§ 115C-510. Elections in districts created from portions of contiguous counties.
§ 115C‑510. Elections in districts created from portions of contiguous counties.
Districts already created and those that may be created from portionsof two or more contiguous counties may hold elections under this Article to beincorporated or to vote a special local tax therein for the purposes enumeratedin G.S. 115C‑501.
Elections for either purpose must be initiated by petitions from theportion of each county included in the district, or the proposed district. Indistricts already created or proposed to be created, the petition must besigned by fifteen percent (15%) of the registered voters who reside in thearea. When the petitions shall have been approved by each of the boards ofeducation of such contiguous counties, they shall then be presented by each ofsaid boards of education to their respective boards of county commissioners.
The boards of commissioners of each of the contiguous counties, in compliance with the provisions of this Article relating to the conduct of localtax elections, then shall call upon the county board of elections to hold anelection in that portion of the proposed district lying in its county. Electionreturns shall be made from each portion of the proposed district to the boardof commissioners ordering the election in that portion, and the returns shallbe canvassed and recorded as required in this Article for local tax districts.
If a majority of the voters who vote thereon in each of the countiesshall vote in favor of the tax, or for incorporation, the election shall bedetermined to have carried in the whole district, and shall be so recorded inthe records of the board of county commissioners in each county in which thedistrict is located.
If the proposition submitted to the voters in the election is aquestion of incorporating the district, the ballots for this election shallhave printed thereon the words "For Incorporation" and "AgainstIncorporation." If the election for incorporation is carried, the districtis thereby incorporated and shall possess all the authority of incorporateddistricts.
In case the election carried in each portion of the proposed district,the several county boards of education concerned shall each pass a formal orderconsolidating the territory into one joint local tax district, which shall beand become a body corporate by the name and style of "_______________JointLocal Tax School District of ______Counties." The county board ofeducation having the largest school census and the largest area in the part ofthe joint local tax district lying in its county shall determine the locationof the schoolhouse; but if the largest census and largest area do not both liein the same county, then the county boards shall jointly select the site forthe building; and in case of a disagreement they shall submit the question to aboard of arbitration consisting of three members, one member to be named byeach board of education if three counties are concerned, or if there are buttwo counties, then each board shall choose one member and the two so namedshall select the third member. The decision of this board of arbitration shallbe binding on all county boards of education concerned.
The building of all schoolhouses in such joint local tax districtsshall be effected by the county board of education of the county in which thebuilding is to be located under authority of law governing the erection ofschool buildings by county boards of education. It shall be lawful for theboards of education in the other county or counties to contribute to the cost ofthe building in proportion to the number of children shown by the officialcensus to be resident within that part of the joint district lying within eachcounty respectively. If the building is to be erected from moneys borrowed fromthe State Literary Fund or from county taxation, then each county board ofeducation shall contribute to its construction in the proportion set out aboveand pay over its contribution to the treasurer of the county board havingcontrol of the erection of the building: Provided, it shall be lawful for thecounty board that controls the erection of the building to borrow from theState and lend to the district the full amount of the cost of the building incases where the entire amount, or part of the amount, is to repaid by thedistrict from district funds.
All district funds of a joint local tax district shall be kept distinctfrom all other funds, placed to the credit of the district, and expended asother local tax or district bond funds are lawfully disbursed.
The county board of education and county superintendent of schools ofthe county in which the schoolhouse is located shall have as full and amplecontrol over the joint school and the district as it has in the case of otherlocal tax districts, subject only to the limitations of this section.
All districts formed from portions of contiguous counties before theratification of this Article are hereby authorized and empowered to exerciseall the powers and privileges conferred by this Article. (1955, c. 1372, art. 14, s. 8; 1981, c. 423, s. 1;1985 (Reg. Sess., 1986), c. 975, ss. 8, 24.)