Wake commissioners, schools continue spat

RALEIGH -- Wake County commissioners and school board members clashed again today over how to take advantage of a law that could save tax dollars.

Both the commissioners and the school board have tried to take advantage of a state law that says county governments -- but not school boards -- are exempt from paying sales taxes.

Because of the exemption, both boards agreed in 2007 to temporarily grant the county ownership of schools undergoing construction. At the time, the savings were estimated at $11 million to $13 million.

The school board, however, wants to find out whether the county could qualify for the exemption by leasing the schools rather than taking over the title.

School board chairwoman Rosa Gill today asked commissioners to join the school board in seeking an opinion from the state Department of Revenue.

"As a good steward of taxpayer money, we have no choice but to continue to investigate other options," Gill said at a joint meeting today of both boards.

But Joe Bryan, chairman of the commissioners, said commissioners can't agree to make the request until they know a lease will save taxpayers money. He said they also want to see what a sample lease would look like first.

"We need to have a cost-benefit analysis to see if this benefits taxpayers," Bryan said.

Gill said the school board will send a letter to the revenue department on its own.

The school district is now regularly transferring titles to the county. But commissioners have said that the school district's delays in making the transfers cost taxpayers more than $600,000.

Today's fight was the latest example of an ongoing dispute between the commissioners and school board over control of the schools. Over the past 18 months, they've clashed about issues such as school funding, school land purchases and year-round schools.