debt

Click here to view and here to listen to Sarah Curry discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — Bypassing statewide bond referendums has cost North Carolina taxpayers an estimated…

North Carolina’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) administrators have vastly outspent revenues and generated a debt of $2.6 billion with the federal government—the third-highest in the nation, on a per-capita basis. This report proposes five ways for legislators to address this rapidly growing problem.

RALEIGH — After saddling county taxpayers with a mountain of debt, Cabarrus County commissioners want those same taxpayers to bail county government out of its problems. That’s how a new…

Commissioners of debt-ridden Cabarrus County want taxpayers to bail them out by approving a quarter-cent sales tax increase on May 17. If the voters do not approve the tax increase, commissioners threaten to hit them with a 2.2-cent property tax increase.

Medicaid is a national problem, not just a state problem. All states are faced with the same incentive to grow their Medicaid programs because of the federal match. Unsustainable Medicaid spending is exacerbating the debt crisis at the federal level. It is paramount that state policymakers put pressure on Washington to reform Medicaid and willingly trade the open-ended federal reimbursement of state spending for freedom from federal roadblocks to make common-sense reforms to their programs.

Click here to view and here to listen to Michael Sanera discussing this Regional Brief. RALEIGH — Guilford County voters have a chance to curb county commissioners’ “credit…

Guilford county commissioners are asking for an $11.6 million tax increase at a time of high unemployment. In 2008, they twice asked voters to pass a tax increase, but by large majorities, the voters turned them down. To illustrate the commissioner’s inability to manage spending and the debt, the county will exceed its debt guideline every year from 2012 to 2016.

Tax increment financing (TIF) hides the diversion of funds from government services that is inherent in borrowing. It still puts taxpayers at risk for repayment and is more expensive than general obligation bonds or certificates of participation (COPs).

State legislators are currently considering proposals to issue hundreds of millions of dollars in additional debt without seeking voter approval. The billions of dollars worth of bonds and other debt already approved since 1996 have more than quadrupled the state’s debt service and represent as much as a third of the fiscal impact of the tax hikes passed by the General Assembly since 2001. It’s no wonder politicians are wary of asking voters for more. But that’s why they should.

RALEIGH — State lawmakers in Raleigh are currently debating bills that would authorize at least $760 million in new state debts — for land acquisition and for proposed University of…