Governor Bev Perdue released her budget proposal for the 2010-11 fiscal year Tuesday which calls for a nearly $1 billion cut in government spending and for a reallocation of nearly $250 million to government reform and economic recovery.
As reported by WRAL, the cuts are an effort to bridge a projected $788 million deficit expected for the fiscal year, which starts in July.
According to a press release from the Office of Bev Perdue, the reductions include a cut in education spending limited to four percent, which is expected to eliminate 600 positions.
As reported by Greensboro’s News & Record, UNC President Erskine Bowles said any proposed budget cuts to the University system would cut at its “academic core.”
In December, state agencies including the University system were asked to draw up plans to prepare for worst possible scenario with the budget cuts, which were expected to range between three and seven percent.
While the four percent budget cut is lower than the expected worst case scenario, Bowles was reported by WRAL to have said the across-the-board education cuts in Perdue’s proposal go too far.
“The budget reductions reluctantly recommended by the governor will do permanent and substantial damage to the University’s academic core and will start us on a path to mediocrity, something North Carolinians have never been willing to settle for in their institutions of higher learning,” Bowles said.
As reported by WRAL, much of the money will be reallocated to improving primary education, including the purchase of learning devices for K-12 programs.
There are also concessions made to fully fund enrollment growth in UNC system as well as community colleges. Funds are being allocated to provide more need-based financial aid in higher education.
According to the press release, Perdue’s budget proposal also allocates funds to improving North Carolina’s economic climate, setting the government straight, and improving safety in the community.
The proposal allocates more than $15 to the JobsNOW program, which offers incentives for small businesses to hire long-term unemployed workers and provide their employees with health insurance.
Perdue’s initiative to “set the government straight” increases funding to the State Ethics Commission and provides $4 million to the Department of Revenue to target corporations with outstanding tax liabilities, estimated to increase tax revenue by $110 million.
The proposal allocates $10 million to consolidate the state criminal records system into a streamlined process and increases funding to establish a statewide capacity for law enforcement to collect DNA at the time of arrests.
