Despite efforts by local government leaders, Vance County and Henderson were on the short end of the stick when it comes to the recently passed $52 billion state budget. Rep. Terry Garrison said he has some ideas about why it happened that Vance County didn’t receive any funding for earmark projects.
He said in a phone interview earlier today (Friday) with John C. Rose that it all boils down to politics.
“There is absolutely no question about it,” he said. “(Politics) accounts for why we didn’t get any of the earmarked money.”
It’s common for local leaders to discuss funding projects with their representatives in Raleigh informally before the formal request for funding is made, Garrison said.
There was a formal request for funding help with the Kerr Lake Regional Water System, but Garrison said it was made in August, after the April 30 request period had ended.
But Garrison also said he, along with State Sen. Mike Woodard (District 22) tried to get some money for the project, “but it didn’t happen. If the politics had been different, I feel like it would have been included.”
Garrison and Woodard are Democrats; House Speaker Tim Moore, who met with the Vance County and Henderson contingent, is a Republican.
Politics aside, Garrison did have some encouraging words for future funding for the regional water system.
“There are some funds that have been earmarked for water and sewer. I don’t think the door is completely closed…to get some funding assistance.”
Garrison said the request process works like this: he submits a formal funding request to the House Democratic caucus, which in turn presents it to the budget committee for inclusion in the budget.
Garrison did vote to approve the budget, which was long overdue. “There were a lot of things in the budget that were good for North Carolina and good for Vance County,” he said, mentioning salary increases and bonuses for teachers, rural broadband support and funding for community colleges.
“On that basis, I supported it – the good outweighed the negative.”
Unfortunately, the negative included no earmarked projects for Vance County or Henderson.
City Manager Terrell Blackmon offered his understanding about special projects. “For all intents and purposes (they) are earmarks for politicians that are loyal to the prevailing party.” Right now, the prevailing party in the legislature is the Republican party.
“We made a case to our state representatives and it was not well received by the leadership in the N.C. General Assembly. We will continue to make requests and apply for funds at the agency level to hopefully assist with many of the projects here in Henderson that need additional funding,” Blackmon said.
The regional water system did get a boost of $3.5 million, Blackmon said, thanks to Congressmen G.K. Butterfield and David Price. However, the federal government is operating on a continuing resolution because it has yet to pass a budget.
“Most of the projects appear to be in Republican districts and/or districts where Democrats voted for the Republican budget passed by the NC General Assembly,” Blackmon said of the state-funded projects awarded to 97 of 100 counties.
“It does seem to come down to politics,” Blackmon said.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Garrison concurred.