Big cuts needed to close state budget gap

Legislators can't seem to find a way to close the $4 billion hole in the state budget, and recipients of state services and grants are screaming in protest over cuts that are painful but fail to close the budget gap. In the past few days, I've received e-mails at home from the state Arc, which provides services for the developmentally disabled, and from the Wilson County Mental Health Association. The MHA e-mail was the length of a short novel and included an attachment with the state budget cuts. Providers of services for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled are facing stark cuts in state spending. They offer a list of horror stories that might result: children without CAP workers to help them cope with their disabilities, group homes shuttered, stable mentally ill patients being set loose and becoming homeless, loss of services causing mentally ill and developmentally disabled clients to regress, lack of local services forcing patients into costly institutions. If the MHA protest is correct, social service agencies are being asked to absorb the bulk of the state's budget cuts, a far larger proportion than their share of the state's overall budget.

At around $4 billion, the state's budget deficit is about 20 percent of the total budget, but I was told this week that rumors circulating in Raleigh say the deficit could surge to $6 billion. There seems to be no end in sight. If the deficit grows to $6 billion, about 30 percent, the pain will be unbearable.

It should come as no surprise that tax increases are being proposed to close at least some of the budget gap. You might even wonder whether the severity of the budget cuts in human services were intended to pave the way for tax hikes. It wouldn't be the first time: In Washington, it's called the Washington Monument syndrome. If cuts are suggested to the federal budget, someone says, well, we'll just have to shut down the Washington Monument. Oh no! We can't do that! We'll raise taxes instead.

A $4 billion spending cut would reduce the state's budget to its size four years ago. And while some cuts would be painful, they should not be unbearable, if they are spread evenly throughout the budget (no sacred cows, not even prisons or public schools). North Carolina's spending has grown out of control over the past couple of decades. A pause would do the state good.

Some cuts would be relatively painless. The N&O today highlights a costly state policy that requires the state to pay for expensive drugs when cheaper generics are available. When you're trying to close a $4 billion (or $6 billion) gap, it takes a lot of cuts like that.

If more revenue is necessary to avoid unconscionable cuts, legislators should look toward expanding the sales tax to such untaxed services as lawn care, accounting, legal fees, advertising, etc. and cutting the sales tax rate. "Modernizing" the tax system has been bandied about for years without any action. Maybe now is the time. And beware "temporary" tax increases. As we've seen before, these "temporary" taxes have nine lives.

Burglar disrupts signature fund-raiser

Tonight at Wilson Mall is one of the signature events of Wilson's civic life, The Arc's Taste of Wilson. Anyone who has ever attended — and there are hundreds of "regulars" who show up every year — knows what a "filling" event it is. Dozens of Wilson restaurants provide a "taste" of their cuisine for each of the 2,000 ticket holders. From 5:30 until 7:30 — or until the food runs out — customers line up to check off the 10 "tastes" to which their tickets entitle them.

The proceeds of this event go toward the work of The Arc, formerly the Association for Retarded Citizens. The charity provides a summer camp and other services for developmentally disabled children. It is by far the largest fund-raiser for The Arc. (Full disclosure: I am a member of the local Arc board and have volunteered with Taste of Wilson for years.)

The past several years, Taste of Wilson has included a silent auction for donated items, many of them the work of local artists. As The Wilson Daily Times reported Monday, three break-ins at the Arc's offices in the United Way building on West Nash Street resulted in the loss of equipment and dozens of items donated for the silent auction. According to the newspaper report, many of the items were not stolen; they were simply smashed and destroyed. Among the destroyed items was a local artist's painting valued at $400. Those items that were not destroyed were blackened with fingerprint powder (which is nearly impossible to remove) when Wilson police conducted their investigation.

I'm told that the fingerprinting succeeded in identifying the burglar. Let me suggest that the offender be sentenced to no less than 1,000 hours of community service. Tossing someone like him, who is so angry/destructive/disrespectful, into prison will only reinforce his anti-social behavior and will not help his victims. Force him to pick up trash, clear ditches, pull weeds, clean bedpans, etc. And let him see the needy children who are shortchanged by his vandalism. He should be severely punished for this wanton destructiveness, but I'm told one police officer predicted he'd be back out on the street five minutes after facing a magistrate.

Let me also suggest that the United Way install a burglar alarm in its building, which has been burglarized numerous times over the years it has served as the headquarters for several United Way agencies. It's hard to believe no burglar alarm has been installed.

Tickets are still available to the Taste of Wilson. They'll be sold at a booth near the mall's main entrance. Come and sample some of Wilson's finest restaurants, and support a worthy cause at the same time.