RALEIGH — The North Carolina Department of Transportation will be sending a total of $502,112.56 to Scotland County municipalities to be used for street work.
That money will come to municipalities in two payments, the first on or before Oct. 1 and the second on or before Jan. 1.
According to the NCDOT, the monies “are to be expended primarily for the purposes of resurfacing streets within the corporate limits of the municipality but may also be used for maintaining, repairing, constructing, reconstructing, or widening of local streets that are the responsibility of the municipalities, in addition to the planning, construction, and maintenance of bikeways, greenways, or sidewalks.”
The totals coming to Scotland County are:
— The city of Laurinburg will receive a total of $446,670.53
— The town of Wagram will receive $28,272.47
— The town of Gibson will receive $17,179.39
— The town of East Laurinburg will receive $9,990.17
The amount each municipality receives is based on a formula set by the N.C. General Assembly, with 75 percent of it based on population, and 25 percent based on the number of locally maintained street miles.
The NCDOT’s State Street-Aid allocation — also known as the Powell Bill fund — was begun in 1951 and is funded through gasoline fuel taxes as determined by the General Assembly. In 1951, that rate was 0.5 cents per gallon; today that rate is 36.45 cents per gallon in North Carolina.
The fund is named for Junius K. Powell, a former state senator and mayor of Whiteville, who was a primary sponsor of the 1951 bill to help the state’s cities with urban road problems.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or cvincent@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.