State Department of Transportation employees in Haywood County wasted thousands of dollars through poor management, questionable purchases and possibly outright fraud, a state report released Friday says.

An investigative report by the Office of State Auditor found $3.7 million in cost overruns on a highway project, $107,000 in questionable overtime payments to two employees and $31,427 in purchases of tools and items like $184 flashlights without following proper procedures.

The report quoted an unnamed DOT official involved in the equipment purchases as saying, “When people need something, I try to help them out.”

“Some people view me like Santa Claus,” the report quoted the official as saying.

Top DOT officials had no such holiday spirit after reading the report for the first time Friday.

Two senior officials said in a telephone interview they were embarrassed and disappointed by the report findings and will investigate further.

“Just rest assured we are going to move very quickly to find out more details and take appropriate action,” said Terry Gibson, state highway administrator. “When we find something’s wrong, we get after it. We get it fixed.”

Transportation Secretary Gene Conti accepted the findings in a response released with the report. He said DOT expects to take disciplinary action against some employees and that procedures will be changed to deal with problems the report details.

The auditor’s report says:
• A project to improve roads in the Wild Acres subdivision in Maggie Valley originally funded at $1.8 million had a $3.7 million cost overrun over eight months in part because DOT workers did not follow proper procedures for use of rental equipment.

Costs were not monitored as they should be, and the overrun meant money had to be moved from other projects, the report says.

• A DOT employee based in its Division 14 office in Jackson County who was responsible for rental equipment contracts did engineering work on the side for the owner of a company that got about half of Division 14’s rental business.

• Three DOT employees in Haywood County violated policies by spending $31,427 to buy tools from a vendor not on a state contract. The department could have gotten the tools for a 35 percent discount if they had been bought under the contract.

Seventeen of the items costing $1,854 cannot be accounted for.

• The $107,000 in overtime two DOT workers received amounted to 46 percent of their compensation from 2008-10 and was much greater than amounts paid other workers.

Further, “The number of reported work hours for these employees was consistently three to four hours more per day than the hours reported by the contractors” the two employees were supposed to be supervising, the report says.

• A DOT worker was supervised by his or her first cousin in violation of DOT policy.

The report does not give the names of any employees involved, although it identifies several by the positions they held during the period in question, roughly 2008-10.
Greer Beaty, the agency’s director of communications, said the department was researching Friday what information it could make available about the identities and disciplinary records of the employees involved.

Conti wrote that two DOT officials have already been disciplined in connection with the Maggie Valley project.

He wrote the transportation department is further investigating the tool purchases “and will take appropriate disciplinary action.” The employee responsible for rental equipment contracts “will be placed on investigatory leave to determine disciplinary action,” he wrote.

Some of the cost overruns on the Maggie Valley project “were due to the unique construction conditions and not totally related to (rental equipment) usage,” Conti’s memo says.

But, it says, “There was clearly a failure to monitor expenditures on the project and detect the project overruns in a timely manner” as a result of not following proper procedures.

Gibson says there is a lot he does not know about problems described in the report. The $184 price for flashlights, for instance, “looks expensive,” he said. “I personally would like to know more about that.”

Asked if he thinks the workers with the large overtime payments actually worked the hours reported, he responded, “That’s a great question.”

But he said he believes the problems in Haywood County and other parts of DOT’s Division 14 are “an isolated issue.”

“Our organization is very large. Like any large organization, you have things happen that you don’t want to happen,” he said
Some changes will extend across the department, which employs more than 10,000 people, Gibson said.

“It’s kind of embarrassing that we have an area of the state where we failed to follow our policies, and we just want to make sure that that’s not occurring elsewhere,” he said.

Beaty said while it is “disappointing” to learn of the conduct detailed in the audit, the department is grateful for the work of State Auditor Beth Wood’s office.

The report says Wood’s office had received reports of misconduct through the State Auditor’s Hotline.

Written by Mark Barrett
(Black Mountain News)
9:54 PM, Jun. 29, 2012

PINETOPS — Ask Lisa Moseley to describe the economy in this rural North Carolina town, and she’s quick with an answer. Without taking the cigarette from her lips, she spits a word not fit for print.

A moment later, her co-worker joins her outside the side door to Pat’s Salon and Spa for a smoke. Inside, the beauty shop’s chairs sit empty. Moseley asks her the same question. Same answer.

An hour’s drive west in Raleigh, the mood is much different. The leaders of the Republican-controlled state legislature use more positive descriptions for the state’s economic outlook. “Optimistic” is one favorite.

Republicans took power after the 2010 elections promising to improve the state’s lot with a mantra of “jobs, jobs, jobs.” It was their first term at the helm in more than a century.

As their two-year session ends this week, the question of whether Republicans fulfilled their pledge remains debatable. GOP leaders cite a litany of economic accomplishments. Balanced budgets. Regulatory reform. Business tax cuts. Energy exploration.

But tell this to the hairdressers who work in a county with the state’s fourth-highest unemployment rate, and it doesn’t register. In Edgecombe County, residents wait patiently for the tobacco and cotton crops but not jobs.

“Even though they are doing stuff, we aren’t seeing it here,” said a frustrated Michele Keel, 33, another hairdresser.

“It’s daily survival mode,” added Moseley, 45, as she burned through a second cigarette. “Now, going out to McDonald’s to eat off the dollar menu is a good day.”

House Speaker Thom Tillis recently said Republicans now “own the economy.” He pledged their policies will lead to more jobs over time, even though the national and international economic situation isn’t helping. He said bigger efforts to shock the state’s economy to life are coming next year with a major tax code overhaul. Proposals include eliminating personal and corporate income taxes.

How voters weigh the Republican message on the economy against their pocketbook reality is the ultimate question this election year, from the presidential election to state legislative races.

“Things haven’t changed that much,” Wells Fargo economist Mark Vitner said of the state’s condition. “We are at a frustratingly slow economic recovery.”

The GOP checklist

In discussing their economic policies, Republicans often use a farming metaphor the folks in Edgecombe understand: Fertile soil will produce jobs. With business-friendly policies and a low-tax environment, they argue, new companies will relocate to the state and existing ones will grow.

“I think we are seeing some green shoots,” said Tillis, the House leader and a business consultant. He still wears the same red “Think Jobs” wristband from the 2010 campaign. “I think there are reasons to be optimistic.”

In an interview last week, Tillis staked a claim on the state’s sputtering economy, even though his party blames Democrats for the current situation.

“This is our economy,” Tillis said. “I am fully confident. I want to own this economy. It is our responsibility. We did a good job of starting, and we’ve got a lot of unraveling to do of bad policies that have hamstrung us that cannot be undone overnight.”

His Senate counterpart, President Pro Tem Phil Berger, expressed more caution.

In looking back at their first session in power, both GOP leaders point to a laundry list of accomplishments they believe will help spur the state’s economy:

• Resolving a roughly $2 billion budget deficit.

• Allowing a temporary sales tax to expire.

• Creating a $3,500 tax break for business owners.

• Capping the gas tax at 37.5 cents a gallon.

• Implementing school literacy requirements.

• Reducing a variety of state regulations.

• Establishing a framework for natural gas drilling.

• Streamlining workers’ compensation and medical malpractice laws.

The state budget also provided $5 million to train long-term unemployed workers through the community college system, among other targeted programs.

Improving, yet lagging

When the GOP took control of the legislature in January 2011, the jobless rate sat at 10.5 percent, and the state ranked seventh-worst in the nation. In May, the unemployment rate was 9.4 percent. Republicans tout preliminary federal labor statistics showing about 20,000 new jobs in the past year.

But despite those gains, North Carolina’s rate now ranks fourth-worst among all states and the District of Columbia.

The state’s $385 billion gross domestic product improved slightly in 2010 and 2011, before and after Republicans took control, nationally ranking the state 15th last year in growth.

Republicans take partial credit for the improvements, as does Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue.

“You may not agree with it, but the fact of the matter is, everywhere you go you find if you put money back into the economy, you are going to find economic growth,” said Sen. Bob Rucho, a leading Republican, touting the 2011 tax cut package. “It puts more money into the pockets of individuals to buy goods and services … that causes a demand for new business and then the demand for new hires. …

“Is it back to where we want it to be? No,” Rucho continued. He blamed Perdue and the national economy as impediments. “What we have done is we put North Carolina into the position of being on the edge of the beginning of the recovery.”

The Charlotte Republican points to a study lawmakers requested from economists at UNC-Chapel Hill. It suggested that the expiration of the temporary 1-cent sales tax and business income tax breaks would create roughly 7,700 private sector jobs in the first year, with ripple effects adding thousands more indirect jobs. However, the loss in state revenue led to a loss of roughly 6,400 government jobs.

The N.C. Chamber of Commerce, which has acted as an ally to Republican lawmakers, touts the job-creation measures, saying they made the state more competitive.

‘Missed opportunities’

But state Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco said the legislature “missed so many opportunities” to boost the economy. In an interview, Crisco said he was concerned about changes to the state’s economic recruitment tools. He wanted to see the state budget fund programs aimed at hiring recent military veterans and improve workforce training.

“I’m afraid the (state’s) image has been tarnished because of the uncertainty,” Crisco said. “And they don’t get a good grade on marketing with some of the education cuts.”

Crisco, a Perdue appointee, said the legislature can’t take credit for the state’s job creation in recent months, instead crediting long-term programs in place before Republicans took power. “I think it’s premature to think that any of those programs are having an impact,” he said of the GOP agenda.

Republicans acknowledged that many of these proposals aren’t easy to explain to voters and the effects are not immediate. For instance, potential natural gas drilling won’t affect the workforce for roughly a decade. Top lawmakers declined to put a timeline on when their policies will lead to significant results.

Democrats dissatisfied

From their perspective, Democrats said Republicans didn’t do enough to revive the economy and spent too much time on controversial social issues, such as the constitutional marriage amendment, a measure in opposition to the national health care law and a bill to require waiting periods before abortions. And much of the economic legislation came in 2011, Democrats said, meaning the economy wasn’t the priority this year.

Even the economic measures Republicans pushed, Durham Democratic Rep. Larry Hall argued, weren’t designed to help the average person. He complained that GOP lawmakers passed a business income tax break as a way to help small companies, even though it also applies to large law firms and doctors, costing the state $336 million a year.

“We didn’t create jobs, and we didn’t support education,” Hall said. “And whatever else we did down here, we missed the priorities.”

Democrats sponsored a bill to give business owners with fewer than 50 employees extra tax breaks if they hire long-term unemployed workers in economically depressed areas. Rep. Ken Goodman, a Rockingham Democrat who sponsored the measure, voted with Republicans to cut government regulations and reduce medical malpractice lawsuits. But he wanted to go further with targeted tax breaks for areas hardest hit by the recession.

“That’s where jobs are needed. That’s where people are hurting,” Goodman said. “I just feel like we need to put more focus on the economy and job creation.”

The bill didn’t get a hearing.

Making do with less

In Edgecombe County, with its 13.7 percent unemployment rate, the Republican cuts to state budgets are easier to see than the measures designed to create jobs.

This year’s state budget, if it survives the governor’s veto, eliminates money for a youth development center in Edgecombe and its roughly 60 jobs. Additional cuts to education and the state’s Rural Economic Development Center, which helps bring jobs to local communities, also particularly hurt the area.

“We certainly understand they have to make cuts, but when you do it in an area that is so important to the viability of a community … that’s real to us. That’s not theoretical,” said Greg Bethea, the Pinetops town administrator.

Across the street from town hall, the women at Pat’s Salon chart the economy in the appointment book. A full book, a good economy. Now folks are waiting longer to schedule haircuts, color treatments and nail appointments. The book is largely empty.

Hairdresser Christian Langley, 31, worked as a BB&T banking account manager in Rocky Mount making about $60,000 a year until she was laid off three years ago. A new job didn’t come easy.

Her unemployment benefits expired, and she went back to school to study cosmetology. Four months ago, she took a job at Pat’s making about $100 a week.

“It’s just something to help. Another tool in the bag,” she said, lighting a cigarette.

And she considers herself a lucky one. She has a job.

Staff writer Lynn Bonner contributed to this report.

By John Frank
(News & Observer)
Published Sat, Jun 30, 2012 10:40 PM
Modified Sun, Jul 01, 2012 07:00 AM

Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed legislation on Sunday that would have paved the way for North Carolina to drill for natural gas through a water and chemical intensive process known as fracking. It is the Democratic governor’s third veto of major Republican-backed legislation — all in the past four days.

Perdue said in a statement that she did not think the legislation went far enough to protect the environment.

“I support energy policies that create jobs and lower costs for businesses and families,” Perdue said. “Our drinking water and the health and safety of North Carolina’s families are too important; we can’t put them in jeopardy by rushing to allow fracking without proper safeguards.

The veto of Senate Bill 820 requires the House and Senate to attempt an override with three-fifths majorities. In the Senate, that would mean at least 30 votes and in the House at least 72 if all the members participated. Neither side had reached those numbers in approving the legislation.

House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger, in a joint statement, called the veto a “flip-flop.”

“The General Assembly incorporated many of the governor’s recommendations in a bipartisan plan to begin developing the regulatory framework for affordable, clean energy alternatives,” they said. “We are disappointed, but not surprised, that when decision time neared, she once again caved to her liberal base rather than support the promise of more jobs for our state.”

Environmental groups praised Perdue minutes after the veto became public.

“Gov. Perdue stood up for our drinking water today,” said Elizabeth Ouzts, Environment North Carolina state director. “She stood up for our air quality and our rural landscapes, and against this dangerous approach to fracking.”

Fracking draws controversy. While it has generated jobs and business in states with sizeable natural gas deposits, questions about the environmental risks remain. Fracking involves drilling down and then horizontally into natural gas deposits that are trapped in shale, and then pulverizing the rock with a mix of water and chemicals to free up the natural gas.

Republican leaders contend that allowing fracking could pave the way for more jobs, and less reliance on foreign energy supplies. Environmentalists, who have had a majority of Democrat lawmakers on their side, say fracking poses great harm to public and private water supplies and the state’s natural gas deposits do not justify the effort.

Three weeks ago, the U.S. Geological Survey produced an estimate of far less natural gas in the state than state geologists had previously thought existed. The federal estimate said the state has 1.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Deep River Basin, which covers 150 miles from Durham to the South Carolina border. If the estimate is accurate, the deposits amount to about 5.6 years of usage based on 2010 consumption in North Carolina.

A state study found that fracking could be done in an environmentally safe way, but only under tightly regulated conditions.

Rep. Mitch Gillespie, a McDowell County Republican who co-authored the legislation, said the bill met the conditions set out in that study. He said he thought he had Perdue’s backing after agreeing to include more money for staff to handle fracking matters, only to find she had several additional conditions.

Gillespie said he tried to meet two of those additional conditions in a subsequent bill, but others either cost too much or were not reasonable.

“It’s hard to deal with somebody if they are constantly changing their deals,” he said.

Perdue issued an executive order in May that outlined her approach to allowing fracking in an environmentally safe way that included input from health, environment and public safety officials. The state legislation put those decisions in the hands of a panel of 12 voting members that includes six with ties to mining or natural gas production.

She said in her statement that she is not opposed to fracking and she had sought additional changes to the legislation.

In recent days, Perdue has vetoed a $20.2 billion state budget bill, largely because she thinks it does not do enough for education, and legislation that severely weakens a law intended to make sure those given the death penalty did not receive it as a result of racial bias. Both of those bills are scheduled for veto override votes this week.

By Dan Kane
(News and Observer)
Published Sun, Jul 01, 2012 06:55 PM
Modified Mon, Jul 02, 2012 06:18 AM

Falling gas prices are expected to send a record number of Americans on the roads for Independence Day travel. AAA estimates that the 42.3 million motorists will take a trip of more than 50 miles during Independence Day week. If they drive down the stretch of I-95 in North Carolina they will find their ride quite bumpy and the road quite narrow.

This highway, which serves as North Carolina’s front yard, is poorly maintained and choked with billboards. Someone isn’t paying a fair share to use our roads, especially I-95.

It’s not the drivers of North Carolina. The state Department of Transportation has an operating budget of nearly $4 billion a year. About a quarter of that comes from federal funds, but the rest comes right out of the pockets of the people of North Carolina, much of it from the tax on motor fuel.

According to AAA, North Carolina’s average gas price is currently the highest in the Southeast. According to the American Petroleum Institute, North Carolina’s rate of 38.9 cents per gallon for motor fuel – set in January of 2012 – was the highest in the nation.

In large part, these gas taxes are high because North Carolina has the second largest network of state-maintained roads in the nation. All road users are paying the state’s costs of building and maintaining those roads, with one notable exception – the corporations that own billboards along those roads.

As we consider increasing tolls on drivers and capping gas taxes, it makes little sense that the General Assembly has allowed one group of highway users – the billboard industry – to enjoy a huge corporate subsidy.

Billboard subsidies

While the people of North Carolina pay serious money to maintain the beautiful roads of our state, they are giving a large corporate subsidy to billboard companies. These companies charge for ad space on roads built and maintained by the taxpayer.

Subsidizing ad sales for publicly traded corporations like CBS Corp., Lamar Advertising Co. and Clear Channel Communications on North Carolina’s roads makes little sense when North Carolina cannot afford to maintain those same roads.

The DOT recently has begun to study how to pay for widening the I-95 corridor and bringing it up to modern safety standards. They have estimated that if the work is financed by current tax policies alone, affected counties’ share of road dollars would be tied up for decades.

The I-95 corridor is the most heavily-plastered billboard alley in North Carolina. Many of the signs are advertising out-of-state attractions and they do nothing to introduce visitors to the state’s natural beauty. The DOT should look to making billboards pay their fair share for repairing their I-95 gravy train.

As our roads become more congested, only one user group profits more without paying more – billboard companies. There are more than 7,000 permitted billboards on North Carolina’s state roads.

Under the current fee structure, each billboard company must pay the state $60 per year per billboard. In order to chop down all the public’s trees in front of their billboards, they have to pay another $200. Those fees are not sufficient to cover the costs of administering the programs, according to the DOT.

Any typical driver will pay more to the state for using our roads than a typical billboard will.

Billboard companies have plenty left over to donate to political candidates for North Carolina office – more than $160,000 in the years 2005 through 2008, according to a report done by Democracy North Carolina.

Pay for views

Rather than tolling the drivers, we should be tolling the billboard companies for every car that passes. Service station owners in North Carolina have to absorb some of the cost of the state’s gas tax to remain competitive with stations in neighboring states.

North Carolina drivers already pay far more in taxes and fees to support the roads than drivers in surrounding states. Subsidizing billboards is unfair to North Carolinians whose tax dollars support the traffic that give the billboards value.

Gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory recently chastised the General Assembly for increasing that subsidy last session. His opponent, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, should do likewise.
All who use the roads of the “Good Roads” state should pay their fair share. Toll the billboards, not the people.

By Ryke Longest
(Fayetteville Observer)
Published: 10:26 AM, Sun Jul 01, 2012

Durham has edged out Winston-Salem as the state’s fourth-largest city — by 867 people, according to new estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The bureau said Winston-Salem grew 1.2 percent from 2010 to 2011, adding 2,768 people to reach an estimated population of 232,385.

During the same period, Durham added 4,922 people, and its population stood at 233,252. Durham experienced a 2.2 percent growth.

“It doesn’t surprise me that Durham would be overtaking us since they were so close to us in 2010,” said Paul Norby, the director of the City-County Planning Department in Forsyth County. “I would say that the Triad area in general has had a tougher time than the Triangle and Charlotte, even though they have obviously experienced the recession, too.”

It’s not the first time the two cities have swapped places. Durham edged out Winston-Salem in the 2000 Census by about 1,300 people. A round of annexations put Winston-Salem back in fourth place in 2007, although it took a challenge to the estimates for Winston-Salem to nail down its position.

The 2010 Census showed Winston-Salem with 229,617 people – about 1,300 folks more than in Durham.
Durham Mayor Bill Bell said his city hasn’t done any annexation recently.

“I’ve got to change my speech,” Bell said. “My standard speech is that we are fifth behind Winston-Salem.”

The Census Bureau said Texas dominated the list of fast-growing cities nationwide. Among cities with at least 50,000 people, Texas cities held 13 of the top 15 slots.

Cary was the fastest-growing North Carolina city, with 139,633 people, increasing 3.3 percent between 2010 and 2011.

Among the 20 largest U.S. cities, only Austin, Texas, jumped rank, passing San Francisco to become the 13th largest city.

Charlotte added almost 20,000 people between 2010 and 2011 and remained the state’s largest city, the Census Bureau said. Raleigh added about 13,000 people and stayed in second place.

Norby said he was surprised that Greensboro, which increased 1.4 percent, grew faster than Winston-Salem. Unemployment has been lower in Forsyth than in Guilford, he said.

In the Triad, Burlington was the fastest-growing city, increasing 1.9 percent over its 2010 population to cross the 50,000 mark. The other fastest-growing towns were all in Alamance and Guilford counties and increased about 1.5 percent.

“If you have a two-wage-earner household in Burlington and Alamance you can be looking for work in the Triangle or the Triad,” Norby said. “They are reachable by commuting to either.”

Most of the places in Forsyth County grew a little slower – 1.2 to 1.3 percent was the norm – with Walkertown growing the fastest at 1.3 percent.

Echoing a trend that was noted in county estimates released earlier this year, most towns and cities in the rest of Northwest North Carolina experienced little or no growth. Norby said he suspects that people in the outlying areas may be moving to Forsyth to be nearer to work in an era of high gas prices.

Winston-Salem officials say they are setting the stage for solid growth that hasn’t taken hold yet.
“I think our day is coming,” Norby said. “Keep in mind that the Triangle area is several years ahead of us in terms of their transition from the old-style economy and toward the education, knowledge-based and research-oriented economy.”

Gayle Anderson, the president and chief executive of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, said that while being fourth place is “an ego thing” and not that significant, it would still be better not to slip.
“I have always said that relatively slow but steady growth is better for the long haul,” she said. “That way, you don’t outgrow your infrastructure.”

Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines said his city and Durham “have been jockeying back and forth for a good while.”

“The main thing that most companies are looking for is talented workers,” Joines said. “When a company is looking at the Triad, they figure they are going to draw from an entire region of 1.7 million people. That helps us.”

Joines had a message for Bell, whom he has known for years.

“Just tell him that we will catch up with him next year,” he said.

By: WESLEY YOUNG (Winston-Salem Journal)
Published: June 28, 2012
Updated: June 28, 2012 – 12:16 AM

Struggles with unemployment, banks and a housing market slump can’t keep people away from Charlotte — the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday ranked it one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.

From mid-2010 to mid-2011, Charlotte’s population increased by more than 19,600, ranking it ninth in gains in raw numbers among all cities nationwide.

The new statistics aren’t a surprise, said Tony Crumbley, the vice president of research for the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.

“We’ve grown through major recessions,” Crumbley said. “A lot of people didn’t move – people couldn’t move, couldn’t sell their homes – and this type of thing is an indication that people who are able to move are still choosing to move to Charlotte.”

He said the city’s high quality of life continues to attract newcomers.

“You can go to the mountains and you can go to the beach,” he said. “We’ve got it here.”

He also said the relatively low cost of living – which is 93 percent of the national average in Charlotte – helps.

Charlotte’s population now stands at 751,087, according to the Census Bureau estimates.

New York City, which led the country by adding nearly 70,000 new residents, was the only other city among the top 10 located on the East Coast. Thirteen of the 15 fastest-growing large cities (with a population of 50,000 or more) were in Texas.

Despite Charlotte’s numeric increase, several North Carolina cities grew at a faster pace. While Charlotte’s population increased nearly 2.7 percent from mid-2010 to mid-2011, Cary’s population increased 3.24 percent and Raleigh’s population increased 3.1 percent.

“Raleigh is an attractive place for young professionals,” said Jonathan Kozar, a research assistant at UNC Charlotte’s Urban Institute, adding that the concentration of universities in that area and the Research Triangle Park are major attractors.

He said Charlotte attracts people with college degrees as well, but that the wealthy of Charlotte have given rise to a service industry that isn’t as strong in Raleigh.

Charlotte newcomers come in all stripes, said Owen Furuseth, UNC Charlotte’s associate provost of metropolitan studies and extended academic studies.

“I don’t think we can pigeonhole it and say there’s one stream coming into Charlotte,” Furuseth said. “It’s a very diverse stream of newcomers, which I think is good for the long-term growth of the city.”

That diverse stream of newcomers includes Latinos, domestically and internationally, which Furuseth said some researchers are calling “Hispanic hyper-growth.”

“It’s no longer just single men, but families who are coming here because of opportunities and quality of life,” he said.

At the same time, the sluggish economy has slowed the Latino influx overall, Kozar said.

Furuseth said a large number of college-educated Asians, both domestically and internationally, have been moving to Charlotte for job opportunities. Retiring African Americans whose families moved north during the Great Migration are another group appearing in Charlotte.

“People are coming back to their roots,” Furuseth said. “They’re coming back because they know (Charlotte) has a vibrant, large African American community they can be absorbed into.”

And there’s a big pull for young people.

“There really are not that many jobs considering the unemployment rate is relatively high,” Kozar said. “It’s not the booming town it was, but it’s still attractive, particularly for young people who are out of college and looking for new jobs. It’s an attractive place to live, and Charlotte won’t lose that.”

by Lindsay Ruebens and Gavin Off
(Charlotte Observer)
Posted on June 28, 2012 at 2:24 PM
Updated today at 2:24 PM

Rep. Danny McComas says he hopes that there is still time during the current legislative session to extend the state’s film tax incentives. McComas, D-New Hanover, said extending the credit could help North Carolina score the sequel to Marvel Studios’ 2011 film “Captain America: The First Avenger.” The production company, he said, is pushing for the legislation. According to its website, Marvel has announced the sequel will be released April 4, 2014. The proposal, though, appears to lack support in the Senate. Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Tuesday that his intention was to stick to a plan to have all tax-credit programs end effective Jan. 1, 2014. Current state law prohibits film companies from receiving credits for any qualifying expenses incurred on or after Jan. 1, 2014. Extending the credit for a year would allow film companies that spend money in the state in 2014 to receive the credit. Rucho is expected to be at the forefront of the Republican-controlled General Assembly’s tax-modernization movement in 2013. Ending all of tax programs at the same time, Rucho said, would allow all new tax programs to start “on the same cycle.” Asked whether an exception could be made for the film program, Rucho responded: “I can’t see it happening.” But McComas, who is serving his final days after 18 years in the state House, said he remained hopeful that film incentives could be extended in the session’s final days, when “a lot of strange things happen.” He said he couldn’t immediately say what piece of legislation the film incentives language could be added to. “It’s coming,” he said. “I can’t tell you yet where it’s going to be.”

by Patrick Gannon
(WILMINGTON STAR-NEWS)
06/27/12

Time appears to have run out for a bill to regulate and tax video sweepstakes in North Carolina. House Speaker Thom Tillis said he doesn’t believe there will be time to take up a bill giving legal sanction to the games. The legislation was discussed for a second straight day in the House Finance Committee on Wednesday, but no vote was taken. The legislation would enact state, county and city privilege taxes on sweepstakes establishments and terminals. Proceeds would mainly go toward public school funding, but also miscellaneous tax breaks. A case examining the constitutionality of an earlier legislative ban of the games is pending before the state Supreme Court.

(THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
06/27/12

A House committee gave its OK to legislation that would prohibit state and local government tax collectors from hiring private tax auditors who are paid based on the taxes assessed. Bill supporters told members of the House Commerce and Job Development Committee that tax auditing based on contingency awards encourages aggressive and unfair assessments on taxpayers. “You need people without a financial motive,” said lobbyist and former state Rep. Chuck Neely. Some local governments employ the private tax auditors to find and establish values for equipment and other property, especially that owned by businesses. Perry James, chief financial officer for the city of Raleigh, said private auditors also are essential to assessments for utility franchise taxes and business privilege taxes, particularly for non-traditional businesses such as those operating on-line. “The business community doesn’t look like it used to,” James said. But Rep. Harold Brubaker, R-Randolph, called the contingency awards a “I-gotcha” approach to tax collection. “No one would want to go before a judge (paid) based on how many convictions they got,” added Rep. Edgar Starnes, R-Caldwell. The bill now goes to the House floor.

(THE INSIDER)
06/28/12

The tug-of-war between the executive and legislative branches over the state budget continued on Wednesday, with legislative leaders threatening to leave town without adjusting the two-year budget if a veto occurs and it cannot be overridden. House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger downplayed the effects of the additional spending called for by Gov. Beverly Perdue. Speaking at a morning news conference, Tillis said the governor was putting approval of the budget at risk over a fraction of the total $20.2 billion budget. Both men said that Perdue’s proposal to spend another $100 million would dangerously deplete state reserves. “Make no mistake about it. We are going home next week,” Tillis said.

(THE INSIDER)
06/28/12