Secondary roads bill shelved for now (N&O)

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on May 6, 2009 – 3:07pm.

Legislation that could change the state Department of Transportation's relationship with North Carolina cities has been shelved while DOT and city leaders try to become better friends.

DOT officials drafted the measure, which would make changes aimed at easing the department's cash flow problems and reducing state maintenance costs for city streets, Bruce Siceloff reports.

One provision would reclassify an estimated 4,700 miles of minor state-maintained roads inside city and town limits across the state, and start a process of shifting them to local government responsibility. Local elected officials have lobbied against that plan because it did not include money to cover the added local road maintenance expense.

The bills also would change a once-per-year schedule used by DOT to distribute so-called Powell Bill funds for street maintenance costs to local towns and cities. DOT wants to spread out the payments to twice a year.

“We've parked that bill for the year — we're not going to run it,” Sen. Clark Jenkins of Edgecombe County, sponsor of the Senate measure, said today.

Julie White, director of the N.C. Metropolitan Coalition, which represents the state's larger cities, said her group and the League of Municipalities are talking with DOT leaders.

“We offered last week to do what we can to help DOT's cash flow problem with regard to Powell Bill funds,” White said. It will take more time to find agreement on transferring state roads to the cities, she said.

“The way the law is already written, individual cities can sit down now with DOT and negotiate the transfer of roads, and some of our cities do. Any broader dialogue about transfer of roads needs to include new revenues, too. I think that's a much longer-term matter, given state revenues and the state of the economy.”

Last year 506 towns and cities received $145 million in Powell Bill street funds, an average of $1,700 per mile for the 21,332 miles of streets they maintain.

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Bills make road upkeep a political hot potato (N&O)

Published: May 05, 2009 02:00 AM
By Bruce Siceloff, Staff Writer

The twin towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill rarely see eye-to-eye with the state Department of Transportation, so it was no surprise last month when Carrboro scorned the DOT's plan to widen part of Smith Level Road on the south side of town. The surprise came in the DOT's reply to Carrboro: We'll build Smith Level Road your way, if you'll take it off our hands. The offer echoed a new argument being advanced this year in the state legislature.

Two bills would have city and county governments take over local roads, which have been a state chore since the 1930s.

A simple reason that North Carolina has a hard time paying for highways and bridges is that the DOT handles an unusually large share of all road mileage within its borders.

In most other states, county taxpayers are responsible for secondary roads. Inside North Carolina towns and cities, municipal governments maintain some streets and the DOT maintains others.

A solution to make life easier for the DOT has been proposed by Sens. Bob Rucho and Dan Clodfelter of Mecklenburg County. Their bill would have the counties take over all secondary roads — about 64,000 of the 79,000 highway miles now maintained by the state.

The counties would get some of the gas-tax money collected for the DOT, but they would have to jack up local property taxes to cover the rest of what would be a huge new expense. And they would have to learn to build and maintain roads.

DOT leaders say they aren't pushing the county roads bill – but they have proposed another measure aimed at towns and cities.

The second bill, sponsored by Sen. Clark Jenkins of Edgecombe County, would reclassify an estimated 4,700 miles of minor DOT-maintained streets inside town and city limits.

It would start shifting these streets to local governments. The move would occur only where the city governments agreed, and only after the DOT brought the roads into good shape. It's not clear how cities would pay for this.

“The objective is not to push roads away from DOT to somebody else,” said Jim Trogdon, chief operating officer for the DOT. He said the DOT just wants to start a conversation with cities about which roads each side should take care of.

“And then let's develop a process and a revenue source that supports that outcome – whether it would be with us or with them.”

Jenkins said he won't push the bill unless the legislature finds a way to help cities pay for it.

“I have no intention of transferring part of the state road system to a city and not transfer the adequate funding source to maintain it,” Jenkins said.

Local leaders, including Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton, are lobbying against the proposal.

“What it amounts to is shifting the tax burden for these roads onto local property taxpayers,” Chilton said. “It would mean just huge tax increases.”

The bill would shift about five miles of state-maintained streets in Carrboro to the responsibility of the town, which already tends 39 miles. Raleigh, which maintains 1,014 miles of streets, would pick up 90 miles.

On Smith Level Road, the Carrboro aldermen liked the DOT's proposal to replace a stoplight with a roundabout, easing the flow of cars and buses at Carrboro High School. They agreed with the plan to line Smith Level with sidewalks and bicycle lanes.

But — as with other road work around Carrboro and Chapel Hill — the town balked at adding more lanes for cars.

“DOT traditionally has taken a very different view than we have about what would be an appropriate thing to do,” Chilton said. “It would be nice to have more say as to how these roads are built.

“But we don't have more money on hand than DOT has to do this. We have less money.”

Enlighten the Road Worrier: blogs.newsobserver.com/crosstown or 919-829-4527 or [email protected].

State Looks to Shift Road Maintenance to Cities

RALEIGH, N.C. — State officials are trying to free themselves of billions of dollars in road maintenance projects by shifting the burden to cities and counties across North Carolina. Three bills pending in the General Assembly would make cities and counties responsible for maintaining thousands of miles of roads now handled by the state Department of Transportation.

WATCH VIDEO

Raleigh upset over road-funding proposal

“Most cities, frankly, do a better job of maintaining their local city streets than we do,” said Calvin Leggett, manager of program development for the DOT. “Things like neighborhood streets (and) cul-de-sacs, we don't spend a lot of money maintaining those, but it does divert our focus from the arterial routes and highways we need to be maintaining.”

Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, who co-sponsored Senate Bill 758, said the effort isn't a way to trim state spending in the face of a projected $3 billion budget deficit. Rather, he said, it's a way to even the playing field between state and local government.

“It would allow the state to focus on bigger projects,” Rucho said, citing interstates and urban loop highways.

Wake County spokeswoman Sarah Williamson said the county doesn't even have a public works department to handle road maintenance if it had to assume responsibility for area roads from the state.

Together with Senate Bill 1001 and House Bill 881, Rucho's bill would add 180 miles of roadway to the 997 miles already maintained by Raleigh street crews. Mayor Charles Meeker said he doesn't like the added responsibility without any guarantee of extra state money to help pay for paving and pothole repair.

“Cities and counties across North Carolina are concerned that these thoroughfares will be transferred to them without funds for maintenance,” Meeker said. “The city does not have extra money any more than another city or county across the state does. If this responsibility is passed on without adequate funds, that would be a major problem for us.”
The Raleigh City Council is expected to vote on a resolution Tuesday to oppose the bills.

Proponents of the change said the current road-maintenance system puts too much pressure on the state and needs to be fixed.

“It's a case where everyone's having budget complaints – the city's having shortfalls, (and) we're having shortfalls. There's really not enough money for anyone to do what they would like to do,” Leggett said.

“We're collapsing on top of ourselves,” Rucho said. “Doing nothing is not an option.”

Road funding bill has officials worried over what 'may' happen
April 17-23, 2009
The Business Journal

A proposed bill in the General Assembly which could alter how state road work is paid for has Triad officials worried that they could lose millions of dol lars in funding – and, at the same time, be required to take on new road maintenance responsibilities.

If passed, the bill introduced by Sen. Clark Jen kins, D-Edgecombe, would change state law to say that the state “may” provide cities with annual street maintenance funding. The current law says the state “shall” provide that funding,. also known as Powell Bill funding. The money comes from a fuel tax.

Mike Mabe, street maintenance superintendent for Greensboro, said the word “may” leaves the door open for the state to deny the funding to fill a budget shortfall. Greensboro, he said, is expecting about $6.8 million in Powell Bill funding this ,year, which goes to needs such as resurfacing roads.

Jenkins' bill, which has a counterpart in the House, also has the attention of Lanny Rhew, Burlington's city engineer. He is concerned about language in the bill that would split up Powell Bill payments into bian nual installments. Cities now get the money as one annual payment. Such a change, Rhew said, could mean that even if the city got its first payment, it could lose its second round of funds if the state's budget were to come up short. Burlington typically gets about $1.5 million in Powell Bill funds each year, he said.

Calvin Leggett, manager of the Program Develop ment Branch for the state Department of Transpor tation, which crafted the proposed language, said the bill isn't designed to allow the state to take away Powell Bill funding in a budget shortfall. He said it's meant to allow DOT to split up such payments into installments – the issue that concerns Burlington's Rhew.

“Maybe we need to go back and reread that, the way it's written, to make sure it's saying what it's intended to say,” Leggett said.

At the moment, that's slim consolation to local of ficials. Said Mabe in Greensboro: “Once it's written down, who's to say, three years down the road, ev eryone gets in another crunch and a future highway administrator dusts off the policy, and says, 'This says we 'may' pay them; my recommendation is we don't.'”

The proposed bill also pushes to transfer the responsibility for secondary roads outside the inter state and highway systems from the state to cities, without additional funding. Municipalities would be required to cover the maintenance, landscaping and repair work for such roads. How many miles of road would be affected isn't clear. DOT has not calculated the total, and local of ficials said they aren't certain which roads would fall under the state's proposed guidelines.

Leggett said the intent is to allow DOT to focus on major roads, instead of repairing smaller streets. Bob Patterson, public works director with the city of Burlington, said he estimates that around 37 miles of road could become city responsibility. While that would not be an enormous addition to the 237 miles the city already handles, Burlington's current Powell funding of $1.5 million already isn't enough for resurfacing needs, Patterson said.

Reach LAURA YOUNGS at (336) 370-2913 or [email protected].

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Panel urges tax reform
Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on April 14, 2009 – 9:09am.

The Institute for Emerging Issues says its time to revamp state taxes.

A committee created by the Raleigh-based think tank said Tuesday that the General Assembly should pass tax reform this year to help keep North Carolina business-friendly.

The committee said sales taxes and corporate and personal income taxes should be reduced, while exemptions and loopholes are eliminated.

Former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot, who ran for governor as a Republican, co-chaired the committee. He said local governments should have more options to raise their own funds.

Senate Democrats are considering whether to lower tax rates while taxing some services. (AP)

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Bills would transfer secondary road maintenance to counties or cities

By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun
[email protected]
Apr 4, 2009

DURHAM — Legislators have introduced three bills in the General Assembly that would force cities or counties to take responsibility for maintaining thousand of miles of road now controlled by the N.C. Department of Transportation.

One of the two bills, introduced by state Sen. Clark Jenkins, D-Edgecombe, would shift the job to cities and was drafted by officials at DOT. The agency is supporting the measure, said Jon Nance, its chief engineer for operations.

The other bill, sponsored by two Mecklenburg County legislators, Republican Sen. Bob Rucho and Democratic Sen. Dan Clodfelter, calls for assigning maintenance to counties in 2011.

The switch in each case would target so-called secondary roads — essentially, those outside the interstate or numbered U.S. and N.C. route systems.

Rucho said his bill would affect about 64,000 miles of the roughly 79,000 miles of roads DOT now maintains. Included in the switch to counties he and Clodfelter are proposing would be in-city roads the state now maintains.

Jenkins' bill targets in-city DOT-controlled roads only and, thanks to the way it defines roads eligible for state maintenance, in some cases would force the state to take over roads now belonging to cities, said Mark Ahrendsen, Durham city transportation manager.

But the measure's net effect would be to reduce DOT's maintenance burden. In Durham, the city government would likely add 60 to 70 miles of road to its already backlogged maintenance program when the switch Jenkins proposes takes effect in 2015.

State Rep. Nelson Cole, D-Rockingham, introduced a parallel bill in the N.C. House that echoes the Jenkins/DOT proposal.

Rucho and Nance said the idea is to pare DOT's responsibilities so it can focus on the upkeep of the state's major highways.

Because DOT is responsible for so much road mileage now, “the system is failing, OK?” Rucho said. “If you look back on some of the other states that are doing this, the one that are doing it well are doing it mainly by focusing on the primary road system. We're about $600 million a year in the hole on keeping up with our maintenance.”

Nance added that assigning more roads to local control would give local leaders more say over their design, allowing them leeway to add amenities like sidewalks.

But lobbyists for cities and counties across the state are already raising objections, mostly financial. They say local governments are no more able than DOT to shoulder the burden.

N.C. Metropolitan Coalition Director Julie White noted that the state took responsibility for the upkeep of secondary roads when local-government finances collapsed during the Great Depression.

“It's ironic that now in the midst of what's seen as another Great Depression, the decision [could be] made to transfer the roads back,” she said.

She added that if cities have to devote property tax revenue to the job, massive inequities would result. Because many of the people who travel secondary roads in their jurisdictions come from rural areas or other communities, they wouldn't have to shoulder a share of the bill.

Rucho and Nance said the intent of the two plans is for the state to subsidize part of the cost, by expanding existing transfer payments to cities or as Rucho proposes by channeling money to counties from the state's own highway funds.

White, however, believes the subsidies wouldn't cover the full cost of upkeep. She also noted that the Jenkins bill expands the state's power to withhold payments when budgets are tight.

The possibility of a maintenance off-load figured in the work of a legislative study panel that finished its work last winter. The group dropped the idea after city interests objected.

But supporters of the idea hinted at the time it would likely resurface.

Gov. Beverly Perdue has since made one of its leading advocates, former Jenkins aide Jim Trogdon, DOT's chief operating officer. She also signed off on a budget proposal that calls for slashing state spending on road maintenance.

Privilege Tax talk at the General Assembly
(The Insider)
Tax Talk

Business lobbyists urged members of a legislative study committee to try to clean up what they say are haphazard, unfair local business privilege taxes. Andy Ellen, a lobbyist for the N.C. Retail Merchants Association, told members of the Revenue Laws Study Committee that the taxes range from gross receipts to flat fees, depending on the locality and the type of business. Ellen complained that gross receipts taxes can be especially unfair because different types of retailers earn different types of margins on their product. Ellen used the deep discounts offered by retailer this Christmas, which boosted business but cut their margin, as an example of the unfairness of privilege taxes collected using a gross receipts formula. Raleigh lawyer Mark Prak, who represent cable communications interests, said lobbyists for some industries are also able to get legislation passed that puts caps on the privilege taxes charged those businesses. “That creates some of the inequities,” he said. Prak added that he believes privilege licenses and taxes serve as an impediment to business start-ups.

The study committee took no action on privilege taxes or the other major tax issues that it's taken up in recent weeks. Committee members, though, again heard more debate on combined reporting, a type of corporate income tax reporting used in 21 other states to try to prevent multi-state corporations from transferring earnings to tax haven states. Joseph Crosby, of the Washington, D.C.-based pro-business Council on State Taxation, said the tax reporting method ignores business differences in different states. But Elaine Mejia of the liberal N.C. Budget and Tax Center said combined reporting would eliminate a competitive advantage that multi-state corporations have over businesses operating solely within North Carolina. (THE INSIDER, 1/08/09).

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N.C. mayors extend palms

Published: Dec 16, 2008 12:30 AM
Modified: Dec 16, 2008 04:18 AM

DOT also has list for Obama's eyes
David Bracken, Staff Writer

Leaders of North Carolina cities are intensifying their lobbying for shares of the billions in aid that President-elect Barack Obama wants to restart America's economy.

Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker will hold a news conference today to release a list of projects the city hopes will be considered under any federal aid package.

“We really don't know exactly how the federal program is going to roll out. It hasn't been developed,” Meeker said. “But we intend to have a menu of options so that however it does roll out we'll be ready to participate.”

Earlier this month, Obama told the nation's governors that he supports an economic stimulus project that could save or create 2.5 million jobs. Thus far, Obama and his aides have not indicated how such an aid package might be structured or what projects might be eligible.

Obama aides and congressional leaders have said the package could exceed $500 billion over two years.

Raleigh came up with its list by asking its department heads to identify unfunded road, sewer and parks projects that can be started within the next six to 12 months. The list also includes alternative energy projects that are in line with Obama's goal of reducing the country's reliance on foreign oil.

Meeker said the energy projects include installing more LED lights in the city's parking garages and placing solar panels on public buildings and on the city's waste water treatment facility that could generate more than a megawatt of power.

“Since there's not as much wind in this area of North Carolina, we'll be focusing more on solar,” he said.

Julie Aberg Robison, Cary's mayor pro tem, said she is advocating for Cary to create a similar list. “It would be wise of us to do so,” she said.

Efforts to discuss Durham's and Chapel Hill's lobbying efforts with officials there were unsuccessful.

Mayors coordinate

The amount of federal money available to municipalities such as Raleigh and Cary likely depends heavily on how officials decide to allocate the money, and whether they target economically hard hit areas. Although local governments in the Triangle have felt the fallout from the national lending crisis and the housing slump, areas such as Michigan, California and Florida have fared much worse.

Julie White, director of the N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition, said that's one reason Raleigh and other North Carolina cities need to articulate their needs and advocate for aid.

The coalition, which includes mayors of the state's 26 largest cities, has formed a committee headed by Robison and Rocky Mount's mayor to coordinate their message with federal officials.

“Our state isn't suffering as much as others, but we have overwhelming needs,” White said.

The other worry for North Carolina municipalities is that little or no aid will go directly to cities.

Transportation officials in 49 states have already submitted lists detailing all the unfunded highway and bridge projects that could be started immediately if federal funds became available. The N.C. Department of Transportation list includes 296 projects totaling $5.17 billion.

Who decides?

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory said his biggest concern is that federal officials will distribute money to the state, which will use the same formula it normally does to distribute transportation dollars.

“Is this going to be politics as usual, or will it be distributed fairly throughout the nation,” he said. “We want to be partners with the state as opposed to competitors.”

Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue's office said she plans to meet with officials from the League of Municipalities, Association of County Commissioners and N.C. Metropolitan Mayors Coalition this week to discuss their concerns.

In recent years, Raleigh hasn't been overly aggressive about acquiring federal money. The city stopped paying to have a lobbyist in Washington several years ago and has received a modest $4.3 million in federal earmarks since 2005.

City Manager Russell Allen said the list being released today is much longer and more expensive than what Raleigh typically sends to its congressional representatives each January. Among the priciest items on the list is the city's proposed $226 million public safety center.

[email protected] or 919-829-4548

BY THE NUMBERS
$500 BILLION: projected two-year cost of aid program
$5.17 BILLION: N.C. DOT's accounting of its unfunded projects
$4.3 MILLION: Raleigh's federal earmarks since 2005

New roads chief wades into old fight (Charlotte Observer)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2009

North Carolina Transportation Secretary Gene Conti, in Charlotte Wednesday afternoon, offered his thoughts on the much-maligned equity formula that distributes highway dollars.??”There is evidence that it’s helped rural NC develop faster,” said Conti, speaking to the Charlotte Regional Alliance for Transportation. “In a high-growth area, the resources haven’t been there that were desired and necessary.”??Conti even suggested a way for the equity formula to be tweaked. Currently 25 percent of highway funds are for “intrastate miles” that need to be improved. That generally favors rural areas.??Conti said when the system is 90 percent complete, those funds will expire, and would be divvied up by other ways, including population. That would help Charlotte.??He suggested changing that threshold to, say, 70 percent or 80 percent. That day would arrive much sooner.??(Conti also stressed that urban areas such as Charlotte benefit from the urban loop fund, which has built almost all of Interstate 485. Rural counties can't tap into those funds.)??Conti's opinion is just that – an opinion. Any change would be made by the General Assembly, and rural legislators will fight to keep the stautus quo.??But the comments were nonetheless surprising. In 18 months covering transportation, I never heard the former secretary, Lyndo Tippett, question the formula.

POSTED BY STEVE HARRISON AT 6:22 PM

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WNC gets less stimulus while better-off eastern NC fares well (Asheville Citizen Times)
August 2, 2009
Joel Burgess and Michael McGlone

High hopes surrounded the field in central McDowell County where an overgrown blackberry patch overlooks Interstate 40. County officials wanted federal stimulus money to help build a road and turn the land into an industrial park. Manufacturing jobs have formed the economy's bedrock, but those have been disappearing as employers like Cobia Boats and Spectrum Yarns have closed.

Despite a 16.1 percent unemployment rate — the state's third-highest — McDowell got no stimulus funding for roads. Counting all types of stimulus, McDowell ranked 92nd out of North Carolina's 100 counties in funding per resident, according to a Citizen-Times analysis of state figures released this month.

Dozens of other counties with high unemployment got small shares of the $3.2 billion received in the state, while better-off counties raked in far more, the analysis found. Governments and businesses in North Carolina have spent $1.3 billion in stimulus money so far. A total of at least $8.2 billion is expected over three years.

The Citizen-Times looked at spending per capita and other factors, such as unemployment and wage earnings. Findings include:
• Western North Carolina lagged in funding compared with other regions in the state. All 10 counties getting the most money per person are in eastern North Carolina.
• Of those top 10, eight are clustered in the northeastern corner of the state. Four of the top five lie in one of North Carolina's 50 state Senate districts — the 1st District, represented by Marc Basnight, a powerful Manteo Democrat and the leader of the Senate.
• Of western counties, Swain had the highest per capita amount, with $836 per person, and McDowell the lowest, with $186 per person. The state average was $328.
• Coastal Hyde County got $2,824 per person, the most in the state, despite having the lowest unemployment rate.
• Of the 10 counties with the highest unemployment rates, including McDowell and Rutherford, seven received less than the state per capita average.
• Dare County received the fifth-most stimulus money per person but is not considered economically distressed, according to federal standards.

Numbers for stimulus money distributed through June came from the N.C. Office of Economic Recovery and Investment.

Asked for help

McDowell officials say they're not sure why the county missed out on a higher share of stimulus money. County Manager Chuck Abernathy said he suspects richer counties with more staff were better able to get applications ready for projects. “The counties with less resources that couldn't go out and get designs and applications ready might have been at a disadvantage,” Abernathy said. Large, experienced government staffs likely did play a role in bringing cash to certain counties, said Jim Edwards, executive director of Isothermal Planning and Development Commission, a state-created regional planning group made up of four counties, including McDowell and Rutherford.

Speed also was probably important, Edwards said. Because the federal government wanted the money spent quickly, the state often selected projects with some planning already completed, he said. McDowell officials are still looking for money for several projects, Abernathy said, including broadband Internet, a homelessness prevention grant and a waterline for the Nebo community, where private wells are running dry.

Not far from where a line ends in Nebo, about 20 homes along Harmony Grove Road have had to cut back on washing clothes and flushing toilets, Abernathy said. If stimulus funds don't come through, about $275,000 will have to be found from some other source, he said.

Need not always important

North Carolina has viewed federal stimulus money as way to make infrastructure improvements, stabilize the state budget and boost the economy. While much of stimulus is supposed to help create and save jobs, for most types of funding there is no requirement that money be funneled to the hardest-hit areas, said Perry Morgan, president of the stimulus watchdog group Capital Monitor in Raleigh.

“You would hope the money is going to areas with problems, but there's nothing in the guidelines to say it should,” Morgan said. Gov. Bev Perdue, in an interview with the Citizen-Times, said the state distributed the portion of the $3.2 billion it controlled based on officials' understanding of federal requirements. “The big money went to highway projects which were shovel-ready,” she said. “That piece of the legislation was very clear.”

But while most stimulus allocation is not based on county needs, federal legislation behind road funding is an exception. Highway money, according to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is to be given to projects that can be completed in three years “and are located in economically distressed areas.” But that hasn't been the case in North Carolina, where many poor counties got little or no stimulus funding for roads and bridges. Scotland County, with the highest unemployment in the state at 17.2 percent, got $76 per person in money for roads. Twelve counties with more than 13 percent unemployment, including McDowell, Rutherford and Graham, got no road money. Five of the top 10 counties in road money spending per person, meanwhile, had unemployment rates lower than the 11.1 percent state average.

Projects on the coast

Hyde County, which received the second-most road money at $832 per capita, had the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 6.2 percent. The county won two road projects, both on Ocracoke Island. One will spend $3.3 million to resurface N.C. 12 down the length of the island and widen it to accommodate bicyclists.

More than just roads will benefit in Hyde County. The single biggest project is $5 million for flood mitigation in the Swan Quarter watershed, and another $2.1 million will be spent in the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge. Hyde won more total stimulus funding per resident than any other county, followed in the top 10 by nearby Pasquotank, Camden, Dare and Tyrrell, all with below-average unemployment. That region has a powerful ally in Basnight, whose state Senate district includes all five counties.

Spokesman Schorr Johnson downplayed Basnight's role in securing the money, saying spending formulas rather than Basnight's top spot in the Senate are responsible. “Sen. Basnight's office has written letters of support for projects across North Carolina without bias of the location,” Johnson said, “because a job created anywhere in North Carolina is a good thing.”

Formulas, other issues

Federal rules have a lot to do with the disparity, said Dempsey Benton, director of the N.C. Economic Recovery Office, which oversees stimulus spending in the state. “Funding was not designed to be distributed on a per-capita basis,” Benton said. “Many programs have pre-set formulas. In some areas, they're associated with levels of service needs.” School funding, for example, is based on the number of poor and disabled students and may not directly correlate to unemployment. Some stimulus money in the state goes directly from the federal government to federal institutions, like national parks and military bases, and has a disproportionate effect in some counties, Benton said.

U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, blamed the disparities on state and federal formulas that he said have shortchanged Western North Carolina's roads and other needs for years. He said lawmakers in Raleigh and Washington are trying to change that situation. “We're fighting all we possibly can to get these federal dollars to our end of the state,” said Shuler, who represents 15 western counties.

He said his status as one of seven Democrats in Congress to vote against the $787 billion stimulus hasn't hurt the region's efforts to win a share of it. Overall, Benton said, projects like interstates in one county can help other places, creating “more jobs and improved infrastructure, benefiting our interconnected state as a whole.”

David Walker, chairman of the McDowell County Board of Commissioners, is among those who think more money should go to those counties that are suffering the most. “We've got people who are ready to work here — good, decent, hard-working men and women,” Walker said.

Perdue agreed. The governor said she wants to make factors like unemployment and low wages a priority with future funding distribution. That is one reason she asked the Economic Recovery Office to assemble the county-by-county numbers. “There's going to be other big money coming into the state, and I actually am lobbying very quietly for … another kind of formula that skews it toward income and unemployed,” she said.

Staff writer Jordan Schrader contributed to this report.
Additional Facts
Making the calculations

Data on unemployment was through June and came from the N.C. Employment Security Commission. Information on economically distressed counties was through May 12 and came from the U.S. Bureaus of Labor Statistics and Economic Analysis.