EAST SPENCER — An e-mail from the State Treasurer reveals that the town of East Spencer may be unable to afford maintaining the current Board of Education office on South Long Street, the Paul L. Dunbar group says.

Both groups have made formal requests for the building when the school system moves house in early 2016, but only one of them may be able to afford it.

At a meeting and community discussion Wednesday, the Paul L. Dunbar group presented an e-mail sent to the the town of East Spencer from the Department of State Treasurer which addresses financial issues discovered during the town’s 2015 audit. The letter states that East Spencer’s water and sewer system “may not be financially sustainable in its current form.”

While the State Treasurer notes that there has been some improvement in the past year, the town’s water and sewer fund still reports a net loss, indicating that “the amounts being charged to customers are not sufficient to cover the costs of providing water and sewer services.” According to the letter, the town has been using money from its general fund to cover the debt accrued by its water and sewer fund.

“It demonstrates that they are in no position to borrow any money,” Paul L. Dunbar Board Secretary Nan Lund said.

East Spencer Alderwoman Tammy Corpening said that the town has been working to improve the way finances are handled, but said she could not comment on the results of the audit.

The Paul L. Dunbar group plans to send a response to the State Treasurer, asking for a definitive statement on whether or not the town is financially able to acquire and maintain the South Long Street office. The town wants to use the building for a senior living facility, Paul L. Dunbar board President Kenneth Muhammed El said, but the renovation costs would be steep. The organization’s plan to transform it into a community center and charter school would only cost between $60,000 and $80,000, he said.

“We can actually start immediately,” he said, “without doing any construction.”

When the Paul L. Dunbar group requested the building at the Board of Education’s Dec. 14 meeting, they were told to discuss the matter with the town before the board’s next session on Jan. 11. The organization sent an e-mail request to the town board for a Dec. 23 meeting and community discussion. Mayor Barbara Mallet responded to say that she would be out of town that day, Mayor Pro Tem Otis Gibson replied to say that he would not be attending, but did not provide a reason why. Neither suggested an alternate date or time.

Alderwoman Tammy Corpening attended was the only board member to attend Wednesday evening’s meeting at Southern City AME Zion Church on South Long Street, and she came in support of the charter organization.

“I see a need,” she said. “It’s going to fill a void.”

Salisbury City Councilman Kenneth L. Hardin also came to stand in solidarity with the Paul L. Dunbar Group.

“I’m just here in support of this effort,” he said, “It’s critical and it’s a need.”

Corpening declined to comment on the town board’s plans for the old office building. The Paul L. Dunbar group is meeting with the State Board of Education on Jan. 12 to discuss its plans for a charter school. East Spencer has been without a school since the 1980s.

“Not having a school is a form of segregation,” Salisbury Rowan NAACP chapter President Scott Teemer said during the meeting.

While they wait for their school charter to be approved, the Dunbar Group hopes to turn the old building into a community center to provide pre-school, after school programs, and community wrap-around services to breathe new life into the town.

“We want to recreate the village, in other words,” Teemer said.

East Spencer hasn’t had a gathering place since the Paul L. Dunbar community center burned down last year. When they talk about the future they see for their community, the people of East Spencer see a school, and a community center,  as a sign of hope of better things to come and as a safe haven for their children.

“We do need to concern ourselves with our community and what our community needs,” Corpening said.

For East Spencer, she, the Dunbar Group and those who attended Wednesday’s meeting, say that’s a school.