Parts of NC got more than others. Here are 8 ways the state will spend its money.
READ MORE
Your Share of the Budget
With NC’s new state budget, everyone should see a bit extra in their bank accounts. When it comes to income taxes, anyone who files their taxes with a standard deduction will pay less next year, and possibly nothing at all. Every teacher in the state will get at least a $2,300 bonus and every state employee will get at least a $1,000 bonus. What’s in it for you? This is The N&O’s special report.
Expand All
North Carolina lawmakers and Gov. Roy Cooper ushered into law a historic state spending package in November that allocates $52.9 billion for the state from now until 2023.
It includes tax cuts, money for schools and raises for state employees, but tucked within the nearly 800 pages of provisions are millions of dollars for projects that are lesser-known.
Funds for those smaller projects, whether doled out for restoration of old buildings or economic assistance for nonprofits, will have a great impact on North Carolinians, though they may seem minor compared to money allocated for major areas of spending, like K-12 education.
However, Republicans allocated few funds for projects in some of the state’s biggest — and wealthiest — counties for projects to restore crumbling buildings, provide economic assistance to struggling nonprofits and support higher education efforts.
Money allocated to Wake, Buncombe, Durham, Guilford and Mecklenburg counties for new projects pales in comparison to state money allocated to legislative leaders’ home counties.
Wake and Durham counties received about $124 million for special projects between now and 2023. Cleveland County, home of Republican House Speaker Tim Moore, and Rockingham County, home of Senate leader Phil Berger, received nearly $200 million combined.
Cleveland County received more money to build a courthouse than all of Mecklenburg County received in total for special projects.
Here’s a roundup of lesser-known causes and projects in North Carolina that received funding through 2023 in the new spending package.
Higher education
▪ More than $150 million for construction projects at historically Black college Fayetteville State University, and funding for the school to join NC Promise, which gives in-state undergraduates tuition for $1,000 a year.
▪ $84 million for Elizabeth City State University, a historically Black college, to build a new residence hall, sky bridge, dining facility and flight school.
▪ $75.3 million for East Carolina University to build a new Brody School of Medicine.
Health, safety and housing
▪ $11 million for Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers to expand to Winston-Salem, where it will construct a new campus with 200 beds.
▪ $50 million to install air conditioning, or make other HVAC upgrades, in state prisons and mental health hospitals.
▪ $35 million for a private company to construct affordable housing units in Dare County.
Other projects
▪ $156 million alone for Cleveland County. Those funds will go toward projects like a new county courthouse and water and sewer infrastructure.
▪ Nearly $60 million for Fayetteville’s North Carolina Civil War & Reconstruction History Center Foundation to construct the new center.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published December 1, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Parts of NC got more than others. Here are 8 ways the state will spend its money.."
