wral school closings

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina state workers and public college lecturers are usually the place lawmakers look to think about vital budget cuts, as three-quarters of the state's $19 billion budget is allotted to salaries and edges.

But anxiety levels for the quite three hundred,000 lecturers, university employees and alternative state workers have soared early within the legislative session with the Republican leadership's approach to closing a projected $3.7 billion budget gap for the upcoming fiscal year. GOP leaders have pledged to not extend 2 temporary taxes that will have cut the shortfall by $1.3 billion.

"Every single year at this same point in time there is the budget dance ... there is always immediately going into it an assumption that we are going to cut services and we're going to do bad things to public employees," said Dana Cope, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina. "This is the first time that the budget deficit that we're talking about is real."

The GOP and Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue have predicted some layoffs, but not how many. GOP leaders also won't dismiss the idea of across-the-board pay cuts and could require workers to pay a monthly health insurance premium for the first time.

"Ultimately we've got to get from where we are now in terms of the level of spending to a level that is 18 percent lower," said Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, mentioning salary reductions, layoffs and employee health care as items being discussed.

The talk is sobering for workers, given that there have been no pay raises since 2008, money for thousands of educators has been cut and health insurance benefits have eroded.

"Sometimes they say, 'the cuts are coming, the cuts are coming,' but we say, 'no, they'll find a way to fix it,'" said Wanda Kindell, 43, a fifth-grade teacher at Lake Rim Elementary School in Fayetteville who earns around $50,000 annually. However, she said, "heads are on the chopping block this time."

The potential for salary cuts and some health insurance premium are the latest threats to the state government work force and local district teachers, who also are considered hired by the state.

Workers currently don't pay premiums for their own health insurance, but premiums for spouses and dependents already rose nearly 9 percent annually in 2009 and 2010. Adding a $50 per month premium, for example, on the state's 321,000 active employees enrolled in the State Health Plan could bring in $193 million.

Perdue ordered a 0.5 percent pay cut for all employees to help close a shortfall during a budget emergency in mid-2009, a move that was expected to save $65 million. Their salaries returned to previous levels the following year. General Assembly records going back to 1970 don't show the Legislature approving permanent across-the-board pay cuts. The Legislature slashed employee salaries during the Great Depression.

More pay reductions would likely reduce employee morale and make workers think twice about remaining in dangerous jobs, said Emily Jones, 39, a community corrections officer in Raleigh whose salary is in the low $30,000's. She often works nights and weekends to ensure offenders on intensive probation are meeting curfew and other requirements.

"We will run the risk of losing employees," said Jones, who's worked in state government for 19 years. "If you don't have people working, you can't keep your communities safe."

Republican lawmakers are working on a plan that would collect up to $1 billion in reserves and cost savings and may reduce the need for some layoffs.

The North Carolina Association of Educators and State Employees Association are offering alternatives to lawmakers and Perdue about how to close the gap. Cope said the State Employees Association has collected hundreds of ideas from its members that in total would save $10 billion.

Public school teachers say they shouldn't be the first to take additional cuts.

The net overall state government work force declined by an amount equal to 10,100 full-time positions between December 2008 and December 2009 to just less than 317,000, according to a survey of state agencies by the state budget office and legislative analysts. Full-time equivalent positions in public schools declined by nearly 9,300 positions during the same period.

"When you're talking about cutting educators, you're going to affect every county in the state," said NCAE board member Kim Hargett, a physical education teacher in the Union County schools.