News

Hendersonville City Taxes Won’t Go Up In New Fiscal Year, But Fees Will

(WHKP) Hendersonville City Council decided in a budget workshop on Friday there will be NO property tax increase for city taxpayers in the new fiscal year that starts July 1st. Lee Galloway, the interim city manager, had recommended a three cent tax increase to raise about $480,000 in revenue to pay for the final phase of the Main Street project, to build the new fire station on Sugarloaf Road, and to pay for a new fire truck. City Council opted instead to take the money out of the city’s savings, or fund balance.

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NC Community colleges, high schools emphasize training for manufacturing jobs

(Raleigh News & Observer) Momentum is building in North Carolina to better train workers for more sophisticated manufacturing jobs to erase a so-called skills gap in the workforce.

At a Raleigh summit Friday hosted by the N.C. Community College System, business, government and education leaders brainstormed ways to pump up training and education programs to meet the state’s reawakening manufacturing sector.

Meanwhile, at a separate event in Apex, a Triangle consortium of businesses and private schools launched an engineering apprenticeship program for high school students.

North Carolina’s unemployment rate finally dropped below 9 percent in April, but it is still stubbornly high compared with other states; at the same time, some employers can’t find workers with the right kind of skills to fill today’s increasingly technical jobs.

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NC General Assembly police defend arrests of demonstrators

(Raleigh News & Observer) Retired Methodist minister Vernon Tyson of Raleigh was among the 200 demonstrators at the Legislative Building last week for the weekly Moral Monday demonstration, protesting new initiatives from the GOP-led General Assembly.

Many of the demonstrators went into the Legislative Building clapping, singing, chanting, hoisting placards and raising their voices with expectations of arrest. But Tyson, 83, said he entered quietly and reflectively to show support and witness the effort to change political course.

Tyson sat on the same bench he had the week before. When that was moved, he stood against the wall, watching and listening. Then General Assembly law enforcement officers asked him to move or risk arrest.

“I said ‘Why?’,” Tyson told filmmaker Eric Preston hours later on a video posted to YouTube. “They said, ‘Well, you’re trespassing,’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m a tax-paying citizen and this is the people’s house and I don’t see how I can trespass in a house that I helped to build – and I’m not blocking anybody and I’m not demonstrating. I’m not singing. I’m not clapping my hands. I’m not making any noise. The only people I talk to are you.’ ”

The officers came back minutes later and again urged Tyson to move, then issued one more warning before arresting him along with 48 others.

As protesters gear up to assemble again Monday to highlight concerns about welfare cuts, health care funding, voting rights, racial justice, tax reform, environmental deregulation, workers rights and more, legal analysts are raising questions about whether the General Assembly police are within their power to arrest the nonviolent demonstrators.

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In General Assembly, push continues to conceal gun data

(Charlotte Observer) One of the only surviving bills in the N.C. General Assembly related to gun control would close permit information to the public, making it nearly impossible for groups to watchdog how the government issues licenses to buy hundreds of thousands of handguns.

At many as 14 other bills concerning guns died last week when they failed to pass at least one chamber of the legislature before Thursday’s deadline.

The bill to seal the permit records, however, passed the House nearly two months ago and seems headed for approval in the Republican-controlled Senate, lawmakers said.

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NC jobless rate falls below 9 percent

(Raleigh News & Observer) North Carolina’s unemployment rate fell for the third consecutive month in April, declining three-tenths of a percentage point to 8.9 percent. It marks the first time that the state’s jobless rate has been below 9 percent since January 2009.

North Carolina added 6,100 jobs in April after seasonal adjustments, according to a payroll survey of employers, and has now added 73,300 over the past year, an annual growth rate of 1.8 percent.

Although that rate could be better, Mark Vitner, a Wells Fargo economist in Charlotte, notes that North Carolina is continuing to add jobs at a slightly faster rate than the nation.

“If we continue to add 70,000 jobs a year, we will steadily chip away at the unemployment rate and eventually get a recovery that people recognize as a recovery,” Vitner said.

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House Passes Tuition Reimbursement for Parents With Special-Needs Children

(Carolina journal) The House Wednesday night approved a bill that would reimburse parents for private school tuition for special-needs children.

House Bill 269 would provide reimbursement of $3,000 per semester or $6,000 a year for tuition and special education services. It would replace a tax credit for such services that was approved by the General Assembly in 2011.

“There are a number of lower-income people who are unable to take advantage of this,” said Rep. Jonathan Jordan, R-Ashe, in referring to the current tax credit. “The scholarship grant takes the place of the tax credit.”

“This bill is about choice,” said Rep. Marcus Brandon, D-Guilford.

Rep. Alma Adams, D-Guilford, argued against the bill, saying that poorer parents would not be able to afford the up-front costs for tuition.

“We’re talking about the poorest of children,” Adams said. “They’ve got to spend the money first that they don’t have.”

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House Would Replace Graduated Income Tax With Flat Tax

(Carolina journal) House Republicans Thursday unveiled their tax modification plan, a move that would eliminate the progressive income tax rate in favor of a flat tax.

It also would lower the sales tax rate slightly and broaden the sales tax to include repair, maintenance, cleaning, and installation services, and service contracts. Unlike a competing tax plan presented by Senate Republicans, it would not expand the sales tax base to cover all services.

The plan would establish a flat 5.9 percent flat rate for personal income tax. Currently, the tax rate varies from 6 percent to 7.75 percent, depending on income.

The corporate income tax would be reduced from 6.9 percent to 6.75 percent.

The combined state and local sales tax rate would be reduced from 6.75 percent to 6.65 percent, with the reduction coming at the local sales tax level.

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who has called for tax reform, had a positive response to the House GOP plan.

“I am encouraged by the bill details I have seen in the House plan on reforming North Carolina’s tax code,” McCrory said in a statement. “The House plan combined with other proposals provides several options that will allow us to develop competitive tax reform which is fair to North Carolina families, attracts job creators, and provides certainty that will encourage home-grown businesses to expand. My goal is to work with leaders in both the House and Senate to implement reform that is financially sound, fair and rewards productivity, savings, and investment.”

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Bill restricts Buncombe picks on transportation

(Asheville Citizen-Times) State Rep. Nathan Ramsey has filed legislation that would restrict Buncombe County’s appointments to a local board that helps set transportation priorities.

Ramsey’s move comes as he is trying to generate consensus to build the Interstate 26 Connector in Asheville, and it could lessen the city’s influence over the project.

Legislation he filed requires that each of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners’ appointments to the French Broad River Metropolitan Planning Organization come from different commissioner districts.

The bill cleared the state House this week.

Commissioners already have appointed Vice Chairwoman Holly Jones and Commissioner Brownie Newman, who have criticized state plans for the connector in the past.

Jones and Newman, both Democrats who live in Montford, both represent commissioner District 1, which covers most of Asheville.

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About 180 bills advance in NC House, Senate

(Raleigh News & Observer) Scrambling to hurdle a key deadline, state lawmakers approved roughly 180 bills this week, spending seconds on some and hours on others, often in marathon sessions that left them confused and bleary-eyed.

The House gave final approval Thursday to measures that rejected the use of Islamic Sharia law in North Carolina and prohibited coverage for abortions in the new state health insurance exchange, both marked by a heated debate. The Senate, by contrast, spent 14 minutes in session, declining to consider legislation to repeal local bans on smoking in public parks and beaches and study the expansion of midwifery that leaves the measures essentially dead.

But the chaos of the so-called crossover week – in which most legislation must pass one chamber to remain alive for the two-year session – became eclipsed later in the day as attention turned to the two most significant debates still looming over the final weeks of lawmaking.

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NC Senate passes 2 major environmental repeals

(Raleigh News and Observer) The North Carolina Senate passed two major environmental rollbacks Wednesday ahead of a deadline over objections from Democratic lawmakers.

The bills would repeal rules for managing pollutants in Jordan Lake and a host of restrictions on new jetties along the coast that critics say can shift damage to neighboring properties. Bills that don’t require tax changes or spending and fail to clear at least one chamber by Thursday night are essentially dead through the end of the session in 2014.

The Jordan Lake bill would repeal a set of rules for local governments along the 1,686 square mile reservoir that took effect in 2009 as well as all related laws. Many of those rules for curbing harmful nutrients in the lake have been delayed by the legislature since and have drawn criticism for their cost and potential effect on development.

The lake, which includes parts of 10 counties in the Piedmont region, was created 30 years ago to provide flood control and water supply. But it has struggled from the outset with high nutrient levels that cause harmful algae buildup.

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Buncombe approves Project X incentives

(Asheville Citizen Times) Taxpayers will foot the bill for a land swap and a multimillion dollar incentive package for a manufacturer to bring 52 new jobs to Buncombe County — but they’re in the dark about what kind of company the county is courting.

County officials said that “Project X” will more than pay for itself over time with added revenues from leases, property taxes and paychecks.

The company’s identity wasn’t revealed Tuesday at the public hearing on “Project X” — the code name for both the company and the complex deal to lure the manufacturer to Buncombe County.

“We are not trying to create a mystery here. We’re fortunate to have several economic development projects underway, but this is a fragile situation,” County Manager Wanda Greene said. “It’s critical to treat this project with the confidentiality that this company requires.”

Greene pointed to the county’s purchase of the old Volvo plant two years ago, which lead Linamar, a Canadian truck parts maker, to build its first U.S. plant here.

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NC smokers may soon get to light up on beaches and in parks again

(Raleigh News & Observer) This semester, Wake Tech sophomore Micheal Proulx says he had a 15-minute walk from English to a finance class “that would’ve been perfect for a cigarette.”

Instead, Proulx usually waits until after his last class to smoke a Camel Crush in his Hyundai because Wake Tech is a tobacco-free campus.

But Senate Republicans took a step Tuesday toward striking down local rules governing where smokers like Proulx can light up.

Senate Bill 703, which passed the Senate Agriculture, Environment, Natural Resources Committee, prohibits local governments and community colleges from regulating outdoor smoking in a manner that’s more restrictive than state law. It is just the latest way state lawmakers are taking action to overturn or limit local policies they oppose.

Because state law doesn’t impose restrictions on smoking outdoors, the measure would nullify other anti-smoking laws for publicly owned open spaces such as parks, beaches and community college campuses.

“Around the state, a number of localities and other institutions are trying to take this legal product and say you can’t consume it outdoors,” said Sen. Buck Newton, a Wilson Republican, the bill sponsor. “I just personally find that objectionable.”

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Civil protections curtailed for state workers under McCrory bill

(Raleigh News & Observer) The legislature is poised to curtail civil service protections for state employees, giving preliminary approval Tuesday to a bill pushed by Gov. Pat McCrory.

House lawmakers voted 110-5 to remake the grievance procedures for about 90,000 state workers, moving the key link in the appeal process from the hands of an independent administrative law judge to hearing officers named by political appointees of the governor. The House is expected to give its final approval Wednesday, sending the bill to the Senate.

At the same time, the bill would increase the number of political hires – positions exempt from the civil service protections of the State Personnel Act to 1,500. Six months ago there were just 400.

“What North Carolina is proposing to do, is happening in other states,” said Rick Kearney, a public policy professor at N.C. State University and an expert on government personnel policy.

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Asheville water transfer blocked for now

(Asheville Citizen-Times) When city residents turn on their water faucets this morning, they will still get water supplied by the city.

A judge in Raleigh granted a city request Tuesday afternoon for a temporary restraining order preventing a state law mandating the transfer of the water system to the Metropolitan Sewerage District today from going into effect.

The city filed suit in Wake County Superior Court on Tuesday, saying it would suffer irreparable harm if the transfer occurred today as directed by a bill that became law this week.

Details of the restraining order were not available Tuesday, but they typically last for a relatively short period of time, like 10 days or two weeks. The city will seek a preliminary injunction to prevent a transfer while its lawsuit is decided.

The city’s complaint asks that the law be struck down as a violation of the state and federal constitutions and a state law designed to protect holders of bonds issued by local governments like the city.

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Advocates want to save little-known old growth pockets

(Smoky Mountain News) Hidden among the expanse of forestland in Western North Carolina are little-known pockets of trees that are several centuries old. Either overlooked by loggers or too difficult to access, the old growth stands act as windows into the past and markers of Appalachian history.

Since the end of the Civil War until the 1930s, most forests in the eastern United States were clear-cut. However, some tracts were able to escape that era of industrialized logging and continue to grow.

But they were few. Less than one-tenth of 1 percent of forests in the eastern United States is old growth. Out of the 1.1 million acres in the Nantahala and Pisgah national forests, about 80,000 acres contain old growth. There, 150-, 200- and even 300-year-old trees can be found.

“To find little portions that have escaped, that is pretty special,” said Jill Gottesman, the southern Appalachian outreach coordinator for The Wilderness Society.

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