Three public-comment sessions on the proposed Working Lands Protection Plan will be held this week at points across the county.

The Moore County Department of Planning and Community Development will host the forums in collaboration with the Moore County Soil and Water Conservation District and the local center of the Coopera-tive Extension Service.

The first is scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m. today (Monday) at Aberdeen Elementary School auditorium on Sandhills Boulevard.

The Vass-Lakeview Elementary School media center/library will be the scene of the second session from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The third and final session will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Robbins Elementary School auditorium.

PROTECTION — The plan is designed to assess and protect working lands, such as farms and forests, and to promote the agricultural economy.

However, the plan contains some restrictions for properties located within a radius of the Fort Bragg military reservation, a factor that attracted opposition several weeks ago when the county commissioners held a public hearing on the proposal.

The plan differs from the Voluntary Agriculture District, which provides protection to farm lands but is carried out on a voluntary basis across the county.

Copies of the plan may be viewed at the conservation district and Extension offices in the Agricultural Center and at the planning department, both in Carthage, and at the Moore County public libraries in Carthage, Aberdeen, Pinebluff, Robbins and Vass. A digital copy may be viewed and/or downloaded by clicking here.

AUDIT – Moore County received a clean report Tuesday when an auditing firm presented the 2011 Comprehensive Annual Finance Report to the county commissioners.

Crystal Waddell, a certified public accountant with Martin-Starnes & Associates, reported a fund balance of $21.3 million as of June 31, the end of the 2011-2012 fiscal year. That is 26 percent of the General Fund expenditures and well within the parameters set by the Local Government Commission, which recommends that local governments retain a fund balance of at least 8 percent of their operating budgets.

The commissioners have established a policy whereby funds above 15 percent of the fund balance are placed in the capital reserve fund. However, Waddell pointed out that not all of the 11 percent difference would be available for that purpose.