Lift Medicare burden
Wednesday, May 31st, 2006
By Chris Fitzsimon
To the editor:
In light of the jubilation in Raleigh over the projected $2 billion budget surplus, the time for Gov. Easley and the General Assembly to bring North Carolina in line with the rest of the nation is long overdue.
North Carolina is the highest-taxed state in the Southeast, including fifth-highest gas tax in the nation. We are the only state in the Union which requires the counties to pay a portion of the state-run Medicaid bill.
Gov. Easley, along with the state legislature, passed a lottery bill under the disguise of enhancing education funding. After its passage, the governor demanded that roughly $200 million in lottery proceeds be used to supplant current education spending.
If this legislature is serious about improving education, then I call on our governor and our elected officials to relieve the burden of Medicaid funding from the counties and put it in Raleigh where it belongs. Swapping current revenue from county sales tax programs should not be an option.
County governments are much closer to the needs of their public schools. Each county has its own education priorities, and these should not be mandated by bureaucrats in the “Pink Palace” of the State Department of Public Education. But with the relief of the Medicaid burden, all 100 counties will be better able to address their own pressing needs.
Vance County’’s Medicaid burden is approaching $3.5 million, or, .22 cents of the tax rate. The Vance County Board of Education, having one of the lower teacher supplements in the state, could use this money to retain its best teachers as well as fund school construction. (more…)
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