RALEIGH — The North Carolina Local Government commission officially approved a $73 million financing request on Tuesday for multiple school projects throughout the county, including the construction of a 3-8 school replacing Knox Middle School.

Rowan County officials said that the $73 million in limited obligation bonds are necessary to repair and replace aging school facilities in the Rowan-Salisbury School System and Kannapolis City Schools. A limited obligation bond does not require voter approval. The county intends to pay the debt with general fund money and no tax increase is anticipated. 

Most of the funding, $55 million, will be used to build and equip a new school on Park Road West in Salisbury to serve grades 3-8, replacing Knox Middle School. Other portions will go towards building a 31,000-square-foot, 15-classroom, two-story addition that also will house a media center, STEM classroom and teacher offices at Fred L. Wilson Elementary School in Kannapolis. A number of roof projects at various schools also will be conducted in the Rowan-Salisbury School System.

That was one item on the agenda among numerous applications statewide that the LGC approved at its monthly meeting on Tuesday. All told, the projects totaled more than $335 million in financing.  

The LGC is chaired by State Treasurer Dale Folwell and staffed by the Department of State Treasurer. It has a statutory duty to approve most debt issued by units of local government and public authorities in the state. The commission examines whether the amount of money that units borrow is adequate and reasonable for proposed projects and confirms the governmental units can reasonably afford to repay the debt. It also monitors the financial well-being of more than 1,100 local government units.