• Donate
• Contact
• About

• Policy
  • Issue Categories
  • Sort by Date
  • eSources
• Media / Publications
• Outreach
  • Speaker’s Bureau
  • Academy of Practical Politics
  • Internships
  • Education Programs
• Analysis
  • Citizen Legislature
  • Election Analysis
  • Visual Data & Maps
• Events
  • Poll Luncheon
  • Special Events
  • Leadership Conference
  • Registration Area

• Policy Brief
• Legislative Update
• Perspective
• Policy Reports
• Bad Bill of the Week

Governor Perdue’s JPS Budget Highlights

Brian Balfour  |  March 23, 2009

Summary
Almost half of the state employee positions Perdue proposes to eliminate come from the Department of Corrections. A significant amount of savings are similarly found through the “truth in budgeting” technique of funding agency salaries closer to their actual needs. Perdue also orders the agency find another $9.2 million in “flexibility reductions.” Many nonprofits and other organizations will receive a decrease in their pass-thru funding from the General Fund. Overall, the JPS budget under Perdue’s proposal would increase by five percent over actual expenditures for the current fiscal year ($2.2 billion compared to $2.1 billion).

Truth in Budgeting
More than $95 million in cuts in JPS are produced by funding salaries below the full amount to accommodate for periods when positions are unfilled.

Numbers by department/division, percentage cut from salary budget and dollar amount:

Administrative Office of the Courts:

• No change in number of positions
• Pass thru funding to NC state bar cut 7%, which means $70k less for Civil Justice Act
• Overall, positions have increased from FY 2007-08 by over 300

Indigent Defense:
JPS contracts with state bar for the following services, which are being cut as follows:

• Pass thru cut by 7% for death penalty litigation ($35,105)
• Pass thru cut by 7% for NC Prisoner Legal Services ($87,085)

Comparing indigent defense to District Attorneys: indigent defense has 467 full time-equivalent employees (FTE); DA’s have 1,254 FTE.  Indigent Defense FTE does not include numbers resulting from pass thru.

Juvenile Justice:

• Pass thru cut 7% for Boys and Girls Clubs, Project Challenge, and Juvenile Crime Prevention Councils. Total cuts amount to $1,656,400
• Pass thru cut 7% for the Governor's One-on-One Program and the Juvenile Assessment Center. Total cuts amount to $126,763.
• Eliminate the Support Our Students (SOS) Program: It is recommended that funding for the Support Our Students program be eliminated, including the elimination of four filled positions. The TANF grant funding that partially supports this program will now be made available to other programs such as the Work First Cash Assistance Program, the Work First Aid to Counties, or subsidized child care. Total savings from cut: $5,911,297

Department of Corrections:
It appears that almost half of all the positions the governor’s plan eliminates in state government are in the Department of Corrections.

• Eliminates 658 FTE while adding 131 FTE in probation (151 in 2nd yr)
• DOC goes from 21,325 to 20,798 FTE.
• Pass thru cut of 7% to these specific non-profits: Women at Risk, Summit House, Harriet's House, Our Children's Place, and the Criminal Justice Partnership Program. Total cuts amount to $823,392

Highway Patrol:

• Freeze auto pay step

Gangs

• Expansion of $15 million for comprehensive gang initiatives (all federal funds)

Closure of Prison Facilities with High Operating Costs ($24 million)

• McCain Correctional Hospital
• Wilmington Residential Facility for Women
• Umstead, Guilford, Gates, Haywood, and Union Correctional Centers