Bo Biggs

Jane Smith

LUMBERTON — The Golden LEAF Foundation, which was established to help rural communities that suffered greatly from the decline of the tobacco industry, is poised to once again receive state funding after years of that spigot having been turned off.

The proposed Senate budget includes $20.1 million annually for Golden LEAF for each of the next two fiscal years.

“We’re grateful the Senate is restoring some payments, especially since we are now seeing more of a demand across the state for our resources than we can supply,” Dan Gerlach, the president of the foundation, said Friday.

The Golden LEAF Foundation was created in 1999 by a Democratic-controlled General Assembly to assist small towns and regions with economies ailing because of the loss of tobacco-related revenue and jobs. The foundation awards grants and invests in businesses that have the potential for creating jobs.

At one time the foundation received about $70 million annually from the state, but in recent years Republicans, who now control both chambers of the legislature, reduced and eventually eliminated the annual amount the foundation received and moved it to the General Fund.

Gerlach said that while the proposed House budget includes no funds for Golden LEAF, he is confident from his recent discussions with House members that there is an understanding among legislators of the importance of tobacco settlement funds to the state’s rural counties.

Lumberton businessman Bo Biggs, a Republican member of the Golden LEAF’s board of directors, is appreciative of the Senate returning some of the money back to foundation.

“I think they have found that Golden LEAF has the potential to serve as an incentives fund for rural North Carolina,” he said. “As an incentives fund, it need not compromise the state’s General Fund.”

According to Biggs, Robeson County has benefited from Golden LEAF.

“Just take for example the half million dollars that Golden LEAF provided in 2010 for sewer and water to be put at the site in St. Pauls where Sanderson Farms is now going to be located,” he said. “… And in 2010, Golden LEAF gave $400,000 to start what is now the Southeastern North Carolina Agricultural Events Center, as well as awarding $498,000 to the Advanced Manufacturing Lab at Robeson Community College.

“If it wasn’t for these significant funds, we wouldn’t have job-creating amenities we have in our county today.”

State Sen. Jane Smith represents Robeson and Columbus counties, both of which depended heavily on tobacco at one time. She is glad to see the funding restored.

“With more funding, Golden LEAF can do more with grants in the areas where the tobacco money was originally supposed to go,” she said. “Although I would always like to see more of the money go back to Golden LEAF, at least this is a start at putting it back where it’s supposed to be.”

According to The Associated Press, the Golden Long-term Economic Advancement Foundation and two other trust funds were created to use North Carolina’s share of the 1998 settlement between states and the major tobacco companies. North Carolina’s share is projected at $4.5 billion cumulatively by 2025.

Republicans didn’t like the earmarks and needed cash to fill budget holes. So by 2013, lawmakers kept all the settlement money, or $137.5 million annually, the wire service said.

Gerlach said that among reasons legislators are looking more favorably on Golden LEAF is that the economy is improving and the impact of the foundation’s grants and initiatives are becoming evident.

Gerlach said that in addition to helping provide more financial support to rural counties, the additional funding will ensure that Golden LEAF can maintain its designation as a public charity rather than having to be identified as a private foundation.

“Much more restrictions are applied to a private foundation,” he said.