KANNAPOLIS — A majority of Local Government Commission (LGC) members veered from longstanding staff guidelines to approve an incomplete $78 million financing request from Cabarrus County at their meeting last week that will impact multiple academic campuses in Kannapolis.

The 5-4 vote went against a staff recommendation to delay the vote while awaiting important information to complete the county’s application. Commission members unanimously approved a separate Cabarrus County request for $73 million.

County officials originally had the two funding requests rolled into one package. But after questions arose at prior meetings, they split the request into two applications, with support and concurrence of LGC staff.

All LGC members voted in favor of the $73 million bond package for nine projects with completed application proposals. Those include: an addition to Fred L. Wilson Elementary School; HVAC replacements at Concord High School, Forest Park Elementary School, Weddington Hills Elementary School, and RCCC South Campus; roof replacements at Hickory Ridge High School, Cox Mill Elementary School, and Wolf Meadow Elementary School; and a public library and active living center at Afton Ridge.

However, commission members had been divided at previous meetings on whether to approve some applications from Cabarrus County officials. State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, who chairs the LGC, said some of the projects had not been “cured,” meaning plans were submitted without final cost documentation. That vital information allows staff to determine whether a financing request is sufficient to pay costs, whether it is excessive, or even unknown.

“Anything that is not cured could be considered half-baked,” Folwell said in the lead-up to the meeting and vote.

At Tuesday’s meeting, a majority of the commission members decided to forego staff’s recommended standard procedure, and precedent, to approve that $78 million financing application, which included a $52 million replacement of Coltrane-Webb/Beverly Hills Elementary School. Folwell voted against the application in support of staff’s recommendation.

The LGC, which is staffed by the Department of State Treasurer (DST), 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.