While the Orange County commission ponders how it can possibly survive and do all of its good work without a sale tax hike and/or a property tax rate hike — after all, who among us can do without the $45,000 breast feeding consultant that’s being paid with taxpayer money — the Chapel Hill Town Council is collectively wringing its hands over the dastardly Republicans in the legislature who have the audacity to actually face up to the fiscal mess in North Carolina due to spending and taxing of previous legislatures. Chapel Hill council members met with Orange County legislative Democrats and, according to this Herald-Sun story, simply whined, with House Minority Leader Joe Hackney characterizing impending funding cuts as “attempts to dismantle educational institutions that have taken decades to build.”
Meantime, the grownups at the John Locke Foundation are recommending a budget plan to address North Carolina’s estimated $2.4 billion budget hole and put the state back on a track toward fiscal solvency. JLF’s Joe Coletti discusses the key elements of his plan in this brief interview. You’ll find his complete plan here.
