and the sales tax.

District 7, Mike Winstead: Refused to give his position on the bonds or sales tax.

District 8, Melvin “Skip” Alston: Yes to Eastern Guilford. No to the other bonds and sales tax.

District 9, Carolyn Coleman: Did not comment.

Six votes will pass Guilford County's 2008-09 budget. There's 11 members on the board, and a simple majority will make the budget go.

Let the lines be drawn.

County Manager David McNeill will present his budget to the Board of Commissioners on May 22. There are no new members on the board, so each will go into next week's meeting with an idea of what they want in the county's $550 million budget. Some said they want funding for community organizations. Others want more money for schools. And some want no new taxes, no matter what.

But what do you want to get funded? Contact your commissioner, or post a comment down here.

Commissioners tell us all the time that voters contact them and say this or that. But we'd also like to hear from you after you talk with your elected representative. What did they say? What do you want? It is your tax money, after all.

Also, in a conversation with Chairman Kirk Perkins today, he said that things going unfunded this year may come back to haunt the county later. So saving now may mean paying more for it later.

Because there's an expected property tax rate increase with the bonds that passed. We've been giving averages out for these bonds lately, but here's how it breaks down for the next couple years: In 2008-09, there will be a property tax rate increase of about $70 for the owner of a $200,000 home. In the following year, 2009-10, that homeowner will have another increase of about $100. Then, in 2010-11, that homeowner will pay an extra $16 on the tax bill.

That number fluctuates because bonds are issued and paid on different timetables and the property tax increases this year and next will go to cover those bonds. And while they are intended to cover the bond payments, what happens when the bonds are paid down? Who ever heard of a local government lowering taxes?

Greensboro City Council dropped its offer to takeover a Randleman Dam pump station.

Earlier this year, Greensboro and High Point officials floated an idea to the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority, which oversees the water project: let us build the pump on Highway 62 faster and cheaper. Let's get water to our cities sooner rather than later.

But Authority officials were skeptical of accepting the offer.

Greensboro City Manager Mitchell Johnson said Authority officials wanted to retain ownership of the pump station, an easy enough agreement to make. But he wasn't confident that concession would convince the Authority to take Greensboro up on its offer.

Council voted to cut its losses, rescind the offer, and let the Authority move forward with the original plan.

In the mayor's words, the issue was "very, very polluted."

The Greensboro City Council is a busy bunch of people.

They take nice vacations. They travel for business or church. They've cancelled a handful of meetings this year, because their schedules couldn't mesh.

Now council has approved a plan to allow members to attend via telephone if they can't be in the Melvin Municipal Office Building.

That's probably a good thing, since this council tends to hang on a 5-4 split. Every vote counts. But it will be interesting to see what kind of rules they set up to govern this concept.

For instance, how will they vote? Can all the council members attend virtually, or do some have to actually be in the building? Of course then there are all the incidentals, like how will they review paperwork submitted to them by staff or other folks at the meeting?

The John Locke Foundation put out a report card (PDF) on transparency in local governments. Greensboro and Guilford County didn't come off looking so hot, although neither did anyone else.

(This is the point where I should insert a caveat about Locke being a conservative think tank that would like to see the size of government at all levels shrink. So they're offering this analysis in the spirit of giving taxpayers the ability to put pressure on local governments to cut spending. Whether or not that's your political or philosophical orientation, the information regarding openness is well taken.)

From a Locke Foundation news release:

RALEIGH – Winston-Salem's city government earns a C grade, when it comes to making budget and spending information available online. That's better than the D-plus assigned to High Point and the D grade earned by Greensboro, according to a new John Locke Foundation Spotlight report.

All three cities fare better than Forsyth and Guilford county governments, which earn grades of D-minus in the new report. Guilford County schools earn a C-minus, while Forsyth's school system earns an F.

Those poor grades are part of a statewide trend documented by the JLF Transparency Report Card 2008, said report co-author Chad Adams, JLF Vice President for Development and director of the Center for Local Innovation. "No North Carolina city or school system in this report earns better than a C grade, and no county earns more than a C-minus."

The report card is designed to spur improvement within state and local governments, Adams said. "This state, home to national banks that update their customers' accounts instantly anywhere around the world, woefully lags in making spending transparent at every level," he said. "North Carolina and its local governments need to do more."

Click here for the full scorecard. And Click here for a bullet point summary. A more globally geared news release is here.

The comment lines are open, just click below.

So earlier this month, about three-quarters of voters in Guilford County rejected a one-quarter-cent sales tax increase.

If you're Guilford County Commissioner Billy Yow, what do you do?

That's right: ask the General Assembly to authorize a referendum on a full penny increase. You'll find that little nugget squirled away at the end of this coming Thursday's commissioners meeting agenda. You can read the proposed resolution here. (PDF)

I got wind of this from Rep. Maggie Jeffus, a Greensboro Democrat who chairs the Guilford County legislative delegation here at the General Assembly. I think she was a bit surprised to see this request show up, but agreed to look into running it.

In an e-mail, Sharron Kurtz, a lawyer for the county, sent Jeffus a copy of the resolution.

"Guilford County Commissioner Billy Yow has requested that I forward to you a proposed resolution that will be presented to the Board for their consideration at their next meeting...The one cent would be committed exclusively for repayment of educational debt," Kurtz wrote.

There are a few problems right off the bat with doing this sort of thing down here. Drafting deadlines for legislation and rules governing what is or is not a "local bill" may be hard to get around.

But the biggie may be the requirement that all 10 members of the county legislative delegation sign off on this thing.

Several members expressed skepticism that they could bring themselves to back such a measure, even if the legislative voodoo can be done.

"I'm going to have to talk to several folks, because the voters just said 'no,'" said Rep. Laura Wiley, a High Point Republican.

Sen. Phil Berger, a Rockingham Republican who represents parts of Guilford County, was similarly skeptical.

"I'd like to see the request before I make too much of a commitment, but I'll tell you I believe the voters of Guilford County have spoken on the issue of whether their taxes ought to be raised," Berger said.

Gerald Witt is reporting out a story for tomorrow's paper, which I'm sure will include some comments from Mr. Yow.

Today we ran a story about the proposed penny sales tax from Billy Yow.

There are still a few hurdles to jump, not the least of which is getting past the Guilford County commissioners tomorrow night.

And while Yow said he believes that he's got enough votes to get the proposal through the board, one commissioner has spoken against it, with a voicemail left late last night.

Carolyn Coleman said in the message that voters already said they didn't want a sales tax increase when they voted against a quarter-cent sales tax earlier this month, and that she would oppose the proposal Thursday.

Chairman Kirk Perkins is behind the idea, however.

"I’m hearing more and more taxpayers tell me that they favor a sales tax over increasing property taxes," Perkins said. But it's doubtful all the commissioners will support the proposal with the enthusiasm that many had for the quarter-cent tax.

"I'm sure that some commissioners will balk," Perkins said.

Yow, meanwhile, has many reasons for why he thinks the sales tax should be passed.

The resolution he proposes specifies that the sales tax would pay for school construction debt and lower the property tax rate.

Though, it must be said, that the sales tax could be paying for anything. To that, Yow said that if the sales tax makes it to the Nov. 4 ballot, then he's got to make sure that it gets publicized in the right way, unlike the quarter-cent sales tax.

"Nobody was out there for the quarter cent sales tax. It was not slated for any purpose," he said, "it was just slated to be another revenue source, and most folks thought it was just another tax."

On his proposal, Yow said:

"If the legislature lets it go on the ballot, I can assure you that it will be very well-publicized, we have to know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it."

Yow said that a sales tax would spread the expense among many more than just property owners.

"The big thing is that over time when the economy gets bigger and the economy gets better, the sales tax (revenue) will grow. And the folks need to understand that 40 percent comes from outside people and people who are non-residents: people passing through in motels and shopping. If other people are helping pay our bills, that’s what we need to do. And the property owners have got to have some relief."

The Guilford County legislative delegation met today. Even if the commissioners pass a resolution asking for the ability to put a one-cent sales tax on the November ballot, the delegation will not file such a bill.

All six members who were around to discuss the sales tax about 25 minutes ago expressed some level of skepticism. Rep. Maggie Jeffus was trying to see if she had approval to go forward and was explaining the procedure for getting the bill filed.

Rep. Pricey Harrison was the first person to speak up against it.

"I do not approve so I'll save you the time," Harrison said. "I'm just fundamentally opposed to these regressive taxes."

Sales taxes are said to be regressive because they take a higher percentage of income from poor families than they do from the wealth.

Rep. Earl Jones and Katie Dorsett also said they didn't understand why the commissioners would come back for such a tax referendum only weeks after one for a 1/4 cent failed.

Because this is the legislative short session - a kind of over-time period meant to tweak the budget and take care of urgent business - local bills that do not have the support of their entire legislative delegation are not eligible for consideration.

In a half-hour we'll sit in on a meeting with County Manager David McNeill and Michael Halford, Guilford County's budget management director.

We're going to go over the $550 million-ish 2008-09 budget that the Board of Commissioners will see for the first time tonight.

There are a few things that have been brought up already about what will be funded and what might not, and topping the lists for many commissioners is school funding, money for nonprofits and keeping taxes low.

What makes this budget year a little different is the bonds that voters just passed on May 6, which is expected to have an immediate impact on the property tax rate. That means an inevitable tax rate increase is on the way - about $185 more for the owner of a $200,000 home.

One commissioner already had a pitch for a way to mitigate the hit from those bonds on property owners through a sales tax. That idea was swatted down by the county's delegation on the General Assembly, however.

But what if you were making the county's half-billion budget for next year? What would get funded? What would you cut? Where would you find the money for projects?

And as we report on the budget process, what do you want to see us cover?

Also, I plan to get an update online as soon as I can after the 4:30 p.m. meeting.

The proposed 2008-09 budget for Guilford County is available to view online here.

The next meeting on the budget is scheduled for May 29, with another session on June 2 and a public hearing on June 5. Here's the story we did on it from Thursday's commissioners meeting.

The Guilford County delegation to the General Assembly will see a resolution in favor of a one-cent sales tax after all.

Even though they said earlier this week that it didn't stand a chance.

And while a few commissioners said themselves that the resolution would die, there was enough support to get it through.

"I’m well aware that the citizens that voted did not approve the quarter cent sales tax," said Kay Cashion, vice-chairwoman of the Board of Commissioners, "and I heard that many didn’t understand what the sales tax was about."

This time, Commissioner Billy Yow and the board wants to push a full penny sales tax in the short legislative session of the General Assembly. It would pay for school construction debt and help knock back the property tax rate.

It's likely not to pass, but Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston and Carolyn Coleman took the chance to stump before giving their nay votes.

"What part of 'no' don't you understand," Alston said to Yow, "The 'N' or the 'O'?"

Yow and others said that the voters may need a better explanation of what the tax would do. And if that penny sales tax doesn't get past the General Assembly, Guilford County residents can expect to see the quarter-cent tax again on the ballot in November, several commissioners said.

Over the weekend I received several email messages and saw this story appear on a few blogs, and was the subject of a few emails I received.

In short, last week Commissioner Billy Yow made a comment during the later part of a Guilford County commissioners meeting that he later said was part of a running joke on the board.

Carolyn Coleman immediately said during the meeting that Yow's comment was racist.

Meanwhile, these exchanges were happening while Chairman Kirk Perkins was in the middle of his comments from the board.

We followed the next day with a piece that looked at the issue: joke or not.

And a folks from as far away as Florida emailed me over the weekend. One suggested with an "LOL!" that an outside mentor (a particular reverend that's been connected to Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama) might be good for the board.

Another emailer used the term "nitwits" for the board members while pointing out that they are the ones charged with the duty of spending hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money. That person also had some choice words for particular commissioners.

One emailed to suggest putting this issue up to a blog, open for comments. So here it is.

What's your take on Yow's comment? How about the other commissioners' reactions? Do believe that this is important while the budget planning season gets into full swing? Why?

Guilford County Manager David McNeill said last week that fuel costs to the county are going up by $900,000 over last year.

It's happening everywhere, too. Gas goes up, local government must do something.

Sheriff BJ Barnes told his deputies to turn off their cruisers to save on gas.

While we can't just tell county employees to not drive places, there are options to getting around: carpooling, walking where you can and making combination trips to places.

Everybody is stretching the dollar as much as possible, it seems. But while Greensboro and High Point were able to avoid property tax rate increases, one appears inevitable for Guilford County. (Though both cites are raising fees for utilities.)

Commissioners agree that the recently-passed bonds are definitely going to have an impact on property tax rates. But beyond that, the budget still works like it does every year. Some expenses will increase, and some things must be cut. Thursday is the first work session for the 2008-09 budget.

Scoop has been writing about the back and forth between the county commissioner and the Guilford County legislative delegation over the sales tax.

Quick summary: The commissioners put a bunch of bonds on the May ballot that would have been paid back with a new 1/4 cent sales tax. That sales tax failed by a wide margin. So the commissioners asked the legislature to let them hold a referendum on a 1 penny sales tax, which is four times as much for those of your reaching for a pencil. The legislators have said "no" - and to be honest, a lot of them sort of giggled when they wondered out loud about the logic of going back to the voters in such a short time. At any rate, the commissioners are now blaming the legislature for the tax hikes that will come as a result of the bonds the commissioners put on the ballot.

Clear as mud? Good.

Well, former Guilford County Republican Party Chairman Marcus Kindley is apparently siding with the commissioners and sent members of the legislative delegation a nasty-gram recently. Kindley gave up his spot as county chairman to run for state chairman, a race he lost. (He also gave up his blog, the address for which was taken over by some non-family friendly folks. It's not safe for work, or really, anywhere.)

Here's Kindley's epistle to the legislative delegation, as provided by Rep. John Blust:

An Open Letter to the Guilford County Legislative Delegation

As a Guilford County taxpayer, Property Owner and Business Owner with over 60 associated persons; I wanted to inform you that I am considering organizing a 527 in order to inform the voters of Guilford County about our current tax situation.

In essence our delegation to the State of North Carolina has condemned those individuals in Guilford County who have worked hard, saved money, created jobs by building their businesses and purchased both office spaces and homes to rising property taxes from now as far as the eye can see! It is through their tax dollars that you have the ability to sit in a building in Raleigh, drive there on State and Federal Roads and FAIL the people you represent.

Property owners are asked to bear the burden of the bond issues passed in Guilford mainly for Schools. As a Municipal Bond Principal, licensed by the MSRB(Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board) the SEC and FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Agency formerly the NASD) I DO understand accrual of interest, sinking funds, and paying back the funds borrowed. I also understand that we will be paying back much more than we have issued in bonds. To my knowledge none of you hold such a designation ( I have held mine for 21 years) and being elected to office does not make one intelligent in these various areas.

By not allowing a VOTE ( the very principal of American Democracy) on a 1 cent sales tax on the ballot in November you have CONDEMNED all those voters who work hard, play by the rules to be overwhelmed with an undue part of the burden for a future tax collections to repay the bonds you may have championed. ( We will research this)

You are being unfair. To let those who spend their money in Guilford County share in the funds collected to repay these bonds is only fair. And that will be the theme of our 527 advertisements.

As a business owner, former 3 term Chairman of the Guilford County Republican Party, and civic leader I know how to use PR to make our case.

We’ll ask children if they think it is fair for some to pay while others don’t, We’ll ask older citizens if they think it is fair for them to bear ALL of the cost while they live on Social Security. This will be a campaign rarely seen in Guilford County. Actually I should thank you for providing such a clear cut issue of UNFAIRNESS and UN-AMERICAN representation by our elected officials. It may be the beginning of the Guilford County Voter taking a closer look at how our Government works for them and wake them up to how much representation is lacking in Raleigh.


Sincerely,
Marcus Kindley
CEO
Intercarolina Financial Services
( A Full Service Brokerage Firm)

So, have you already read the 139-page Greensboro city budget?

It you haven't, get to work!

Council meets Tuesday to hear from the public. Is something underfunded? Should council reconsider cuts they made earlier this year?

Let Scoop know what you think.

Today we talked to Republican Linda Shaw to see what she's got in mind heading into tomorrows Guilford County 2008-09 budget workshop. She said that the bonds that just passed will have an impact on the process.

Mostly that means the budget will likely have a built-in property tax rate increase, possibly up to 3.7 cents per $100 valuation.

Beyond that, Shaw said, she expects a good number of cuts to happen across the budget. Though Shaw wouldn't say where, because she needs to hear from the separate departments first.

Meanwhile, other commissioners plan to lobby for funds in other areas. Democrats Melvin "Skip" Alston and Carolyn Coleman have both hinted to Scoop their plans to seek funds for the nonprofits. But neither would say what ones.

Is that to say that commissioners are saving the additions and subtractions for the camera?

Speaking of the camera, Shaw said she talked to fellow Republican Billy Yow after we ran this last weekend about a short exchange at the end of the last Board of Commissioners meeting. Yow called it a joke, others called it racist.

Shaw said she knew that Yow was kidding, and that's not too different from what other commissioners do.

"He was joking, and everyone does it," Shaw said, adding that other commissioners cut up in the bathrooms and backrooms of the county halls.

And she backs the one-cent sales tax that Yow wants to put on the November ballot for schools.

"This one cent was all going to the schools," she said, "and if people know that, then the burden is going to be shared equally. Not just by property owners."

Shaw said she contacted Rep. Laura Wiley to aske for her support on the sales tax, which received a tepid reaction from the local delegation on the General Assembly last week.

And next week, Shaw plans to visit the local legislators in Raleigh to pitch the tax.

"All I’m asking is to give people the right to vote on the ballot," Shaw said, adding that the campaign for a penny sales tax would be much more intense than what ran for the quarter-cent tax, which failed miserably on in the primary vote on May 6.

Tomorrow is the first budget workshop for the 2008-09 Guilford County budget, and the commissioners are largely mum on what they plan to add or cut.

Yet all the commissioners have been on the board long enough to have some familiarity with how the budget process works. However, many board members say they want updates from departments before they go out and start makin' sausage.

Tomorrow they'll hear from Guilford County Schools, GTCC, emergency services and the Department of Social Services.

Schools already received a cut in this year's $15.8 million funding request. The budget from County Manager David McNeill includes added positions for DSS areas in daycare, foster care and mental health, but those are funded with state and federal money.

During Thursday's budget workshop, Commissioner Bruce Davis waded into finding if one goal of magnet schools in Guilford County had succeeded: to balance race levels in schools.

Instead, he dove in.

"Is the magnet system giving the success that you thought it would?" he asked Alan Duncan, chairman of the school board, "To bring white folks back to inner-city schools?"

Race is often a touchy subject among the elected officials in Guilford County. Other times, it becomes a joke.

After his first statement, Davis rephrased his thoughts on magnet schools.

"They were designed to balance the socio-economic environment in the schools," he said.

To that, Duncan said, "they were meant to balance race." And he added that they would be reviewed soon.

Laughter settled among the commissioners as Linda Shaw chimed in.

"That was a racial remark," she said, smiling, while Melvin "Skip" Alston giggled beside her and several other commissioners chuckled along.

Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston was seen in Charlotte earlier this week following a police suspect shooting as a part of his role as a local leader in the National Action Network.

The group is a national civil rights advocacy association headed by the sometimes-controversial Rev. Al Sharpton.

Alston said that his own appearance in Charlotte was "just playing softball now," as he started to investigate the shooting death of a 21-year-old man that some beleive was questionable.

"We'll being in the big bat later," he said, referring to the good reverend.

Alston said that he talks to Sharpton weekly, and had earlier Thursday morning. Sharpton could be in Charlotte next week, he said.

"I have a call into the Charlotte police chief, but I haven't heard back yet," Alston said.