“This is an opportunity for the state to leverage funds in a way that benefits entire communities, not just in urban areas, but across the state.”

“This is an opportunity for the state to leverage funds in a way that benefits entire communities, not just in urban areas, but across the state.”
Buried deep within North Carolina’s 625-page, $30 billion state budget are provisions that give the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, an oversight committee led by Republicans, the authority to investigate and search any entity that has received state funds for programs or services to state or local government.
Among the largest allocations are $12.2 million to accelerate the purchase and opening of Pisgah View State Park in Buncombe County, $7.2 million for the removal of hazardous dams in WNC and $5 million to upgrade the city of Hendersonville’s wastewater treatment plant.
Without providing specifics, Moore said that the budget this year will include both tax relief and historic spending through the use of federal dollars.
A $300,000 recurring allocation for the HRI, a program of Asheville-based nonprofit WNC Communities, stalled in the N.C. General Assembly due to partisan gridlock over the state budget. A joint proclamation between the HRI and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services now aims to make the hemlock’s future more secure.
The North Carolina General Assembly voted to award Montreat College $20 million towards the establishment of an independent cybersecurity training center in October, but Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the money. The private, Christian liberal arts college’s boosters, however, say they won’t be discouraged in filling what they see as an urgent need for ethically responsible cyber operatives.
At an April 23 meeting of his cabinet at UNC Asheville, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper brought state leadership to the Western part of the state for a special focus on the issues and perspectives of the region.
“We can try to buck this trend by investing in our city schools in ways that the state budgeting process cannot touch: volunteering time and donating money or resources.”