After the $27.9 billion state budget was signed into law by Gov. Roy Cooper, District 62 state Rep. John Faircloth (R-High Point) sent out a press release about the $6 million included in the budget for Guilford County.
Faircloth said, “This fiscally responsible budget will not only help with projects across our state but ensures we are prepared for any economic uncertainty in future. Many key statewide investments were made, and I am proud to have secured nearly $6 million in the budget for some deserving projects in Guilford County.”
Faircloth lists the following allocations in the 2022-2023 budget:
- $2.3 million for High Point Furniture Market.
- $1 million for High Point University Principal Preparation Program Support.
- $1 million for International Civil Rights Museum.
- $749,000 for E-Sports Guilford Tech.
- $250,000 for American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame.
- $150,000 for High Point Arts Council.
- $100,000 for North Carolina Folk Festival.
- $100,000 for Wyndham Championship.
- $75,000 for City of High Point.
- $75,000 for Town of Oak Ridge.
- $75,000 for Senior Resources of Guilford.
- $50,000 for Town of Stokesdale.
- $25,000 for AWOL Outreach.
- $25,000 for HBCU Bound Athletics.
The state operates on a two-year budget cycle with the base budget being passed in odd years and then revised in even years.
Faircloth notes that this budget includes a 4.2 percent average raise for teachers and that the raise for teachers over the two years of the budget cycle totals 9.1 percent.
School support staff received a raise of 4 percent or an increase to $15 an hour, whichever is greater.
State employees received an average raise of 3.5 percent, which equals 6 percent over the biennium.
The state budget also sets aside $876 million for major economic development projects and $883 million for water and sewer infrastructure projects.
There is $32 million in the budget for school safety grants to support students in crisis, safety training and equipment in schools.
The budget also includes $14.8 million for mental health programs.
What this is, is a $6 million dollar giveaway. The arts council is just one of them. Who determines what art is? Certainly not the State.
Does it make you feel good or important to give taxpayer money away to causes you think that the taxpayer should help? It is up to the citizen to determine how to spend their hard-earned cash, not the elite know-it-alls.
Look closely at this crap!
$749,000 for video games. Society is screwed.
Government should not be granting money to nonprofits. One primary reason, there is no oversight by anyone, including government. Once established, a nonprofit can operate freely, and they do. Who monitors how the High Point University Principal Preparation Program Support spends the $1M? It sounds like such a warm and fuzzy cause. Does the program use the $1M on what it purported to support or is it transferred to another use? John Faircloth and the taxpayer will never know because there is no oversight, no accountability. If I were John Faircloth, I would not be patting myself on the back for helping nonprofits by giving away tax free money.
The $1M going to the International Civil Rights Museum will be a boondoggle. First, let us be honest, the museum is not “international.” Second, there is no oversight. The museum wants to expand. Why? The idea for this museum was built around one event in history on February 1, 1960. I understand that the goal is to expand to include the entire city block. The museum wants to expand to an entire city block by purchasing buildings currently owned privately and on which the owners are paying property taxes. The property would then become owned by a nonprofit that pays zero property taxes, just as the museum does now. That creates a need to raise property taxes on all other residents to pay for the deficit created by the museum’s land purchase.
Nonprofits benefit a few at the expense of others.
The truth is-Skip needs a place to put up a hotdog stand! Why did President Obama NOT visit the museum during his visits to Greensboro?