The Very First Civitas Quiz

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1. Despite the recession, budgeted spending on state programs in North Carolina's current 2010-11 fiscal year budget is actually up $2 billion from last year's state expenditures.

   • a. True
   • b. False
   When factoring federal stimulus dollars being used to backfill state spending on state programs, the current 2010-11 budget totals $20.6 billion. Actual spending (including federal stimulus dollars) for fiscal year 2009-10 totaled just $18.5 billion. In short, state budget writers crafted a budget that would increase year-over-year spending by more than $2 billion.

2. The North Carolina public school districts spending the most amount of money per high school graduate are located in counties that enjoy the state's highest per capita incomes.

   • a. True
   • b. False
   In fact, the two districts that spend the most per high school graduate (Tyrell, Hyde) are in counties that have among the ten lowest per capita income levels in North Carolina. Indeed, among the ten counties with the lowest per capita incomes, four were among the top ten school districts in terms of highest spending levels per high school graduate, and another four were in the top third highest spenders.

3. In 2009, during the midst of the "Great Recession," North Carolina joined several other southeastern states in raising tax rates in order to help balance their budget.

   • a. True
   • b. False
   North Carolina did indeed raise tax rates on income, sales and corporate taxes. But no other southeastern state raised even one of those tax rates in 2009.

4. North Carolina's per capita state debt has increased by a whopping 80% since 2000, causing the state's annual payment to service the debt today to be more than twice what it was in 2000.

   • a. True
   • b. False
   In fact, its much worse than that. Per Capita State Debt is up 140% over fiscal year 2000 level. Moreover, the state's debt service payment is now three-and-a-half times what it was in 2000. Debt service was $193 M in FY 2000, and rose to $707.5 million for 2010-11, an alarming increase of 267%.

5. North Carolina state government employees' salaries increased at a faster rate from 2000-2009 than private sector workers.

   • a. True
   • b. False
   The average salary for state government workers rose by 34.5% from 2000 to 2009, outpacing the growth rate of 27% for North Carolina's private sector workers.