Senator Bill Cook - December 15 Legislative Update | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Press Release:

2018 County Tier Designations

    Last month, the N.C. Dept. Commerce released the county tier designations for 2018. The designations play a role in several programs that assist in economic development. Likewise, N.C. Commerce gathers required statistics for each of North Carolina's 100 counties, applies the formula and required adjustments, and assigns a tier designation ranking from one to three. Tier 1 counties are generally the most economically distressed and Tier 3 counties are generally the least economically distressed. The rankings are based on an assessment of each county's unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and assessed property value per capita. In addition, any county with a population of less than 12,000 or a county with a population of fewer than 50,000 residents with 19 percent or more of those people living below the federal poverty level are automatically classified as Tier 1. The law calls for 40 counties to be designated as Tier 1, 40 counties to be designated as Tier 2, and 20 counties to be designated Tier 3. Of the one hundred counties in North Carolina, six counties will change tier designations for 2018 - two of which are in Senate District 1. Perquimans County will shift from a Tier 2 to a Tier 1 ranking while Beaufort County will move from Tier 1 to Tier 2 status. (See graph below of the 1st Senatorial District 2018 Tier Designations.)

Litter Cleanup in Currituck, Dare, Hyde Counties

    In looking after our environment, the N.C. General Assembly during this year's legislative session established a new Roadside Environmental Fund, which provides dedicated funding for vegetation management, mowing, litter prevention and removal, beautification efforts, rest areas, and guardrail replacements. During 2016, N.C. Dept. of Transportation (NCDOT) spent $19.5 million and over 2,650,215 pounds (1,325 tons) of litter was collected. Moreover, this does not include other statewide litter prevention programs within N.C. Dept. of Public Safety, N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality, and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. Since repealing the eight year unconstitutional plastic bag ban in parts the Outer Banks counties of Currituck, Dare, and Hyde, I thought it would be beneficial to provide a summary of NCDOT's litter removal efforts (see graph below). In essence, approximately $639,245 has been spent and roughly 227,520 pounds (114 tons) of litter removed in those three counties since 2009. In fact, under the previous Democrat administration, NCDOT did fund any litter removal for Dare or Hyde counties in 2009, which was the same year that the now repealed plastic bag ban went into effect. Lastly, a 2016 recap of statewide littering charges by offense code and by law enforcement agencies, the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts shows there were 3,479 charges and 1,262 convictions in 2016.

North Carolina Ranks No. 1 in Forbes' & Pew Charitable Trusts Rankings

    Recently published in the Carolina Journal, North Carolina is the only state meeting all of the Pew Charitable Trusts best or good practices in taking care of its "rainy day" reserves. The 2017 Appropriations Act earmarked $263 million of the unreserved fund balance to the savings reserve, bringing the total in the reserve to just under $1.84 billion, or about 8.2% of the prior year net General Fund operating budget, the largest total since inception of the reserve.

    Prior to the Republicans taking control of the legislature in 2011, North Carolina had no reserve savings under Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue and Democratic majorities in the state General Assembly in 2009. Under Democratic control the state was also billions of dollars in debt to the federal government for unemployment insurance liabilities. The debt of $2.8 billion of unemployment insurance was paid off to the federal government in May 2015. Had the debt not been paid by November 2015, employers in our state would have been subjected to an additional $282 million in additional FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax Act) penalties.

    North Carolina local governments are required to maintain an adequate fund balance of at least 8% to have sufficient funds to quickly respond to emergencies and other unforeseen circumstances. Thus, so should the State of North Carolina, so we can be able to handle the financial implications of a storm, such as Hurricane Matthew, or any other potential loss of revenues.

    As a result of our conservative reforms, North Carolina's expanding economy has positioned it as one of the fastest growing states in the nation. According to Forbes' 2017 economic climate rankings, North Carolina is the Best State for Business and the only state to place among the top 20 in all six categories. Click here to review Forbes' recent announcement.

Golden LEAF for Beaufort County & Town of Hertford

    Last Thursday, the Golden LEAF Board of Directors voted to provide $450,000 in disaster recovery grant funding to Beaufort County. The grant funds will support installation of backup generators at two critical water facilities on the northside of the county. Hurricane Matthew contributed to power outages that resulted in depletion of available water in the rural areas of the county. These generators will help ensure the availability of water in a future disaster event. Additionally, the Golden LEAF Board of Directors voted to provide $637,094 in disaster recovery grant funding to the Town of Hertford in Perquimans County. Hurricane Matthew impacted the Town's sewer system and caused severe pipe separation, erosion, and groundwater to enter the system. Golden LEAF grant funds will support replacement of the failed sewer infrastructure. Both of these grants are funded by the Disaster Recovery Act of 2017 appropriation to Golden LEAF.

NCDOT approves $1.1 million in state funds for Pitt-Greenville Airport

    Earlier in the month, the N.C. Dept. of Transportation's Division of Aviation approved state funding for 11 airports, for a total investment of nearly $4.7 million, including $1,100,070 for taxiway pavement rehabilitation at the Pitt-Greenville Airport. The State Appropriations Act of 2017 included an additional $40 million in FY 2017-18 and $75 million in FY 2018-19 to fund capital improvement projects at the State's 10 commercial airports in order to increase their economic competitiveness.

• Contact: Bill Cook
•     bill.cook@ncleg.net