Parking permit prices to increase

By Scott Ammons
Senior Staff Writer

Students returning to UNCP in the fall of 2005 will feel the sting of a $20 increase in parking permits.

The revenue generated from permits helps to pay operating costs and a couple of salaries, according to Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs Neil Hawk.

However, the money generated from parking permits and the money generated from parking fines are not treated the same way by the state. The majority of the parking fine money doesn’t stay on campus. According to University Counsel Donna Payne, “only a small percentage of the money collected from parking fines stays on campus.”

The Robeson County School Board receives the majority of the money.

The North Carolina Constitution Article IX, section 7 states, “The clear proceeds of all penalties and forfeitures and of all fines collected in the several counties for any breach of the penal laws of the State, shall belong to and remain in the several counties, and shall be faithfully appropriated and used exclusively for maintaining free public schools.”

Currently, the UNC school system is waiting on a decision from the North Carolina Supreme Court on whether or not the UNC system will be able to retain this funding.