BY WILLIAM F. WEST
DAILY DISPATCH WRITER
Henderson’s and Vance County’s governments need to come up with a firm priority list of needs and projects for the local North Carolina legislators for 2009 in the face of the weak national economy and state budget shortfalls.
State Rep. Jim Crawford made the recommendation at a Monday morning gathering of civic and governmental leaders at City Hall.
At the same time, Crawford, state Rep.
Michael Wray and state Sen. Doug Berger gave a bleak forecast of what the city and the county government leaders could expect regarding financing this upcoming General Assembly session.
Crawford, D-Granville, who is one of the chairmen of the House Appropriations Committee, did most of the talking at the meeting, which lasted roughly 45 minutes.
Crawford said that the state Fiscal Year 2008-09 revenues are already short $320 million and that the gap is projected to reach $1.6 billion. Crawford said his best guess is the number will be closer to $2 billion.
Crawford noted departing Gov. Mike Easley is trying to cover for the shortfall, including by calling for educators to return about $39 in per pupil funding from the state. (more…)
