Clark joins Meredith in voting for state budget

Aug. 01--RALEIGH -- Cumberland County lawmakers Wesley Meredith and Ben Clark voted for the state's $21 billion 2014-15 state budget Thursday, saying it fulfills promises to raise teacher pay and help the residents of their districts.

The bill passed the Senate 32-13 and was expected to pass again when considered again for a final Senate vote shortly after midnight.

Clark, who also serves Hoke County, was one of the few Democrats to vote with Republican Meredith and the GOP majority that wrote the bill.

Most Senate Democrats who debated the bill Thursday said this budget plan will hurt the state by spending too little on human services and other programs and because they think its proposed revenues are unreliable.

"Now people, they can always point to things and say, 'Well it doesn't have this,' or, 'It doesn't have that.' But it does have a lot of good things," Clark said.

"When I was campaigning, one of the things I was fighting for -- right? -- was pay raises for teachers," he said. "But now I'm supposed to vote against pay raises for teachers" in order to support his party.

In addition to an average pay raise of 7 percent for teachers, the budget bill also has financial aid for military veterans and their families who have not yet become official North Carolina residents. This is to allow them to attend North Carolina public colleges on GI Bill scholarships, which don't cover the higher tuition prices charged to non-residents.

"One thing I campaigned on, remember, as I said, I wanted in-state tuition for veterans. So now I'm supposed to vote against that," Clark said.

He said the budget serves under the circumstances -- contending that the Republicans last year made fiscal conditions unnecessarily difficult with tax cuts that reduced the state's revenue for public services.

Meredith touted the teacher pay raise, saying it was one his and the Republicans' top priorities.

"I can't see how $282 million being put toward raises, which is an average of 7 percent, is not a good thing," he said.

The budget will move teacher base pay to $33,000 from the current $30,800.

Democrats found reason to criticize. Much of what the Republicans are classifying as a "pay raise" is really back pay following years of frozen salaries, said state Sen. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat. Before the Great Recession led to pay freezes for state employees, teachers were guaranteed annual pay increases and those with long service also received longevity pay bonuses.

The new budget changes the pay increase schedule and the longevity pay program.

"The budget eliminates longevity on a going-forward basis," Stein said. "Once again teachers are being asked to give up something they've earned in order to get something that they should get."

Stein said there is a $9 million cut to after-school programs for disadvantaged children, a $76 million cut to the state's public university system, and for the third year in a row raises community college tuition.

"When are we going to stop hurting North Carolina's middle-class families?" Stein said.

The budget also reduces how much doctors and other health providers are paid for caring for people on the Medicaid health insurance program, Stein said. These providers already lost money on those patients, he said.

Other hospital cuts have already hurt the state, he said, citing the closure this summer of a hospital in Belhaven. Following that closure, a sick woman in there died because she couldn't get treated quickly enough, Stein said, and other hospitals across the state have been cutting services and staff, he said.

"You all are inflicting damage, and it's time to stop it," Stein said.

The state constitution requires budget bills to be voted twice in each legislative chamber, and each chamber's vote has to be on a separate calendar day.

The Senate had a final vote scheduled for 12:15 a.m. today.

The state House plans to vote the bill today, and following a final vote set for Saturday, the spending plan will go to the governor for his approval.

Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, told Time Warner Cable News that he and his staff are reviewing it.

"Things are looking more positive regarding the parameters I set out" regarding teacher pay raises, no cuts of Medicaid client eligibility and protection for certain operating revenues, McCrory said to the station in an interview in Charlotte.

"As I examine it, many of those criteria are being met, and they've been listening to the executive branch," he said.

McCrory told the news station, "The one disappointment I know I do have -- my wife is very concerned about the puppy bill not being passed, and not even being voted on by the Senate," referring to legislation to crack down on puppy mills.

"But we'll comment on that later and I know my wife will comment on that later," McCrory said.

Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at [email protected], 919-828-7641 or 910-486-3512.

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