On the front page of this morning’s News & Observer, Paul Meyer of the NC Association of County Managers got to mislead voters about Medicaid’s effect on county budgets and oversell the need for new taxes.
Several issues are motivating counties to ask for more taxes. They include fast-paced growth that is straining schools and water systems, and paying for residents’ Medicaid.
“The Medicaid burden is keeping counties from paying for infrastructure,” said Paul Meyer, the [county] commissioners association’s lawyer and lobbyist, who addressed the county officials. [emphasis added]
Meyer lobbied the legislature to give counties authority to levy the land transfer tax. Seven counties in the northeastern part of the state already have the authority.
Reporter Leah Friedman said she was aware that the state was taking over the counties’ Medicaid burden but that Meyer was talking about the past effect on counties. Friedman, however, never mentions the state’s Medicaid relief in her article. This relief guarantees counties have at least $500,000 more available to spend each year.
Meyer lobbied for that, too.
