The state Senate unveiled and passed its proposed biennial budget this week, 众议院和参议院之间的一项折衷支出计划的起草工作加快了步伐，该计划将提交州长考虑. 参议院预算编写者称他们的预算为22美元.9 billion plan represents a 3.75 percent increase over actual projected spending from last year's budget. Senate leader Phil Berger of Eden and colleagues, 在周三的新闻发布会上, 强调了该提案对飓风马修受害者的救济, 扩大应急储备基金, investments in education, income tax rate reductions, 经济发展重点. Click here to view the Senate plan, which the chamber passed early Friday on a 32-15 vote.
“我赞扬我的参议院同事们制定了一个平衡的预算，为中产阶级和我们州的就业创造者提供了近10亿美元的税收减免, 确保99%的纳税人少交或不交州所得税, increases teacher pay, 慷慨地资助我们的公立学校，帮助重建被飓风马修摧毁的社区——所有这些都是为了未雨绸缪," said Senator Berger in a news release. (A House version of the budget will come next, and the chambers will develop a compromise. Details of Gov. Roy Cooper's $23.建议预算为40亿美元 在3月3日的公报中报道.) The League will highlight several items of importance to local governments below in this edition of the Bulletin.
Click here to view or download a staff-prepared chart of Senate budget items affecting cities and towns.
随着议员们继续认识到准备就绪的项目的价值，用于市中心改善和其他市政经济发展努力的拨款出现在参议院预算中, 由当地官员和合作伙伴直接传达给他们. It fits the spirit of an advocacy goal 由各城镇今年设立，以支持立法，在州一级为促进就业和经济增长的激励项目提供足够的资金.
The Senate proposal includes $450,000, mostly for specific projects, under the Main Street Solutions fund. It also programs $2.8 million for downtown revitalization and economic development grants in numerous, 整个州的特定城市. 举个例子，High Point市将得到1美元.500万美元作为挑战拨款(该市必须从私人来源筹集匹配资金)，用于在市中心开发一家设计工厂, 为企业家提供创客空间, designers, manufacturers and artisans. The allocations show the value in spreading awareness of the importance of local projects.
The plan also includes funds, 哪些可以作为贷款提供给地方政府, 设立新的土地及建筑发展基金. The fund would "support site aquisition and onsite preparation for attracting major manufacturing employers,一份委员会文件解释道. The plan would transfer $10 million from another account into the new fund and appropriate to it an additional $2.500万美元，非经常性的12美元.5 million total. 这些贷款可以帮助建造新建筑, renovations, upfits, water/sewer improvements, site access, 或其他衡量财产可销售性的标准.
The Senate budget additionally sets out Community Development Block Grant funds for each of the next two program years, with $21.73 million for infrastructure, $10 million for neighborhood revitalization, and $10.700万用于经济建设. 它还在未偿还资金的支出方面提供了灵活性. 城镇的一个倡导目标是寻求立法，以增加州一级对市政基础设施需求的资助. In line with that, 预算将为清洁水管理信托基金(CWMTF)提供额外资金，以支持解决水质和基础设施问题的拨款. 这将使CWMTF拨款总额达到16美元.2017-18财年为200万美元，13美元.5 million in 2018-19. Additionally, a section of the plan would direct the Department of Environmental Quality to allocate the $15.2017-18年度拨款600万美元，上一财年结转资金用于特定水资源开发项目, 包括许多城市和城镇. 其中许多项目都与风暴有关.
在其他基础设施投资方面, the budget directs $100,北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校的北卡罗来纳政策合作实验室获得了1万美元的供水和废水基础设施拨款，用于开发和部署一种预测分析工具，以评估该州市政供水和废水基础设施的状况. 合作实验室将与所有已经参与这个问题的大型参与者进行磋商:地方政府委员会, the Division of Water Infrastructure and the Environmental Finance Center at UNC Chapel Hill, and to build on the recently released Statewide Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Master Plan. 它还应有助于查明基础设施区域化或私有化的潜在机会.
League staff members met with N.C. 运输部(DOT) Secretary Jim Trogdon 以及他的领导团队成员, 讨论交通部的重要举措, including many contained in the Senate budget released and approved this week. Sec. Trogdon, 谁在交通部有几十年的经验, 是否优先考虑了促进当地交通项目的举措, 城市和城镇感谢他和参议院领导人推动预算改革，将更多资金用于地方优先事项. These include:
- $40 million for a new Mobility/Modernization Fund for immediate need projects, including those that have a high impact within a transportation division, reduce congestion, 或进一步的经济发展;
- 1200万美元用于小型交通项目, including roads and bridges, industrial access roads, 和现场安全工程，如人行道;
- $30 million for shovel-ready projects at the state's commercial airports, 另外拨款协助罗利-达勒姆国际机场更换一条容纳国际航班的跑道. (阅读关于该项目的完整报告 this News & Observer article.)
The Senate budget also contained other noteworthy transportation policy items that affect cities, 与国联与Sec讨论的方案不同. Trogdon last week. 这些项目包括一项条款，即扣留任何未提交鲍威尔法案年度报表的城市的鲍威尔法案资金, 另一项是，如果由这些奖励制定的计划中确定的任何项目未能在六年内完成，则要求将自行车和行人规划补助金全部归还, 从7月1日之后开始发放补助金, 2017.
参议院预算资助的一个试点项目将建立一个“快速反应小组”，以解决没有得到后续治疗的鸦片或海洛因过量受害者的需求. The Department of Public Safety would carry this project out with specific local governments including Wilmington, Jacksonville, and Hickory. 反应小组的成员将是消防员, police officers, 还有可能是其他执法人员. 打击阿片类药物滥用是联合国的明确优先事项 many municipalities. "We've heard a lot of discussion here tonight on the opioid abuse and how it is truly a national and state ... emergency," Sen. Brent Jackson of Autryville, 谁在周五提出了一项修正案，扩大了该提案, 最初专注于一个城市, told news outlets. Another amendment, from Sen. Louis Pate of Mount Olive, would set up additional funding for medications to reverse opioid-related overdoses.
预算的一个单独部分将指导一项关于州和地方执法工作对接收扣押和没收资产的影响的立法研究. 另一项法案将允许所有公司的警察机构与市政当局的管理委员会达成互助协议, 经过县治安官的同意, 一个县，其程度与市警察局相同. 它还允许所有公司警察在执法机构负责人的要求下向该机构提供协助，而不管是否有协议.
参议院领袖菲尔·伯杰在星期三的预算公布会上吹嘘说，该计划包括1.5亿美元的救灾资金，旨在帮助仍在与去年飓风马修的影响作斗争的受害者. 在此之前，立法机构于2009年批准了2亿美元的拨款 Disaster Recovery Act of 2016.
另一项单独的条款将帮助沿海家庭和企业建立一个新的沿海风暴损害缓解基金. 它将包括一般基金拨款, gifts, 补助和其他资源用于海滩营养, 人工沙丘和其他减少海洋风暴破坏的项目. 这些基金将有不同的费用分摊条件.
The state's Film and Entertainment Grant Fund is continued in the Senate's budget proposal, 每年有1500万美元的经常性收入. 该基金旨在“鼓励电影制作”, television shows, and commercials to develop the filmmaking industry within the State," a budget document explains. It notes that available expenditures for fiscal year 2017-18 are projected to be $30 million, which includes the $15 million appropriated and a projected fund balance of the same amount. 来自北卡罗来纳州东南部的立法者, 在受电影业影响的地区, 在新闻报道中给出他们对资金的看法 here and here.
Bill sponsors unveiled 经过重大修订的版本 of an industry-backed bill concerning local regulation of small cell wireless facilities Wednesday, offering House members their first-ever opportunity to consider such legislation. HB 310无线通信基础设施选址的新草案包括由365足彩下载协商的许多修订. City officials appreciate the willingness of primary sponsors Reps. Jason Saine, John Torbett, and Michael Wray 将这些重要的变化结合起来.
与提交的法案版本相反, the latest draft included authority for cities to apply zoning standards to this technology, 包括出于公共安全等原因, aesthetics, and spacing between facilities. 草案还详细说明了允许小型牢房设施进入公共通行权的许可程序和相关费用. These facilities typically consist of an antenna, utility pole, and ground-mounted equipment box. Importantly for cities, the revised bill limited the height of the facilities to a 50-foot pole plus an additional 10-foot antenna. The House Energy & Public Utilities Committee plans a vote on the bill Wednesday, and the League appreciates your feedback before then. 请将意见寄给立法顾问 Erin Wynia.
在赞助方面，本届会议最受欢迎的法案之一本周在委员会中获得通过，并在参议院的预算提案中单独找到了一席之地. HB 280少年司法再投资法案, 俗称“提高年龄”法案, 该法案于周三在众议院司法委员会获得了一致通过，并于第二天通过了众议院拨款委员会. The bipartisan bill, 由365足彩下载执行委员会支持, would chiefly amend law to consider 16- and 17-year-olds as juveniles, not adults, when charged with crimes, except in certain felony cases. The bill, from Rep. Chuck McGrady of Hendersonville, has nearly 70 cosponsors and is expected next on the House floor. The Senate's version of the budget, 本周向公众发布, 还包括提高年龄的语言, 计划在2020年12月前实施. Click here for news coverage.
Click here for the latest episode of Municipal Equation, the League's biweekly podcast about municipalities in changing times. The rundown: Do autonomous vehicles, or driverless cars, still sound futuristic to you? 即使部署计划仅在几年之后? That's right, this technology is developing so quickly that it's catching a lot of local policymakers off-guard. 专家表示，现在是时候让各种规模的城市认真思考一下我们如何从a地到达B地的重大变化了. For cities, 这意味着理解其中的含义, considering the unknowns, and thinking about policy. But with the technology so fresh and incomplete, where would a city even begin with that? 这就是我们本期节目的重点. We're joined once again by Nicole Dupuis from the National League of Cities, which 刚刚发布了一份城市指导报告 on the subject. 根据Dupuis的说法，“当然，我们需要认真对待这件事." And another question: Will future generations know the feeling of passing a driver's test? 这一集有很多值得思考的地方. Click here for all past episodes and here to subscribe for free on iTunes. 将对未来剧集的反馈和想法发送给主持人/制作人 Ben Brown.
报名将于今晚午夜截止 for the
5月18日基础设施研讨会 that the League and partners have assembled for municipal elected officials, managers, attorneys, engineers, utilities directors, 经济发展官员等等. 该计划包括一次移动旅行, lunch keynote address, 协作小组对话, and a networking reception.
Click here for full details.
Hickory Mayor Rudy Wright
The League was stunned and saddened on Thursday to learn of the passing of Rudy Wright, 希科里的长期市长和前365足彩下载董事会成员. 朋友和同事们会记住赖特市长，他是一个积极向上的人，致力于他担任市长近16年的社区. “他总是看到事物积极的一面, and sharp mind, 他很聪明，和他一起工作很愉快," the Hickory Daily Record quoted of Councilwoman Jill Patton, whose comments mirrored several across the city and beyond. U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry released a statement expressing appreciation for all Mayor Wright did for the community. 赖特市长是山核桃的代名词, displaying his love for the city during the entirety of his nearly two decades of service as mayor," the congressman said. In addition to his local roles, 赖特市长曾任365足彩下载政府立法行动委员会主席，在去世前一直是该州地方政府委员会的成员. The League's thoughts and prayers are with Mayor Wright's family and friends during this difficult time.
