Latest news with #9thDistrict
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Local option sales tax collections $172K above projections
Cumberland County Finance Director Jennifer Turner reported the county's emergency medical service department collected $544,461 this month, which is $169,461 above monthly projections and a year-to-date total of $3,361,298 so far during April's Cumberland County Commission meeting. Although that's $13,698 below budgeted projections, Turner said she is confident in the way the numbers EMS Director Chris Miller shared and how collections were now trending that EMS should make budget projections for the fiscal year. In order to meet the fiscal year 2024-25 annual budget projection of $4.5 million, monthly collections need to average $375,000. She reported local option sales tax tax collections for this fiscal year are at $1,155,681 which is $54,055 below projections. Year to date, collections are $11,149,909, which is $172,676 above budget projections for the fiscal year. Turner said property tax collections were 96.79 percent this year compared to 99.29 percent last year. Hotel/motel tax collections are at $786,465 for the fiscal year, which is 62.85 percent of the annual projection of $1,251,275. With six months of revenue paid from the state, prisoner boarding collections are $323,039 out of a $386,952 annual budget projection for fiscal year 2024-25. The county commission approved the following budget amendments during its April monthly meeting: • $3,000, for the sheriff's office for law enforcement training programs. • $16,300 for the county clerk's office for technology upgrades. • $24,800 for the ambulance service for EMS training supplements. • $68,000 for the county fire department to accept a grant for thermal imagers and a washer and dryer. • $12,057 for the general purpose school fund for equipment funding and line item cleanup. • $13,000 for the central cafeteria fund for a line item amendment for state retirement funds. • $42,147.75 for the general purpose school fund for contracted services. • $48,800 for a revision in the Innovative Schools Model grant for the general purpose school fund. • $51,741.06 for the central cafeteria fund to record Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement fund bonus payments. • $57,212.87 for the general purpose school fund to pay employee bonuses out of outcome monies. • $$394,800 for the general purpose school fund for the purchase of 1,200 student Chromebooks. • $598,183.30 for the general purpose school fund to move funds to pay employee bonus out of outcome monies. All of the amendments were approved unanimously. John Patterson, 9th District commissioner, did not attend the meeting.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
With two guilty pleas, NC9 election fraud saga comes to an end
After years of investigation and controversy, Channel 9 has confirmed the election fraud investigation into the 2018 9th Congressional District election has come to an end. Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman confirmed Lisa Britt and Woody Hester both pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the investigation. Britt and Hester were working for Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless. Dowless worked in the 2018 congressional race for then-Republican candidate Mark Harris, who appeared to have received the most votes in the general election for the 9th District seat in south-central North Carolina. But as Channel 9 discovered, allegations against Dowless surfaced, and testimony and other information revealed at a State Board of Elections hearing described him running an illegal 'ballot harvesting' operation for the 2018 general election in Bladen County. According to testimony, Dowless and his helpers gathered up hundreds of absentee ballots from voters by offering to put them in the mail. RELATED: Election fraud suspect in 9th District pleads guilty; 4 others still due in court Britt and Hester were two of the workers facing charges for their roles in the scheme. Dowless died before facing a judge. All other workers pleaded guilty. Lisa Britt testified against Dowless at the NCSBE hearing. She also cooperated with the investigation. As a result, DA Freeman did not require her to do community service as part of her sentence. She is on unsupervised probation for 12 months. Hester pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess absentee ballot. He was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. ALSO READ >> Man at center of District 9 election fraud investigation dies after battle with cancer Because of the fraud, NCSBE unanimously voted to hold a new Congressional election for what was then the 9th Congressional District. Republican Mark Harris opted to not run. Dan Bishop defeated Democratic candidate Dan McCready. Harris ran for Congress again in 2024. He won the race for the 8th Congressional District, which now includes many of the counties that were in the 9th District in 2018. (VIDEO: House candidate Mark Harris speaks to Ch. 9 for first time since ballot fraud scandal)
