Mountain programs face the chopping block as NC lawmakers deal with budget deficit
North Carolina faces a shortfall of about $2 billion.
The mood was unsettled. Governor Beverly Perdue has asked for at least 2% more cuts on top of the 5% requested by previous Governor Mike Easley last fall. Perdue was presented with a list of possible cuts yesterday, but she was unsatisfied with that list and sent it back for more work, complaining that some cuts were implausibly harsh and others were not deep enough.
The cuts on the list would be enacted only if included in the Governor’s budget.
Adding to the general uncertainty was news from Washington, where President Obama’s team released a list of general priorities to be included in it’s stimulus plan — a plan that was ultimately passed as the day wore on. The plan includes $150 billion to improve education nationwide, a significant amount of which would be aimed at universities. Another significant amount is earmarked for transportation infrastructure, which would help North Carolina’s Department of Transportation deal with a 14% income shortfall, caused by the downturn in automobile sales and gas tax revenue. North Carolina could expect help with Medicaid costs, which are skyrocketing, and which burden state coffers in good times.
Still, leaders cautioned that hand-me-downs from Washington should be taken with a grain of salt. The down economy is liable to last far longer than the funds from the stimulus.
Among some of the larger cuts that would impact the southern mountains, if enacted:
- $14,673,598 reduction in Smart Start funding.
- $ 2,394,744 reduction from the Home and Community Care Block Grant for the Division of Aging and Adult Services
- $13,689,289 cut from a broad range of Health and Human Services programs, including many health programs for the needy
- $16,889,076 cut from a range of Division of Social Services programs, including over $9 million in state assistance to individual counties
- $224,172,808 cut from the Division of Medical Assistance
- Almost $50 million from the Division of Mental Health, more than half of which would come from cutting community services.
- Almost $91 million from the Department of Corrections, damaging many programs and closing the North Carolina minimum security prison in Waynesville.
- Almost $110 million from the Department of Transportation, which would impact road maintenance and law enforcement, among other things. The DOT has already cut back on winter event road clearing, and has made noise for some time now about shifting responsibility for some road building and maintenance back to individual counties.
Tags: beverly perdue, Governor Beverly Perdue, governor mike easley, mental health, North Carolina, Raleigh, Waynesville
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