Members of the Moore County Board of Commissioners were in unanimous agreement on all decisions made at Tuesday night's regular meeting but for one item.

Commissioner Tim Lea took exception to a budget item which concerned funding for the Moore County Airport. At the Aug. 21 regular meeting of the board, commissioners approved 3-1 a resolution and project budget ordinance for the FAA mandated extension of Moore County Airport's runway 5. At that meeting, airport representative Steven Borden asked the board for a county match to a total FAA grant of $329,000. Lea cast the dissenting vote, both at the earlier meeting and on Tuesday when acting chairman Jimmy Melton, substituting for Commissioners' Chairman Larry Caddell, asked for approval of the budget amendment.

"I voted against it because the airport authority should have put the money up," Lea said. "We were told they didn't have the money, but we found out later they did. That was a surprise, and I don't like surprises."

Commissioner Nick Picerno said that no county taxpayer's money is involved in the project.

"These funds will be reimbursed to the county's general fund balance in accordance with the occupancy tax to fund this particular project," Picerno said, referring to the three percent tax levied on hotels to provide funding for select projects.

Read more in Friday's edition of the Pilot.