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FOOD FOR THOUGHT “Is two billion going to do it? Probably not, but it shows statewide that there is need and that we need to get a revenue stream to help not only us but other schools in the state.” – Scott Milligan, chairman of the Brunswick County Board of Education, voicing his support for a $2 billion school bond. BOARD ADOPTS MEDICAID RELIEF APPROACH Last week’s meeting of the Board of Directors featured a lively discussion on how best to approach the Association’s priority goals of permanent Medicaid relief, additional state support for public school construction and additional revenue authority for counties. As a result of the discussion, the Association is focusing its initial efforts this session on obtaining a permanent cap on county Medicaid costs at 2005-06 levels, plus state-funded targeted relief for counties impacted most negatively by Medicaid costs, and authority for a local-option land transfer tax to provide revenue for areas impacted by rapid growth. LOTTERY NON GRATA Numerous bills have already been introduced that would change the way the school construction proceeds of the lottery are distributed. The original legislation calls for 65 percent of the proceeds designated for school construction be distributed to counties via average daily membership (ADM). The remaining 35 percent goes to counties whose effective tax rate is above the statewide average. Most of the new bills being introduced call for 100 percent of the funds to be distributed to counties via ADM. The continuing controversy over how the lottery was passed, and the fact that revenues are continuing to run significantly under original projections, may be enough to keep legislators from coming anywhere near the lottery this session. CATAWBA JOINS STAMPEDE FOR LOCAL-OPTION SALES TAXES Catawba County joined Davie, Gaston, Haywood, Iredell and Lincoln as counties who have officially introduced legislation for a local-option sales tax. H159 (Rep. Ray Warren) would give Catawba County a one-cent local option sales tax adopted by resolution. The previous local-option bills were each for a half-cent sales tax and required a public referenda. In addition, Catawba County’s tax is not earmarked for public school capital outlay or for any other specified purpose. Counties interested in pursuing any local-option revenue sources should contact their delegation and push to have bills filed on their behalf. The deadlines to have local bills to bill drafting are Feb. 27 at 3 p.m. in the Senate and March 20 at 4 p.m. in the House. Additional revenue sources for public school construction or other infrastructure needs is a priority goal for the Association, and it will strengthen the Association’s case if the vast majority of counties are asking for additional revenue sources to meet these growing needs. HACKNEY MAKES COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS; OWENS NAMED RULES CHAIR Speaker Joe Hackney announced his committee assignments earlier this week. NCACC Past President Bill Owens (Pasquotank) was given one of the plum assignments when he was chosen as chair of the House Rules Committee. Speaker Hackney appointed eight co-chairs of the Appropriations committee – Reps. Alma Adams (Guilford), Martha Alexander (Mecklenburg), Jim Crawford (Granville), Phillip Haire (Jackson), Maggie Jeffus (Guilford), Mickey Michaux (Durham), Joe Tolson (Edgecombe) and Doug Yongue (Scotland). Reps. Pryor Gibson (Anson), Paul Luebke (Durham), William Wainwright (Craven) and Jennifer Weiss (Wake) were named co-chairs of the House Finance Committee. BILLS OF INTEREST The Association has created a special section on its Web site to track bills of interest to county officials. Please visit www.ncacc.org/legislation/about.html frequently for updates on key legislation, including:
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