Click on the map below to learn more about the impact of state budget cuts in your community.
Western North Carolina region
- Current unemployment rate: 10.1% [ ii ]
- By 2013, projected job loss from budget cuts: 5,113 [ vi ]
Piedmont-Triad region
- Current unemployment rate: 9.8% [ ii ]
- By 2013, projected job loss from budget cuts: 7,318 [ vi ]
Southeast North Carolina region
- Current unemployment rate: 10.9% [ ii ]
- By 2013, projected job loss from budget cuts: 4,261 [ vi ]
Charlotte region
- Current unemployment rate: 10.2% [ ii ]
- By 2013, projected job loss from budget cuts: 7,979 [ vi ]
Eastern North Carolina region
- Current unemployment rate: 10.1% [ ii ]
- By 2013, projected job loss from budget cuts: 4,156 [ vi ]
Research Triangle region
- Current unemployment rate: 8.3% [ ii ]
- By 2013, projected job loss from budget cuts: 9,242 [ vi ]
Counties: Beaufort, Bertie, Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Hyde, Martin, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell, Washington
- As a direct result of state budget cuts, at least 99 teacher positions have been eliminated in the Northeastern NC region, and a total of 569 school jobs no longer exist. [1]
- Bertie County Schools have eliminated 7 teaching positions and 28 jobs overall. In addition to the losses, all teacher assistants in the Exceptional Children’s Department and all custodians received a pay cut and school counselors will lose one month of employment in 2011-2012. [2]
- In rural Beaufort County, the school system eliminated 62 positions through attrition, retirements, and regular staff turnover. Students are likely to feel the effects of these losses, as Schools Superintendent Don Phipps notes: “The cuts are real. The results are larger class sizes, less classroom support and fewer course offerings.” [3]
- In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene, Beaufort County residents and officials struggled to control massive mosquito outbreaks caused by flooding and the ensuing pools of stagnant water. The 2011-2012 budget eliminated the five-member state team that monitored mosquito populations, counseled state and local officials on how to control the pests, and oversaw grants to local governments for mosquito control. According to Eugene McRoy, an environmental health program specialist with the Beaufort County Health Department, conditions on the ground hindered recovery efforts: “People are trying to clean up from the storm and do repairs, but it’s really hard for them to go outside in some places.” [4]
- Roanoke Rapids residents are concerned that a lack of state funding for highway maintenance and improvement will lead to tolls on I-95 in Halifax and Northampton counties in the near future. The NC Department of Transportation has applied for admission into the federal Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program, which is designed to permit tolling programs on interstate highways, though DOT officials deny that the application represents a commitment to tolling. NC Transportation Secretary Gene Conti estimates that I-95 currently needs $8 billion in repairs to roads, bridges, and overpasses: “People want the road system to be in good shape, they want the ferries to be running well, but it all needs to be funded.” [5]
- Halifax County is considering consolidating its 3 school districts into 1 as the area’s population decreases, and as budget cuts put the viability of the 3 current districts in jeopardy. [6]
These cuts were not inevitable but a choice. By maintaining the temporary tax package, which included the penny sales tax and a surcharge on high-income earners, or looking at reform-minded revenue, lawmakers could have avoided many of these deep and wide-ranging cuts.”
Sources:
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