This race will be won by the hare

Time is not standing still on Jones Street this spring. If the first week of what is known as the “short session” is any indication, this year’s tweaking of the biennial budget may well live up to that name.

In the first three days after the May 9 convening, Gov. Mike Easley released his budget – sans Medicaid relief despite a spending increase of $1.65 billion – three different Medicaid relief bills were introduced, and the Senate announced its intent to have its version of the budget finished before Memorial Day.

Normally, county commissioners would be excited about the prospect of the General Assembly adopting its budget before June 30. That would eliminate any possibility that legislators could drop any unexpected surprises on counties after we have set our property tax rates and adopted our budgets. But this may be a year that a quick end to the session could work against us.

Besides the three Medicaid relief proposals, numerous other initiatives are being unveiled to tap into the state’s unexpected 2006-07 surplus of more than $2.4 billion. Legislators want to pump more money into the state’s struggling mental health reform efforts. An overburdened court system also needs more money. And state employees and teachers are pushing for pay raises. These are just a few of the endeavors competing for additional funding.

Not only that, but it’s an election year, meaning that the legislators want to be finished in Raleigh as soon as they can so they can hit the campaign – and fund-raising – trail as soon as possible.

More on Medicaid relief

Given the speed with which things were moving in the early days of the short session, county commissioners cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. It is imperative that we are the ones carrying the message to legislators that now is the time to get the ball rolling on Medicaid relief. If we can’t help the state find a solution during a budget surplus, when will we ever get an answer?

Numerous newspapers around the state, from Wilmington to Winston-Salem, from Charlotte to Fayetteville, from Hickory to Rocky Mount, have published editorials in recent months calling for the state to assume the county Medicaid share. We may have won the public relations battle, but we’re not winning the war – at least not with the influential members of the General Assembly.

It is not enough for a legislator to introduce or sign onto a bill. We need that legislator to become our ally when the issues are being debated in the back rooms of the Legislative Building so that we can have a voice at that table. The only way we will ever achieve that level of influence is if we all get engaged and involved ourselves.

The state’s budget surplus has pried open the window of opportunity, but given the pace of events in the first week of May, that window may only be open for a short period. It is up to us to make sure that we take advantage and come out on the other side with Medicaid relief.