RALEIGH — Gov. Mike Easley’s proposed state budget uses higher taxes to close the vast majority of an $1.1 billion budget deficit, itself created primarily by the governor’s proposed new spending of nearly $1 billion next year, according to a preliminary analysis by the John Locke Foundation. Joe Coletti, fiscal policy analyst at the Raleigh-based...
RALEIGH — Privatization, sustainable development, local budgeting, and performance management will be among the issues discussed this week during a series of workshops for local government officials to be held in Wilmington, Research Triangle Park, Charlotte, and Asheville. The Center for Local Innovation, a project of the Raleigh-based John Locke Foundation, is the host of...
RALEIGH — A major cause of North Carolina’s continuing budget woes is rapid growth in Medicaid spending, where the state has some of the highest expenditures in the South, according to a new analysis published Wednesday by the John Locke Foundation. Joseph Coletti, a fiscal policy analyst for the Raleigh-based think tank, wrote in a...
RALEIGH — Local taxes and fees in Charlotte totaled about $2,132 per resident in 2003, ranking North Carolina’s largest city No. 1 for local government costs among major cities for the fourth year in a row, according to a new report from the Raleigh-based Center for Local Innovation. Wilmington, Durham, Asheville, Hickory, and Chapel Hill...
RALEIGH — As another large state budget deficit has some urging North Carolina lawmakers to “reform” the tax code to confiscate additional hundreds of millions of dollars, the John Locke Foundation released a new report on tax policy at a January 3 luncheon in Raleigh. Dr. Roy Cordato, vice president for research at the John...
RALEIGH — Lawmakers are reportedly planning to discuss an expensive state program next year to respond to state court decisions in the Leandro case, but many appear to be operating under misperceptions about school-funding disparities in North Carolina and what the state constitution requires, according to a new report published Thursday by the John Locke...
RALEIGH — The North Carolina electorate took the opportunity of the 2004 elections to display its split personality once again — delivering an overwhelming vote to President George W. Bush and a surprisingly comfortable win to Republican Senate candidate Richard Burr while also giving Gov. Mike Easley a decisive re-election victory and Democrats complete control...
RALEIGH — North Carolinians appear to be more committed to voting this November than they have been in the past four election cycles, but there is no clear consensus on some important political issues, according to a statewide poll released Thursday by the John Locke Foundation. JLF’s Agenda 2004 poll found that about 85 percent...
RALEIGH – North Carolina should fund repairs of its deteriorating state highways not with new taxes but by ending wasteful road projects, according to a comprehensive new report from the John Locke Foundation on highway expenditures and priorities. The study reviewed 349 major road projects constructed between 1990 and 2003. About $2.5 billion was spent...
RALEIGH – Two reports released Tuesday by the North Carolina Education Alliance provide compelling new findings about the state’s diverse and growing charter school movement, demonstrating that charter schools are meeting a previously unmet need in our state for educational options. Charter Schools in North Carolina: Innovation in Education describes the striking progress of the...
CHARLOTTE – National experts on education reform will speak Monday and Tuesday at luncheons in Charlotte and Raleigh to discuss charter schools and parental choice in education – issues likely to play in key role in political debates during the 2004 election season. Both events will be hosted by the North Carolina Education Alliance, which...
RALEIGH — State lawmakers in Raleigh are currently debating bills that would authorize at least $760 million in new state debts — for land acquisition and for proposed University of North Carolina buildings — without a public vote. A new report from the John Locke Foundation examines trends in North Carolina state debt since 1996...