By NICOLE CARTRETTE

Local organizations won’t get any special appropriations from the Legislature’s budget compromise and the Senate won the Medicaid relief battle—only capping county costs.

“The speaker would not allow any special appropriations,” Rep. Dewey Hill said, and the Senate would not budge on Medicaid.

The Senate and House reached a budget agreement late Friday and are expected to pass the budget on Wednesday for the governor’s signature on Thursday, said Hill.

Medicaid relief

Columbus County will see only a little more than $537,000 in Medicaid relief.

There was a $34 million difference between the Senate and House versions of Medicaid relief.

Under the House proposal, counties’ Medicaid expenses were capped at fiscal 2006 costs and an extra $34 million in targeted relief was divided among counties with large Medicaid-eligible populations, such as Columbus.

The Senate’s proposal was not so generous, leaving out the targeted relief for poorer counties and only capping the cost at roughly $20 million.

“I’m disappointed in Medicaid –we worked real hard on it,” Hill said.

More than one-fourth of Columbus County residents are eligible for Medicaid, the federal program for health assistance for the poor. About one-third of all property taxes go to the county’s 15-percent share of Medicaid expenses, which was roughly $5.8 million for fiscal 2005-2006. North Carolina is the only state that makes counties pay a fixed share of Medicaid expenses.

Pay raises

An 8-percent salary increase for teachers is included in the budget. Other state employees receive a 5.5-percent pay raise.

“The salary package is the best it has been in years,” Hill said.

Sales tax

The 7-percent sales tax decreases by one-fourth of a cent, Hill said. Consumers will now pay a 6.75 percent tax on purchases.

Landfill moratorium

The Senate slipped a two-year moratorium on new landfills into the budget, but Soles said the House took it out.

“We need to preserve the quality of life and slow down and take a good look at it (landfill regulations),” Soles said. Soles and Rep. Hill both have indicated they do not want N.C. to become a dumping ground for other states.

In May, several Sandyfield residents and statewide supporters protested construction of a landfill off Old Lake Road.

Special appropriations

The Columbus County Arts Council, the Chadbourn Depot, the N.C. Forestry Museum, the town of Sandyfield, and the Town of Bolton were among the list of entities looking for special appropriations in the budget.
They will have to wait for the long session, Hill said.

“This was a lean budget,” Hill said, with “absolutely no special funds for anyone.”
Gas tax

A cap on the gas tax did not make it into the budget either.

Nor did the proposal to raise minimum wage by $1. “It will have to be a stand-alone bill,” Hill said, noting there are a few weeks left before the short session is adjourned.

In other legislation:

The proposal to divide the judicial District 13, made up of Bladen, Columbus, and Brunswick counties, and designate county resident judgeships has moved swiftly through the Senate and House.

“That’s the fastest I believe I have ever seen (a bill pass),” Hill said of the Senate adopted legislation that was received in the House on June 29 and ratified the next day.

The judge for 13A (Columbus and Bladen) will be the current superior court judge for the district who lives in Bladen or Columbus County –currently Judge Bill Gore.

The judge for 13B (Brunswick) will be the current resident superior court judge who resides in Brunswick County –currently Judge Ola Lewis.

The proposal to divide the Superior Court district will not affect the district court or prosecutorial district. The district will remain under the jurisdiction of one district attorney’s office.

Four of the six district judgeships will require a county residency for candidates to run in the 2008 election.

The designated judgeships are for Bladen, the judgeship currently held by Nancy Phillips (a resident of Bladen County), for Brunswick, the judgeships currently held by Napoleon Barefoot Jr. and Marion Warren (residents of Brunswick County), and for Columbus, the judgeship currently held by Jerry Jolly (a resident of Columbus County). The two remaining judgeships, currently held by Doug Sasser and Thomas Aldridge, may be filled by candidates elected from any county within the district.

The heavily populated Brunswick outnumbers Columbus and Bladen combined, Soles said, leaving the possibility that Brunswick elect all judges for the district in the future.