N.C. legislators discuss deficit

By Karissa Minn

kminn@salisburypost.com

North Carolina will be facing a $5 million to $1 billion budget shortfall this year, according to state legislators representing Rowan County.

N.C. Reps. Lorene Coates and Fred Steen, along with N.C. Sen. Andrew Brock, addressed the deficit at Friday's legislative breakfast sponsored by the Rowan County Chamber of Commerce.

"It's a difficult time in Raleigh," Coates said. "We already know that we're over $5 million short on our budget."

She said that the next legislative session should be short because the state doesn't have much money to spend.

Steen said that he was told the deficit could be as much as $1 billion.

"Out of a $20 billion budget for the state, that's 5 percent," he said.

North Carolina should implement zero-based budgeting, Steen said, which evaluates all expenditures instead of just spending increases.

The state needs to prioritize and pay for its critical needs first, Steen said. Then, the remaining unfunded programs should be discussed to find whether or not they merit additional tax funding.

"A period of adjustment is upon us," Steen said. "It's not going to be easy, and it's not going to be painless."

Brock echoed the representatives' statements that this will be a very tough year in Raleigh, because hard budgetary decisions will need to be made.

"When you look at where we spend the majority of our money, it's on education," Brock said. "Anytime we're talking about looking at reductions, people ask, 'Where are you going to cut? We can't cut classrooms.'"

He said that the education budget could be cut without hurting classroom teachers and students by examining non-teaching positions to see which ones can be cut or trimmed.

Brock said that the state needs to look at which programs are working and which ones aren't. He emphasized the need to eliminate "personal pet projects."

"Next year, we're not receiving stimulus funds," he said. "We can't do all things for all people."

The legislators each spoke about projects they were working on and issues that mattered to them.

Coates spoke about transportation projects affecting the county, from the I-85 bridge project to a planned high-speed rail corridor that will run from Charlotte to Raleigh.

"They expect 1,000 jobs for high-speed rail," she said. "We hope that some of those jobs are going to be local jobs."

Steen also said hoped local jobs would be created by the high-speed rail project, but he was concerned about the effect it would have on business owners in the area.

Coates said she and Steen are both sponsoring a bill regarding career and technical education that has already passed the House.

"If in the last three years, 60 percent of students have not graduated from high schools, (the high schools) would have to offer career and technical education," she said.

Coates also is sponsoring a bill for disabled veterans that would increase the homestead exemption from $45,000 to $65,000. It passed the House almost unanimously, she said.

Steen said he is serving on a committee to study a performance evaluation of the ABC boards in North Carolina. The committee is looking at recommendations for how to update the system and make it more profitable.

Another way to improve North Carolina's economic situation, he said, is to become more business-friendly by eliminating the corporate tax rate from the state tax structure.

"The way I see it, the only way we're going to have real job growth in North Carolina and America is if the private sector creates those jobs," Steen said.

Brock agreed that the burden on businesses in Rowan County needs to be lowered.

"Our taxes are the highest in the Southeast," Brock said. "We're putting so many regulations and taxes on our businesses that they're moving elsewhere."

He said that career and technical education is important in order to train people for jobs that require special skills. A well-trained work force could then attract more industries to Rowan County.

After the three legislators spoke, they took a few questions from the crowd.

John Greene, who is running for a Rowan County commissioner seat, said he was concerned about "gerrymandering" — redistricting for electoral purposes — after the 2010 Census.

Brock said he would like a fair and independent review committee to look over the redistricting process. He didn't think redistricting in Rowan County would change much, though, except a possible population shift between Steen's and Coates' districts.

The two representatives both emphasized the importance of filling out and returning the Census to get an accurate count.

"If we get a majority, we will follow the Constitution of North Carolina and federal law," Steen said.

Salisbury Post Editor Elizabeth Cook asked what impact the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 had on North Carolina.

"It has had a big impact on schools, and it greatly impacted health and human services," Coates said. "We were in bad shape, and that has helped."

Brock was less enthusiastic about the stimulus bill, saying that it may have helped in the short-term but would hurt in the long-term.

"It has helped keep people in government jobs in their jobs," he said.

Steen agreed that any benefits from the stimulus bill were short-term.

"There are a lot of strings attached to these things," he said.

Rowan County Commissioner Carl Ford asked the legislators to do all they could to keep responsibility for secondary roads from being transferred from the state to the counties.

Coates and Steen both said they were not in support of the idea and didn't think it would happen.