Advocacy: NC Budget Update

North Carolina has entered yet another month without a full two-year budget, and the consequences are mounting. For most North Carolinians, a budget delay means uncertainty around schools, healthcare, and infrastructure. For retirees, it means something even more personal: The value of their pensions continues to shrink with every passing week of inaction.

Instead, the state has been operating under what is referred to as a continuing budget resolution, meaning it is functioning on a previous budget—in this case, our 2023 budget. While this technically keeps the lights on, critical items such as state employee raises, teacher raises, and the TSERS retiree bonus remain in limbo.

Although the House and Senate remain deadlocked on a final budget, they did pass a mini-budget that addressed some time-sensitive and noncontroversial items, including funding for increased enrollment in public schools, colleges, and universities, which Governor Stein signed into law on August 6. It also fully funded our pension system and appropriated $100 million to the State Health Plan to help address the $500 million shortfall within the system. The more controversial items—tax cuts, teacher pay raises, state employee raises, and TSERS bonuses—are still on the table.

Keep in mind that the original House budget allocated approximately $180 million to retirees in the form of a 3% one-time bonus over the next two years, while the Senate budget allocated nothing. RGEA will continue to advocate and lobby legislators in both chambers, specifically supporting and asking the House to stand strong during these continuing negotiations with the Senate to secure this desperately needed money for our retirees—and we challenge our members to do the same. Please visit the link below, find both your state House member and state Senator, and encourage them to remember how essential a pension supplement is in combating unrelenting inflation.