<< Back 7/17/02 Easley to return license plate money SMN The news from Gov. Mike Easley’s office is that money from the sale of specialty license plates seized by the state in May to help offset the budget shortfall has been returned. “The money escrowed earlier has already been returned,” said Cari Boyce, communications director for the governor’s office. “We’re very pleased and we appreciate all the people who helped bring this issue to the governor’s attention,” said George Ivey, assistant director of Friends of the Smokies. FOS is one of many non profits and public organizations that use specialty tag money to raise funds for their work. Other groups across the state include the group Guardian of the Graveyard of the Atlantic, International Association of Fire Fighters, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, colleges and universities across the state and many more. A total of $284,283 was transferred in May, $194,548 from the Special Registration Account and $89,735 from the Collegiate and Cultural Plate Account, to the general fund. Friends stood to lose $24,460. Ivey, FOS vice-president Stephen Woody, FOS board member Mimi Cecil and Jewell Wilson of U.S. Sen. John Edwards office met with N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper in Asheville in late June. Ivey said Cooper was quite receptive and that the attorney general assured the group that he would, personally, present the issue to Gov. Easley. According to Raleigh ABC affiliate WTVD, Easley never intended to keep the money. A July 11 newscast quoted Easley as saying, “I understand their frustrations and I agree with them. I’m not gonna sign another budget that doesn’t have a dollar for revenue for every dollar expenditure that the legislature puts in.” Ivey said FOS has not received a check yet, but he has heard from different people in various state agencies that the money has been restored. “It could take a month before we see the money,” Ivey said. Since its implementation in 1999, FOS’ North Carolina specialty tag program has provided more than $90,000 in funding for Great Smoky Mountains National Park projects like the experimental elk release and the Purchase Knob Learning Center.