The following press release was received from Phillip C. Burnette, Chairman of the Vance County Republican Party.
“In light of the jubilation in Raleigh over the projected $2 Billion budget surplus, the time for Governor Easley and the General assembly to bring North Carolina in line with the rest of the Nation is long overdue,” said Phillip Burnette, Chairman of the Vance County Republican Party.
“North Carolina is the highest taxed State in the entire southeast, including fifth highest gas tax in the nation,” Burnette continued. “We are the only State in the Union which requires the Counties to pay a portion of the State run Medicaid bill.”
Governor Easley, along with the State Legislature, this past year passed a State run lottery bill under the disguise of enhancing education funding. After its passage, the Governor demanded that roughly $200 million in lottery proceeds be used to supplant current education spending.
“If this legislature is serious about improving education in this State,” the Vance County Chairman said, “then I call on our Governor and our elected officials to relieve the burden of Medicaid funding from the Counties and put it in Raleigh where it belongs. Swapping current revenue from county sales tax programs is unnecessary and should not be considered as an option,” Burnette said.
“Local County Governments are much closer to the needs of their public schools”, Burnette continued. “Each County has its own specific priorities relating to public education spending, and these priorities should not be mandated by bureaucrats in the ‘Pink Palace’ of the State Department of Public Education in Raleigh. But with the relief of the Medicaid burden, all North Carolina Counties will be better able to address their own pressing needs.”
Vance County’s Medicaid burden is approaching $3.5 million or, .22 cents of the tax rate. The Vance County Board of Education, having one of the lower teacher supplements in the State, could use this money to retain its best teachers as well as fund school construction. Wake County on the other hand is in desperate need of school construction money. The two counties, along with the other ninety-eight counties in N.C., will benefit from the resulting budget relief, and local control of those funds.
The estimated cost to the State is $490 million. With a $2 Billion surplus in the state’s general fund, and $200 million from the lottery to replace current education program cost demanded by the Governor, local tax payers have waited long enough for the N.C. Legislature to enact long needed change.
“I formally request our local elected State Representatives to show the citizens their commitment to public education by removing the financial burden of the State run Medicaid program from the counties,” Vance GOP Chairman Burnette concluded “or, explain their reasons why North Carolina, after raising taxes five years in a row, realize a $2 Billion surplus, and remain the only State in the Nation requiring counties to continue to pay for Medicaid.”