Perdue's budget: Guilford Correctional Center could close
RALEIGH — The Guilford Correctional Center in McLeansville is a place that most of us would want to stay out of, although for some inmates and their families it’s a preferred destination.
But the 162 beds at the minimum-security prison are in high demand among prisoners nearing the end of their term who hope to serve their time closer to home.
“I get those calls two or three times a day,” said James Lacewell, the prison’s superintendent. “A lot of them are elderly parents that are ill and can’t drive the three or four hours to where their guy is now.”
That prison, and the nearly 60 jobs that go with it, would close if legislators follow through on recommendations contained in Gov. Bev Perdue’s proposed $21 billion budget.
North Carolina’s tax collections have been hammered by the sour economy. Sales and income taxes are well below projections, and to close the gap Perdue has suggested a package that spends less and raises some fees and taxes.
House and Senate leaders will draft their own version of the budget before they and the governor reconcile their differences. Perdue’s budget carries weight for a number of reasons, not the least because she will be responsible for putting the new tax and spending plan to work July 1 and because she wields veto authority.
The Guilford Correctional Center is one of seven prison system facilities Perdue has proposed closing and like many of the proposed budget cuts would affect multiple groups of people.
Families would have to drive farther to see loved ones in jail, prisoners might have to give up work release jobs, and prison employees would have to transfer to other facilities or look for work elsewhere.
“It’s certainly an older facility but the inmates like to come to it,” said Sen. Don Vaughan, a lawyer who does criminal defense work. “It has been very well run and is an asset for families in Greensboro that have folks that are incarcerated.”
That said, Vaughan added, “these are horrible times” and the General Assembly may go along with the cut.
Perdue said she was not reducing the total number of prison beds in the system but would end up using more of the capacity at other jails, including double-bunking some inmates in cells that hold one prisoner now.
Still, closing the prisons was a hard choice, Perdue said, because it would take jobs out of certain communities.
“The only way we can balance the budget is to make some of these tough choices,” she said.
Elsewhere around Guilford County, colleges like UNCG and A&T are still evaluating the cuts handed down by the governor. While their total budgets increased, they may have less flexibility in how they spend salary money.
The High Point Furniture Market’s $866,250 set aside for promising the twice-a-year show was left untouched, escaping a Commerce Department recommendation that it be cut.
Other local interests could be more affected by tax increases on alcohol and cigarettes Perdue has proposed. During a news conference Tuesday, Perdue justified those two “sin taxes” by saying that use of alcohol and cigarettes were optional and had health consequences that the state ended up paying for through its Medicaid program.
“Last time I looked, having a cold beer after you mowed your yard was not a sin,” said Mark Craig, president of R.H. Barringer Distributing in Greensboro.
Already, the state has the sixth-highest excise tax on alcohol. Perdue proposes adding a 5 percent surcharge.
Craig said the last time an excise tax on beer was raised in 1991, he ended up reducing his 235-person workforce to 190 workers because of sagging sales.
“It took me 10 years to get back to 235 employees,” Craig said. Raising taxes on beer again would have the same effect he said.
Perdue also proposes raising tobacco taxes the equivalent of $1 on a pack of cigarettes to $1.35. That’s on top of a federal tax hike that goes into effect April 1 that will raise the federal excise tax 62 cents to about $1 a pack.
“It’s a punitive tax on consumers of our product,” said Michael Shannon, a lobbyist for Greensboro-based Lorillard.
Rep. Earl Jones said he opposed the tobacco tax hike because it singled out one industry and because it had the potential to hurt jobs in his district.
“I don’t really believe in sin taxes,” Jones said. “All of these products are legal wether you’re talking about tobacco or alcohol.”
Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com
Accompanying Photos
Photo Caption: Gov. Bev Perdue
MORE ON THE BUDGET
PERDUE'S BUDGET
Gov. Bev Perdue’s proposed $21 billion budget is 3.2 percent smaller than the tax-and-spending plan that expires June 30. Changes she has recommended to the General Assembly include:
- State tobacco tax increases by $1 on a pack of cigarettes to $1.35 and a 5 percent surcharge on all alcoholic beverages on top of existing excise and sales taxes.
- Sales and income taxes are left unchanged.
- Teachers would get an average 1.8 percent salary increase; state workers’ pay would remain flat.
- Federal stimulus funds would pay for an increase in per-pupil spending; funding reduced for administration in Raleigh and in local school districts.
- 1,411 positions eliminated; some are vacant, and about a quarter are filled by state workers who could lose their jobs.
- Seven prison facilities eliminated; 50-bed Guilford County Correctional Center would be among them.
- Funding for Medicaid providers holds flat.
CAPITAL BEAT BLOG
Get daily news, video and audio from staff writer Mark Binker at the Capital Beat blog.
Related Links
News & Record Network Sites
Triad Weather
- Current Condition: MOSTLY CLOUDY
- Current Temperature: 54°
- UV Idx: 2
- Forecast High/Low: H: 58° L: 39°
User Tools
Search News-Record.com
closeSearch News & Record Article Archives
Not all of the newspaper's content appears online.
*There is a fee for downloading some older articles.
