Mecklenburg County will receive the lion's share of $461 million in federal railroad funds - unless one of its legislators, Rep. Ric Killian of Charlotte, succeeds in his campaign to kill the deal.
NCDOT provided a county-by-county breakdown of rail projects worth $520 million. It combines the $461 million in stimulus funds committed by the Federal Railroad Administration this week, plus $59 million North Carolina received previously.
Mecklenburg gets projects worth nearly $152 million, and it shares a $92 million project with neighboring Cabarrus County. Wake County, in comparison, gets almost $47 million, and Durham gets $18 million. Both counties get a piece of $39.6 million that is shared among eight counties. See the full list at blogs.news observer.com/ crosstown/.
The biggest single project, in Charlotte, involves $128 million to grade-separate CSX and Norfolk Southern tracks that now meet in a four-way stop. The work will send CSX trains burrowing beneath Norfolk Southern tracks. It will prepare the way for Charlotte's next big transportation project: a multimodal station downtown for Amtrak and local transit trains and buses.
Killian contends that the deal will saddle North Carolina taxpayers with future operation and maintenance costs as high as $50 million a year.
When asked this week whether the federal funding he wants to kill would benefit his constituents in Charlotte, he replied, "My concern is for the citizens of this state."
Asked again about whether Charlotte in particular would benefit, Killian said:
"I think the answer probably could be no, knowing the citizens of Charlotte pay such a great amount of taxes. And any potential liability is going to be borne by the taxpayers; therefore, I think it could hurt the citizens of Charlotte even more than other areas of the state."
The House Transportation Committee is scheduled to take up Killian's kill bill at noon Tuesday in 643 Legislative Office Building. Other legislators have said they want more details from NCDOT about the projects.
Checkoff for screenings
Rep. Nelson Dollar is sponsoring a bill that allows taxpayers to check a box on their income tax return form to donate to support early detection of breast and cervical cancer. The donation would be subtracted from any refund, and would go to the state Division of Public Health.
The money would pay for more than 2,000 additional health screenings, said Dollar, a Republican from Cary.
More for the children
State Board of Education Chairman Bill Harrison pumped up More at Four in his blog and said the board has a plan to cut its administrative costs.
Republicans are considering combining More at Four, the state's pre-kindergarten program for children at risk of academic failure, with the early childhood health and education program Smart Start.
Harrison said the board plans to vote next month on a plan that will cut administrative costs by $4.5 million and "direct even more resources straight to the classroom."
"Any proposals being considered in the General Assembly to change the funding model for pre-kindergarten education to one better suited to child care are troubling as they could weaken the crucial components of More at Four - the high teacher quality and early learning standards - that have led to a narrowing of the achievement gap in our state," Harrison wrote.
Compiled by staff writers Bruce Siceloff, Craig Jarvis and Lynn Bonner
