N.C. lottery revenues redirected away from education

Feb 27, 2009, 9:36 am (9 comments)

North Carolina Lottery

Lottery opponents warned it would happen; they were right

Raleigh, N.C. — State lawmakers voiced concern today over a transfer of proceeds from lottery-ticket sales from school construction to the state's general fund.

Gov. Bev Perdue's office also clarified details of the transfer today, a day after school systems learned they would lose this quarter's state funding for school construction.

Perdue's office said today that the funding being withheld, $37 million from lottery profits and $5 million from corporate income taxes, is part of money being moved from special accounts to hold in waiting in case the general fund runs out of cash.

Perdue ordered $100 million moved from the school building fund, but most of that has already been spent by school systems, leaving only $42 million of this quarter's payouts to hold back. The governor moved another $200 million from other sources, including by depleting the lottery's reserve fund.

"This money will be placed in reserve and only spent if necessary," said Chrissy Pearson, spokeswoman for the Democratic governor.

The governor's office said the transfer would not affect existing projects, but is making no promises to return it if it goes unused.

Legislators said that when they approved a state lottery in a contentious vote in 2006, they intended it to raise money solely for education.

"I know it's tough times," said Rep. Bruce Goforth, an Asheville Democrat, "but we made a commitment when we started the lottery."

Sen. Tom Apodaca, a Hendersonville Republican, described it as a moment of "I told you so" for lottery opponents who argued at its creation that it would end up being used for purposes other than education.

"We were always scared of that," he said.

It remains unclear whether a group of school districts concentrated in Western North Carolina will receive extra funding this year, as the legislature approved last year to make up for a perceived unfairness in the lottery distribution formula.

Rep. Ray Rapp, D-Madison, predicted that Perdue's decision makes it unlikely the districts will see the money they are due in June. Perdue's office said the order affects only payouts from January through March.

Asheville Citizen-Times

Comments

JordanT1021's avatarJordanT1021

"This money will be placed in reserve and only spent if necessary?????????????

that will be the day.. that money will be gone in months... wonder if the nc payouts will start to go down so that the money they transfered can rebuild...

it sounds very crooked...

i wonder if any of that money will be bonses for the state officals.. i know their pockets are getting low!! haha

this might be the end for nc lottery

this story will develop more and more in the upcoming weeks...

Kidzmom's avatarKidzmom

I knew it was coming.

time*treat's avatartime*treat

Politicians promised a program would be used to raise money for a particular purpose, and now they want to use some of that money for other things? Thud

dk1421's avatardk1421

Yeah, my hubby and I couldn't believe it when we read this in the newspaper. It's things like this that make other states that don't have lottery yet, decide not to join in lotteries.

This ticks me off in another level...they always say the money will go to schools, but they never tell you it's not in "addition" to what the schools are getting now. Let's say if the schools are getting 5 million from the lottery, the state gov't will take their 5 million out and spend it on something else. Which means, the schools are getting just as much as would without the lottery, but the gov't gets to spend that allocated money differently now.

Stinks.

DC81's avatarDC81

Typical politicians/government, can't say I'm surprised...

kmcvay

I actually voted for Perdue because I thought she would support education.  I would like to see someone be true to their word.  We are in the process of maybe not renewing approximately 1500 jobs of young teachers that moved to out state and pay state property taxes, auto taxes.....How unfair!  It makes me sad that the people that get hurt the most are at the building level, which is directly affecting the students.  Let's raise class size and lay off teachers, this should be good for future test scores. Where is government accountability?  Smash

MaddMike51

ROFLGovernment accountibility.Surely you jest!

kmcvay

My question is how do you go about getting your voice heard?  The average person surely has a say somehow?  They fought about the lottery money forever in Ohio and I don't think it ever really got resolved.  The lottery money always seems to go away and education is not any better for it!Bang Head

Badger's avatarBadger

Typical political fibbery.  Got the same sort of thing here.  THe lottery profits were supposed to go to alleviate Property Taxes, since we have one of the highs in the nation. Instead, they use it for everything else.

Part of our  high state tax goes to the Transportation Fund ; roads, etc.  Except our governor was put into office by the teachers union and so he owes them. So he raided the transportation fund and transfered several hundred million to the educational fund. You just can't trust them to do whatever they say.

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