A Message
from Cullie Tarleton...
When the 2009 session opened, we knew getting a budget done would be tough. We knew revenue was down but at that point didn’t know that by the time the House budget was done we’d face a $4.6b budget deficit. The process included going through the budget line by line as we looked for possible cuts. We determined early on that education (K-12, Community colleges and our Universities) could not and should not face the level of cuts necessary to balance the budget.
Overall, this budget (for fiscal year 09-10) was cut by $2.4b, the largest reduction in state history. That’s an overall 11.6% reduction. The average cut was 8.2% with education a little less than 3%. Every part of state government was cut and overall spending reduced. We cut waste, duplication, streamlined and eliminated many worthy programs. State government will be smaller. We eliminated over 2000 state positions. We were able to do this without cutting teacher and state employee salaries and without mandated furloughs (unlike some states).
Yes, we unfortunately had to raise some new taxes, the primary one being a 1 cent sales tax increase. This 1 cent increase has a 2 year sunset and expires June 30, 2011. As I said on the floor during the debate on the budget, “Anyone who thinks I enjoy raising taxes is nuts”, but I did support the budget because it was the right thing to do. The additional revenue is being spent primarily on education and children’s health care which includes maintaining current class size in K-3, protecting 3rd grade teacher assistants and fully funding enrollment growth for community colleges and universities.
Unfortunately, North Carolina faced and continues to face the same financial crisis that plagues our nation. We’ll work our way out but it’ll take a while. Next year’s budget will be just as tough and difficult as this one was. What we need in the district and across the state are jobs and that’s what we’re all working for. Please feel free to contact me at any time. It’s a privilege for me to represent you and the district in the N C House.
Thank you,
Cullie Tarleton
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