Heard on the Street Posted: Thursday, February 19th, 2009 Welcome to the 21st Century
We finally made the move. NC SPIN is now in the blogosphere with our new site www.NCBlogger.com. This is your invitation to check out our new site. There are several things we think you might enjoy. First of all, we hope you will read our postings, which we will upgrade several times each week. Here you will get the buzz we hear on the streets and you don’t have to wait ‘til our Thursday newsletter. It will also be much easier and faster for you to respond to things you see on our blog, on the NC SPIN show, in the newsletter, or you can use this for a forum for what’s on your mind. Warning: If your entries are obscene, demeaning, slanderous or too long we will remove them.
We will also connect with other blog sites you might want to link up with…just a few at first and then more as time goes on. And we have a great new feature, the NC SPIN bookstore. We have asked our panelists to tell us what they are reading or favorite books they have read and you can find them and purchase them through Amazon right here. We have to tell you we even get a small percentage of sales back from your purchases, so here’s a way you can help support NC SPIN while shopping…the cost is the same to you either way.
What now?
Governor Perdue and state leaders learned this week that the 700 billion dollar stimulus package wasn’t what they had hoped for. (See below for the exact amounts we are to receive) There’s little to help patch the 2 billion dollar leak in the state budget. The feds say this should create or save 105,000 jobs in the state, but many are skeptical of the number. For more discussion on this topic be sure to catch this week’s NC SPIN.
But Perdue wasn’t pleased with the proposed help for the budget deficit. "I'm looking this budget year at nearly $1 billion (in the hole after cuts). Next budget year, (it could be) perhaps as big as $3 billion," she said.
The Governor and lawmakers have their work cut out for them but on the surface, at least, there doesn’t seem to be an air of big concern on Jones Street. Things are just moving slowly. We have four months left to find one billion dollars. Wouldn’t that keep you awake at night?
Laura Leslie, WUNC Radio reporter and the head barkeep of the Isaac Hunter’s Tavern blog reports that Governor Perdue is planning to meet privately with House Speaker Hackney and Senate President Pro Tem Basnight to talk about new reports concerning withholding tax receipts to the state. Leslie reports speculation that these numbers are down by 16 percent. If so, this could mean next year’s budget deficit will be closer to $3 billion than the $2 billion originally projected.
We do know the Governor believes in recycling. She has recycled Dempsey Benton to head up the state’s efforts for spending the $6 billion it will receive in the stimulus plan. Benton was the longtime Raleigh City manager who was brought out of retirement to be Deputy Secretary of DENR, then moved to be head of Health and Human Services. He’s like the Energizer Bunny….keeps going and going, etc. While Benton didn’t fix the problems at DHHS he is a good administrator known to be conservative in spending money. Sounds like the guy we need to oversee this much money.
Bad news for Government Employee Pension Funds
State Treasurer Janet Cowell held a press conference today to announce that the state needs to pump in $329 million over the next two years to ensure that the state can keep the promises it has made to the 820,000 current and retired state employees. Pension investments declined by $17 billion last year and are continuing to decline. At a time when the state is already puzzled over how to fill a projected $2 billion shortfall next year this is really bad news. What if they don’t step up to the plate? Our state may face consequences of not having enough funding to pay out promised benefits. It’s time our legislature considered switching from a defined benefit to a defined contribution retirement plan like most corporations and many other governments. New employees would be included in the new system, while the old system was continued for current and retired employees.
North Carolina’s Share of the Federal Stimulus Package
We have been able to obtain a copy of the letter Governor Perdue and other state officials received from the North Carolina Washington Office, dated February 12th. All totals listed below are two year totals except for Medicaid, which is a 27 month estimate. Here is what our leaders were told were preliminary figures to expect from the federal stimulus package:
Fiscal Stabilization
Education: $1.18 billion
General Purpose (Flex Fund) $252.8 million
Medicaid
Medicaid: $2.35 billion
Medicare repayment to states: Not known
Transportation
Highways and Bridges: $775.5 million
Transit Capital Grants: $131.5 million
Infrastructure
Drinking Water: $66.1 million
Clean Water SRF: $71.8 million
Energy
Weatherization: $112.9 million
State Energy Program: Not yet known
Health and Human Services
Emergency Food and Shelter: $3.07 million
Commodity Assistance/TEFAP: $3.323 million
Elderly Nutrition: $3.669 million
Child Care: $67.5 million
Community Services Block Grant: $26.245 million
Preventive Health Block Grant: Not yet known
Immunization: Not yet known
Foster Care/Adoption Assistance: Not yet known
Housing
Home: $40.607 million
Homelessness Prevention: $29.225 million
Education
Head Start: $16.8 million
Title 1: $338.7 million
Special Education: $333.7 million
Vocational Rehabilitation: $16.3 million
Education Technology: $16.0 million
School Construction
K-12: 0
Higher Education: 0
Public Housing Capital Fund: $67.1 million
State and Local Law Enforcement
Byrne/JAG: $85.2 million
Workforce/Employment Services
UI State Admin Grants: $14.7 million
Employment Service: $10.8 million
WIA - Adult: $10.4 million
WIA - Youth: $25.3 million
Dislocated workers: $38.2 million
Total for North Carolina: $6.089 billion
Parton theatre suit dismissed
Nick Ellis, attorney for Randy Parton, chided us for printing a piece about the lawsuit against Randy Parton but not printing notice that the suit was dismissed. The NC Business Court dismissed the taxpayer derivative lawsuit filed against Randy Parton. It found the plaintiff lacked standing to sue as an individual taxpayer and the City of Roanoke Rapids acted within its authority regarding the funding for the theater's construction. Further, it held the plaintiff lacked derivative standing to sue Parton. The Court noted Roanoke Rapids paid Parton $750,000 to settle the parties' claims and that the City did not wrongfully neglect or refuse to act in making this settlement with Parton.
Media facing tough times
It’s no secret these are tough times in the media biz. We hear that employees of Raleigh’s News and Observer were told to expect pay cuts. Frank Daniels, head of the family that formerly owned the N&O was reportedly interested in purchasing the News and Record in Greensboro, currently owned by Landmark out of Norfolk, Virginia. We were later informed he backed away. The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News have ceased publication of daily papers, opting to print only on Sunday, Wednesday (grocery ad day), and Friday (weekend sales ad days). The Seattle Post Intelligencer is telling investors it will go bankrupt if a buyer isn’t found by the end of March.
TV stations are also feeling the recession. Car dealers, one of their major sources of revenue, have scaled back advertising. They aren’t selling cars and aren’t buying ads.
Basnight still dealing with health issues
We keep hearing that Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight is still dealing with equilibrium problems he has faced since early in the year. Our sources say he needs a cane to safely maneuver and that his speech pattern is affected.
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