RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Highlights of the $23 billion budget for North Carolina state government for the 2017-18 fiscal year that received final approval Wednesday in the Senate and tentative approval in the House. Unless otherwise noted, monetary figures reflect increases or reductions to base budget expenses or the amount of revenue generated or lost. The two-year budget bill also covers the 2018-19 fiscal year, but those provisions can be altered by the General Assembly when it meets next year.
PUBLIC EDUCATION
- teach an additional 9,120 students anticipated in the public schools this fall: $31.9 million.
- classroom textbooks and digital materials: $11.3 million.
- increase funding allotment in public schools for children with disabilities: $6.3 million.
- pilot program for grants to charter schools for student transportation: $2.5 million.
- reduce funding for central office administration in school districts by 7.4 percent: -$7 million.
- modernize Department of Public Instruction business systems: $19 million.
- grants to expand vocational/career technical education for grades 6-7: $4.2 million.
- reimburse initial teacher licensure application fee for first-time applicants: $245,000.
- cover legal fees from Superintendent of Public Instruction’s office: $300,000.
- cut funding to Department of Public Instruction by 6.2 percent, with spending reductions determined by agency: -$3.2 million.
- expand tuition reimbursement program for teacher assistants seeking teaching degrees: $315,000.
- reduce funding to North Carolina Education Endowment Fund for startup to reinstate N.C. Teaching Fellows Program: -$4.6 million.
- pay for 800 additional full-time equivalent students in the state community college system this fiscal year: $4.9 million.
- expand NC Works Career Coaches, employed by community colleges to work with high school students: $1.1 million.
- transfer state apprenticeship program from Department of Commerce to community college system: $850,000.
- reserve fund to meet University of North Carolina system enrollment growth this fall: $46.6 million.
- fund faculty recruitment and retention efforts at UNC system schools: $1 million.
- reduce UNC-Chapel Hill law school funding: -$500,000.
- Food Processing Innovation Center on the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis: $5.1 million.
- increase slots for medical students at UNC School of Medicine: $1 million.
- add funds to UNC School of Medicine’s Asheville campus project: $8 million.
- funds to stabilize East Carolina University’s medical school: $4 million.
- funds to continue stabilizing enrollment at Elizabeth City State University to hire temporary faculty and startup funds for aviation science program: $2.8 million.
- establish doctoral programs at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University: $2.5 million.
- one-year program for students graduating from the North Carolina School of Science and Math to receive full tuition for one year if they enroll in UNC system school: $1.5 million.
- establish “Personal Education Savings Account” program, providing additional scholarship awards of $9,000 annually to children with disabilities for qualifying education expenses, including those in non-public settings: $450,000.
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
- community and rural health center grants: $7.5 million.
- expand, maintain North Carolina Families Accessing Services through Technology computer system to manage social services and child welfare programs: $10.8 million.
- serve 3,525 additional children in North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten program through combination of state and federal block grant dollars.
- increase Smart Start funds to increase access to early literacy program known as Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which sends books to children every month: $3.5 million.
- help implement improvement plan for state child welfare system after a recent critical federal review: $8.7 million.
- increase smoking cessation programs: $500,000.
- youth smoking prevention programs: $500,000.
- cover state public health state laboratory budget deficit: $3 million.
- funds to Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship for related clinics to purchase medical equipment: $1.3 million.
- adjust funding for services for mental health, substance abuse and developmental disabilities: -$53.2 million.
- legal fees for Department of Health and Human Services with anticipated or pending litigation over delays in construction of new Broughton mental hospital in Morganton: $2.5 million.
- provide Medicaid funding to continue services at expected demands and use rates: $3.8 million.
- reinstate graduate medical education program within Division of Medical Assistance: $30 million.
- reduce Division of Medical Assistance funding, with cuts determined by agency: -$15 million.
JUSTICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY
- State Bureau of Investigation equipment and surveillance tools, investigative undercover funds: $1.5 million.
- eliminate funding for Department of Transportation litter crews and road squads, which employ prisoners: -$511,000.
- eliminate 69 positions in the Division of Adult Correction vacant for at least one year: -$3.4 million.
- create 200-bed facility in Buncombe County for female offenders who are subject to jail time for violating the terms of their probation: $865,000.
- reduce Department of Justice spending for legal services and administration by 35 percent: -$10 million.
- state crime laboratory equipment: $1.7 million.
- hire 67 new deputy court clerk positions in districts having trouble meeting workloads: $3.3 million.
- create 31 new assistant district attorney positions across the state: $2.2 million.
AGRICULTURE, NATURAL AND ECONOMIC RESOURCES
- purchase airplane and maintain and operate firefighting equipment by state Forest Service: $2.3 million.
- additional funding to Mountain Island Educational State Forest: $3.2 million.
- domestic and international marketing of state food agricultural products: $1.5 million.
- outside private legal counsel for state Agriculture Department to intervene in federal water rights litigation: $250,000.
- Tobacco Trust Fund, which provides grants to tobacco-related farms and businesses: $900,000.
- agricultural conversation easements and other programs to sustain family farms: $2 million.
- increase access to fresh agricultural products in the state’s “food deserts’: $250,000.
- Department of Environmental Quality reorganization and staff reductions, as determined by the agency: -$828,000.
- reduce funding, consolidate energy centers on UNC system campuses: -$857,000.
- reduce spending in Department of Environmental Quality’s environmental assistance and customer services programs by 19 percent, eliminating seven positions: -$500,000.
- 4.4 percent funding reduction at Wildlife Resources Commission: -$500,000.
- tourism and economic development advertising by the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina: $3.9 million.
- grant-in-aid for lift fan aircraft repair facility at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station: $3 million.
- mill revitalization project in Haw River: $5 million.
- downtown revitalization and economic development grants: $8.5 million.
- create new NC Ready Sites program, designed to help prepare sites to attract major manufacturing employers: $2 million.
- Carolina Small Business Development Fund, which gives small business loans and financial training to businesses and lending services to community organizations: $2.5 million.
- Clean Water Management Trust Fund: $4.5 million.
- seven new positions for North Carolina Museum of Art and the museum’s new park: $2.4 million.
- Grassroots Arts and Rural Touring Arts grant programs: $575,000.
- Park and Recreation Trust Fund grants: $3.3 million.
- maintenance of state historic sites: $250,000.
- planning, construction and programming for a replica of fort at Fort Dobbs State Historic Site: $975,000.
TRANSPORTATION
- purchase 1,700 credit card readers for the Division of Motor Vehicles and License Plate Agency offices: $2.1 million.
- establish in Highway Fund a new fund to pay for construction projects that are immediately needed, including those related to economic development: $50 million.
- build new Division of Motor Vehicles office in Charlotte: $1.4 million.
- capital improvements at commercial airports: $46.2 million.
- bridge preservation and replacement with some of the funds coming from the Highway Fund’s general maintenance account: $118 million.
- decrease funds for road contract resurfacing: $5 million.
- pavement preservation activities: $15 million.
- create new Roadside Environmental Fund for vegetation management, litter removal, rest areas and guardrail replacements, with money coming from general maintenance account: $104 million.
- increase Highway Trust Fund money toward strategic transportation projects that have ranked the best through the Department of Transportation scoring system: $139.7 million.
- create new State Ports Authority Fund within Highway Trust Fund to modernize ports: $45 million.
OTHER AGENCIES, SPENDING & RESERVES
- increase community investments in maintaining local military programs and activities: $2 million.
- increase the scholarship allowance for children of veterans killed or disabled during wartime: $536,000.
- hire five more fire inspectors and investigators for State Fire Marshal’s Office: $463,000.
- hire 30 new positions at the Department of Insurance to investigate insurance fraud: $2.4 million.
- replace old chairs, desks and common-area furniture at the General Assembly complex: $594,000.
- administrative reduction at the Office of the Governor: -$979,000.
- use $18.6 million from Dorothea Dix property sale proceeds to set aside hospital beds in local psychiatric units and to develop mental health crisis centers for children.
- grants-in-aid for itemized local projects, managed by state budget office: $6.7 million.
- $100 million to fund pending legislation for Hurricane Matthew recovery.
- film and entertainment grant fund: $15 million.
- increase savings reserve: $363.9 million.
- repairs and renovations to state and university buildings: $125 million.
- new Fort Fisher state museum and visitor center: $5 million.
- convert Museum of the Cape Fear to a Civil War museum: $5 million.
- new helipad for North Carolina National Guard: $1 million.
- use $30 million in lottery profits for matching fund program for school construction in economically struggling, rural counties.
TAXES
- reduce in 2019 the individual income tax rate from 5.499 percent to 5.25 percent and the corporate income tax rate from 3 percent to 2.5 percent.
- increase in 2019 the standard deduction for individual income tax filers from $1,000 to $2,500, depending on filing status.
- convert child tax credit to deduction in 2018, with the deduction based on sliding income scale.
- alter business franchise tax for corporations, capping the annual at no more than $200.
- repeal on tax of mill machinery equipment.
- sales tax exemption for retail “fulfillment” centers.
SALARIES & BENEFITS
- average 3.3 percent raises for public school teachers this fall.
- retooled pay scale for principals and assistant principals, with performance bonuses for principals.
- $385 bonuses for teachers with at least 25 years of experience: $5 million.
- bonus program for math and reading teachers with highly performing students: $25.3 million.
- expand bonus program giving extra pay to teachers who take on additional teaching and mentoring responsibilities in schools: $7.2 million.
- increase starting salaries for highly qualified newly graduated teachers: $700,000.
- $1,000 permanent pay raises for rank-and-file state employees, three days of additional personal leave.
- boost salaries for state employee positions considered difficult to retain or recruit: $5 million.
- 1 percent cost-of-living adjustment for state employee pension.
- eliminate retiree medical benefits for new state employees hired after December 2020.
POLICY CHANGES
- transfer North Carolina Industrial Commission from Department of Commerce to Department of Insurance.
- phase out automatically trying 16- and 17-year-olds in adult criminal court for misdemeanors and for some felonies. The budget includes money to build a youth development center in Rockingham County.
- transfer state Human Relations Commission from the Department of Administration to the Office of Administrative Hearings.
- retain planned tuition of $2,500 per semester starting in 2018-19 for out-of-state students attending Elizabeth City State University, Western Carolina University and UNC-Pembroke. The in-state student rate will be $500 per semester.
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Sources:
Latest edition of Senate Bill 257; joint House-Senate budget report; offices of House speaker and Senate president pro tempore.
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