When fiscal conservatives decry bureaucratic bloat, this is an example of what we mean. From the News & Observer comes this story of unchecked growth of government.
This decade has been good for associate vice chancellors at UNC-Chapel Hill. Their numbers have nearly doubled, from 10 to 19, and the money paid to them has more than tripled, to a total of nearly $4million a year.
The university now admits that some of these people were in jobs that were not vital. They represent the rapid management growth in the 16-campus UNC system that has added tens of millions of dollars to annual payrolls.
Now, with a tough economy and sinking tax revenues, UNC officials and state lawmakers say these jobs need cutting first.
Meantime, Gov. Beverly Perdue has signed into law a massive, nearly $1 billion tax hike as part of the new state budget. Many observers believe the university system as a whole is the big winner in the budget. Again. John Locke Foundation president John Hood explains why in a recent Carolina Journal column:
When the state budget catches cold, in other words, just about everyone comes down with it to some degree. But UNC seems to have a built-in immunity.
Why is that? Most state politicians reflexively put K-12 education at or near the top of the list whenever they are asked to state their budgetary priorities. Certainly Gov. Beverly Perdue does so every chance she gets, and probably not just because the NC Association of Educators is looking over her shoulder.
The reason state universities typically do better than other state agencies during tight budget years is the same reason they typically get one of the biggest increases in state spending during boom times – they enjoy disproportionate lobbying power. There are few more powerful lobbies in all of state politics.
