KENANSVILLE — Commissioners from seven counties huddled together in Duplin County last week with representatives speaking from the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC).

From Columbus, Onslow, Bladen, Wayne, New Hanover, Robinson and Duplin, commissioners and county managers came together for the latest news on North Carolina state politics.

The goal of the meeting was to give an update to leaders on issues such as the economy, state budget and current legislation being worked on in the General Assembly.

The financial situation was described as “a storm,” by the NCACC executive director David Thompson. Sales tax collections are down, the state’s average unemployment rate is 10.7 percent, and 21 counties have an unemployment rate of 13 percent or higher, he would later say. Additionally, the state is facing a $5 billion to $6 billion gap over the next two years.

“What has happened in the state senate is they have passed the budget appropriations side of the budget (determining how much money North Carolina will spend in the budget).” But now, said Thompson, elected officials in Raleigh will have to pass the revenue side of the budget, finding the tax dollars to pay for what they say they will spend.

Three results are anticipated to follow, said Thompson.

There will be “a need to expand sales tax bases,” lower income tax and reduce, or lower corporate tax. But the real issue, said Thompson, is how it will affect counties. The reduced amount of money available for grants and the increasing need for funds will create a highly competitive field for money. The executive director reported there are 888 registered lobbyist in North Carolina, and 887 registered special interest groups — scary numbers, he said — and counties will have to compete.

The economy was forecasted not to turn around this calender year by Rebecca Troutman, intergovernmental relations director of the NCACC. The recession is expected to remain a challenge for the coming year, she said. Gov. Bev. Perdue’s actions have not made it any easier on counties, Troutman told commissioners.

According to Troutman, nine percent of county funds were taken by her office, $100 million for school construction was also taken back, another $100,000 earmarked for clean water was dried up and $50 million was taken out of the lottery funds.

“Quite frankly she raided it to meet payroll,” Troutman said.

Actions by the governor’s office have trickled down to counties forcing hiring freezes, employee furloughs and cutting personnel. Counties have had to reduce their budgets by 10 percent. Next year school funding might go down from the state and counties might draw from their fund balance to get through the year, officials said.

“I am afraid it’s not going to get any better for this year,” stated Troutman. “It’s going to be a while before we come out of this.”

Information presented was somewhat of a rehash for Duplin County commissioners, who have discussed such measures at their board meetings.

Many of those actions have already been taken in Duplin County. This year, the county is operating in part on reserved funds. The county also put a hiring freeze into effect and asked department heads to reduce their budgets.

Commissioner David Fussell commented after the meeting that the most important thing Duplin can do in preparing next year’s budget is not to raise taxes. “The number one thing we should be careful of is making sure we don’t hurt the economy in Duplin County by raising taxes. We need to tell Mike (Aldridge, the county manager) we are not going to raise taxes. That's going to demand that we do all the things that the state does.” Fussell added that unnecessary budget items need to be cut but education, public safety and economic development must continue to be funded.

Michael Connolly can be reached at 910-592-8137 ext. 120 or can be e-mailed at sicity@myclintonnc.com