Nowhere in North Carolina do school boards have taxing authority. But making that happen in Wake County was a key part of discussion at a joint meeting April 15.

The Wake County Board of Education and elected officials from Cary, Morrisville and Fuquay-Varina met and discussed lobbying The N.C. General Assembly to give the Board of Education taxing authority in Wake County. That authority currently lies with the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

“We think we are great stewards of the money,” said Board of Education Chair Rosa Gill said. “We feel good about what we do with what we have. But when someone else is your banker, you can’t get but so much.”

Cary Town Council member Erv Portman said he supports the idea of giving taxing authority to the Board of Education but that the municipalities need to stick together.

The Cary council has already added the item to its 2008 legislative agenda, along with requesting to establish an electoral process that allows at-large representation for the Board of Education.

“If every municipality has this on its legislative agenda [it will get attention],” Portman said. “I think the voters will get it. And if you spend too much, they will replace you.”

Jennifer Weiss, a Cary resident who serves part of Cary in the N.C. House of Representatives, said Wednesday that a groundswell of local support is crucial for such a change to occur.

“That would be a major change for North Carolina to allow a school district to have that [authority],” Weiss said. “When you’re talking about really changing funding streams that have been historically set in one way, it would be a major change that would require a lot of consensus.”

Weiss said she has heard from some of her constituents in Cary and Wake County regarding school issues, but not many regarding taxing authority.

“I’ve heard from folks about school issues around reassignment, some about funding,” Weiss said.

Weiss added that she has discussed granting taxing authority to the Board of Education with other legislative members.

“I have broached it with one of my finance co-chairs in the past,” she said. “I’m certainly willing to discuss the issue with folks who support it and also with our legislative staff ... to see if this could be done on a pilot basis.”

Paul “Skip” Stam, minority leader in the N.C. House of Representatives, said there are precedents in other states for such a situation, but added his concern that taxpayers would be billed by too many parties.

“Even today we have three levels of government that tax you and unfortunately ... because there are three of them there’s no one with the responsibility to make sure the taxpayer is not getting squeezed. To have a fourth one might just exacerbate that phenomenon,” Stam said. “It’s an interesting concept, but it’s not the solutions to our problems.”