The board of commissioners of any county may define a county economic development and training district, as provided in this Part, to finance, provide, and maintain for the district a skills training center in cooperation with its community college branch in or for the county to prepare residents of the county to perform manufacturing, research and development, and related service and support jobs in the pharmaceutical, biotech, life sciences, chemical, telecommunications, and electronics industries, and allied, ancillary, and subordinate industries, to provide within the district any of the education, training, and related services, facilities, or functions that a county or a city is authorized by general law to provide, finance, or maintain, and to promote economic development in the county. The skills training center and related services shall be financed, provided, or maintained in the district either in addition to or to a greater extent than training facilities and services are financed, provided, or maintained in the entire county. A district created under this Part is a special tax area under Section 2(4) of Article V of the North Carolina Constitution. (2003-418, s. 1; 2004-170, s. 38.)