News
Over the past few days there have been several media reports related to possible changes in Brunswick County’s approach to economic development: – Port City Daily – Wilmington Star-News. As outlined in the Star-News’ article, there are some who are ready to completely change our approach to economic development by moving away from our economic development commission structure to a county department under the supervision of the county manager. I am not yet at that…
Read MoreDistributed by the N.C. Association of County Commissioners – June 19, 2015 The N.C. Senate passed its budget for the 2015-2017 fiscal biennium on June 18. This version of the state’s budget spends less than the House, putting more funds in reserve accounts. It also includes extensive policy modifications such as Medicaid Reform and tax changes that heavily affect counties. The Senate continued the legislature’s practice of appropriating $100 million from the Education Lottery proceeds for…
Read MoreFrom the N.C. Association of County Commissioners: Senate passes budget, sets stage for negotiations with House The Senate passed its budget plan Thursday, setting the stage for a protracted negotiation process with the House. Drastic differences between the two versions, particularly sweeping policy shifts the Senate included such as tax changes and Medicaid reform, likely mean the legislature will have to pass a temporary budget to continue state government operations past the end of this…
Read MoreThe item below was just distributed by the N.C. Association of County Commissioners. I sent a note to several members of the House about this issue; my note is included at the bottom of this post. From the NCACC: The House Finance Committee yesterday passed H168 Exempt Builders’ Inventory, and it is scheduled to be heard by the full House this afternoon. While improved from the original version, the legislation still causes significant revenue loss…
Read MoreFollowing the recent passage of our county’s budget for Fiscal Year 2015-16, I was contacted by a constituent who was unhappy about an item that was not funded in the budget. As I stated during the meeting at which the budget was adopted, there is a reason we have a board of commissioners. No one commissioner drives our budget process. An individual commissioner has no power; a majority of the board, acting in a meeting,…
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