It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Tuesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT, I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. All eyes remain on the North Carolina General Assembly as we have now crossed the halfway point in the month of June. Lawmakers said to wrap up their business, or at least scheduled to wrap up their business before the July the 4th holiday.
However, legislative leaders this week are now pushing back a budget timeframe. North Carolina's legislative leaders have announced that they are still working through the final details of a long-awaited state budget, with Republican leaders now signaling that a finished spending plan may not, in fact, be ready as quickly as they had hoped. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, the Republican from Guilford County, who had initially projected that lawmakers would finish the budget during the week of June the 15th, that's right here, right now, said that he no longer expects that timeline to hold.
However, Berger said that Republicans still plan to deliver a budget before the end of June. House Speaker Destin Hall, the Republican from Caldwell County, said final. Analyzing the budget this week is still possible, but emphasize that the exact date remains uncertain as budget writers review the full spending plan. Hall told reporters on the House floor, quote, I think it's tough to answer that question. He followed up by saying the chairs, referring to the budget chairs, are very close to finishing up their work.
And so usually what we do is wait until they get done and resolve what they can. And from what I hear, they've made a lot of progress. And so I anticipate Senator Berger and I will probably meet sometime tomorrow, meaning today. And if we don't, we'll probably talk this weekend or later this week by phone. These comments come one month after Berger and Hall announced a high-level budget framework following months of stalled negotiations between House and Senate Republicans.
That agreement includes proposed raises for teachers, state employees, law enforcement officers, and correctional officers across North Carolina while also laying out a compromise on future state income tax reductions. This has been a very hot political topic here in North Carolina as the state has not. Passed a comprehensive state budget since October of 2023. The state was the only in the nation to end the calendar year 2025 without one, largely because of disagreements between House and Senate Republicans over continuing state tax policy. Since that period of time, state government has continued to operate under the previous spending plan, leaving major pay, policy, and spending decisions unresolved across the Tar Heels state.
Leaders from both chambers say that the remaining work is mainly about reviewing a large comprehensive budget rather than unresolved disputes at this point in time. During the House session that took place last week, Representative Tracy Clark, the Democrat from Guilford County, asked Hall whether members should expect a budget vote this week. Hall said from the dais during last week's House business session. As soon as the chairs know for sure when the vote will occur, the chair will let members know. The appropriations chair have made a lot of progress, and so it's a question now of whether that happens next week or the following week.
Hall continued by saying, Those of you who have been here for a long time know it takes a long time just to literally put the documents together, not always because things are disagreed upon between the chambers or between parties, but because it's just a very large document. Details are beginning to emerge about what will be included in the final budget as lawmakers continue negotiation over the full budget package. Among them, some of the items expected to make the cut are additional Hurricane Helene recovery funds, changes to a Medicaid policy for applied behavioral analysis therapy. That's ABA therapy. You've probably read about that.
We've talked about that over the last couple of weeks, dealing with children with autism, as well as higher tax rates on sports betting operators. Helene recovery funding has remained one of the state's most pressing budget priorities. Going back to September of 2024, when Hurricane Helene ravaged western North Carolina, lawmakers have approved several rounds of recovery aid, but state and local officials continue to push for more as communities rebuild. The final budget is expected to include additional Helene money rather than passing a separate recovery bill, which is what we had thought would take place during this legislative short session. The budget is also likely to include policy language addressing applied behavioral analysis, ABA therapy, which is a Medicaid-covered autism therapy that has drawn increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and state officials.
Medicaid spending on ABA therapy has surged into the hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years, prompting legislatures not only here in North Carolina but across the country to consider new oversight measures, including limits on telehealth, provider certification requirements, and additional guardrails to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse within the program. Lawmakers are also considering a tax increase on sports betting operators as part of the budget package. North Carolina currently taxes sports wagering operators at 18% of gross wagering revenues and has collected more than $287 million in taxes since sports betting came online in March of 2024. That has far Exceeded initial projections and state lawmakers look to dip back into that pot of money. A proposal under discussion would increase that rate.
Generating additional revenue for budget priorities as the state's legalized sports betting market continues to mature. Democrat Governor Josh Stein said earlier this month that the Republican budget framework is a step in the right direction, particularly on issues like teacher pay and law enforcement raises, but has also pushed lawmakers to spend more on state employees and public services, arguing that the proposed pay increases do not go far enough after years of inflation and raising state health plan costs. The agreement announced a little over a month ago was set to include an 8% teacher pay raise, a 3% raise for state employees, that would be larger amounts for certain law enforcement and public safety positions, as well as funding for a proposed children's hospital in Apex, North Carolina, that is just south of Raleigh, still in Wake County. It also has maintained the scheduled reduction in Corporate income tax rates and has laid out a new path for personal income tax cuts, eventually reducing the rate to 2.99% by 2033, with potential revenue trigger reductions thereafter. For now, House Leader Destin Hall and Senate Leader Phil Berger are continuing to project confidence that lawmakers can finish the budget before the first week of July is said and done, even though a budget vote during the week of June the 15th now appears very unlikely.
With Hall telling House members, long story short, as it relates to when the vote's going to happen, I'll tell you as soon as I know. We could get some more guidance this morning as it is a jam-packed Tuesday in Raleigh. As we have seen over the last couple of weeks, dozens of House and Senate meetings set to take place today and tomorrow. Typically, it is Tuesday and Wednesday that is jam-packed with these meetings. State lawmakers are set to gavel into both chambers, both the House and Senate, early this morning.
The Senate at 9:30, the House at 10:30. What we have seen over the last couple of weeks is that they gavel in in that early morning session. Break and come back sometime in either the early or later part of the afternoon to deal with any legislation. I'll remind you that there are multiple high-priority veto overrides that do remain as considered unfinished business on the House calendar. Senate Bill 50 dealing with concealed care, constitutional care, excuse me, here in North Carolina, plus some other priorities as well dealing with diversity, equity, and inclusion.
All of those have remained on the House calendar now. Going back to last year during the legislative long session, we'll be keeping our eye on Raleigh as we have been over the last couple of weeks. We'll have continuing coverage as many of our reporters, including Andrew Pomerance, will be down in the General Assembly this week. We'll keep you up to date with those details over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and of course, bring you the latest as soon as we get it right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT is celebrating 250 years of freedom and 50 years of WBT's Sky Show.
Join us on Saturday, July the 4th at Truest Field, home of the Charlotte Knights. The Charlotte Symphony will present a musical tribute to America, followed by the biggest and best fireworks show in the Southeast. It's the 50th anniversary of WBT's Sky Show, presented by Rhino Shield. That's coming your way Saturday, July the 4th at Truest Field in Uptown Charlotte. Visit wbt.com this morning for tickets and event details.
It's 5:21. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM. WBT onto some business news this morning. Yesterday, June the 15th, Jet Zero broke ground on its first commercial aircraft manufacturing facility at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, marking a major milestone for. for North Carolina's aerospace industry.
However, the precedent comes just weeks after the company announced delays in hiring timelines tied to a taxpayer-funded incentive grant. Governor Josh Stein said in a press release after he joined the groundbreaking on Monday, saying in part, today is a great new chapter in North Carolina's storied history of flight is taking off. Jet Zero's decision to build here is a vote of confidence in North Carolina's workforce, our universities and community colleges, as well as our long aerospace tradition. These 14,500 jobs and $4.7 billion in investment will transform the triad region for generations. North Carolina is not only the first in flight, we are also the future in flight.
The facility is projected to create more than 14,000 jobs by the end of 2037, according to the press release with Jet Zero investing some $4.7 billion into a manufacturing facility, and it will be the largest economic development if it comes to fruition in state history supported. By a job development investment grant. Brian Balfour, the vice president of research at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal: this ceremony comes about a month after JetZero announced that they are delaying their job creation goals as part of a major taxpayer-funded incentive deal that would give the company hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. It is also important to emphasize that jobs announcements are not actual jobs. Indeed, the Job Development Investment Grant, also known as the JDIG program, of which this JetZero deal is part of, has a very bad track record.
Over the past two decades, more than 80% of JDIG projects ended in failure to create the announced number of jobs. This groundbreaking comes following a recent announcement as we mentioned that JetZero has pushed back some of their hiring timelines. While the initial hiring target of more than 14,000 jobs remains unchanged, it has been pushed back to 2037. Changes were made to the initial hiring ramp with no hiring in 2027. Ramping up will begin in 2028 and 2029 that will be required to keep the initial hiring targets on track.
The manufacturing campus will include more than 100,000 square foot headquarters known as the Hub, according to a press release from the company, with renovations to transform a circa 1988 three-story building into a collaborative workspace designed to support the innovation necessary to market Jet Zero's commercial aircrafts. The integrated design vision for the hub was developed through a collaborative partnership between JetZero's Executive Creative Director of Workpace Innovation as well as architectural and interior design firm Klein, C-L-I-N-E. The teams are responsible for guiding the workplace strategy, designing the vision, campus planning, and everything else associated with this facility. According to Klein, JetZero's production and final assembly campus will be an estimated 8 million square foot facility across more than 600 acres to support the manufacturing and development of Jet Zero's Z4 aircraft. We will be keeping a very close eye on this project as so many other J-Dig announcements in recent years, unfortunately, have not come to fruition.
The targets are pretty far out, as I mentioned, the hiring goals set for 2037. We'll be following this in the immediate future over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. In some other business news this morning, with the Carolina Hurricanes now being Stanley Cup champions for the first time in 20 years, that has made a major financial impact on our state capital going all the way back to 2006 when the Carolina Hurricanes made the Stanley Cup for the second time and won the Stanley Cup for the first time. It brought a lot of development to our state's capital in Raleigh. But since that period of time, Raleigh has nearly doubled in size, getting an estimated 250,000 people in the last 20 to 25 years.
Kyle Touchstone, the director of economic development for the city of Raleigh, told the Carolina Journal. That since 2006, Raleigh went from being a state capital, state university town to being an economic powerhouse. Saying, last year we ranked the best performing large city in the United States by the Milken Institute. He continued by telling Carolina Journal: the indicators that drove us to that ranking were high-tech employment growth, construction growth, and wage growth. All of these indicators really show how well we are performing and able to provide jobs of today, but also jobs of the future.
In response to what the hurricanes have done for Raleigh, Touchstone added, What the Carolina hurricanes have done for us is put Raleigh on the map, noting that every time the hurricanes are playing at the Lenovo Center on the national stage, it's saying Raleigh, North Carolina. That's publicity you just can't buy. The Stanley Cup playoffs also brought a significant amount of tourism revenue to the state with state and local hospitality tourism. Tourism partners projecting that each home game brought in roughly two to three million dollars in tourism revenue. With the city of Raleigh also anticipating that local restaurants and bars would see a 20 to 30 percent increase in revenue from people coming in to watch games and be with their fellow fans.
Brian Balfour, the senior vice president of research at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal: the economic benefit resulting from the hurricanes playoff run is reflective of North Carolina's decade-plus plan of cutting taxes and making North Carolina a more hospitable destination for business investment and job creation. Noting that the economic growth that follows conservative economic reforms enables more people to have disposable income to devote to hurricanes, games, events, and merchandise. The Carolina Hurricanes, NC State, and the Sentinel Authority, which owns the Lenovo Center, have recently announced plans to upgrade the arena and the surrounding area that in years in the future. Will bring even more people and revenue. That is set to be completed in three different phases.
The first phase, including a new team store and additional seats within the Lenovo Center, is scheduled to be finished in 2027 or 2028. With Touchstone commenting on the upgrade, saying we're getting ready to kick off the Raleigh Sports and Entertainment District, a nearly $1 billion development sitting on 80 acres surrounding the Lenovo Center. Having this run and showing the excitement around hockey in the arena is really going to kick off this project in a very strong way. The success of the Hurricanes has brought back the talk of Raleigh's possibility of getting another professional sports team in the near future. There's been discussions about MLB expansion and Raleigh being one of those anchor cities that would add to an already vibrant sports culture around Raleigh that would bring even more people and revenue to the area.
That is something that we'll be keeping an eye on as those discussions continue within Major League Baseball. And congratulations to the Carolina Hurricanes on winning their first Stanley Cup in nearly 20 years. It's 5:37. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM. WBT, I'm Nick Craig.
Good Wednesday morning to you. As I mentioned during our show open this morning, it appears that the budgets, the state budget that we have been anticipating now for a little over a month is not happening as anticipated this week. At least that's the rumors that we were told or heard in the last few weeks is that the week of June the 15th, we would see the budget be announced and potentially a vote. That does appear to be delayed.
However, what we are learning this morning, however, is that the full state budget, which is still expected to be voted on. on and released in the month of June, will include additional funding for Western North Carolina. There was some uncertainty earlier this year as to whether the state budget would include additional Helene funding or if that would be a completely separate piece of legislation. With that, last week, Governor Josh Stein, alongside state Senator Kevin Corbyn, the Republican from Macon County, met with North Carolina's congressional delegation to seek more than $10 billion in. Additional federal funding for Western North Carolina's Hurricane Helene recovery.
This was the governor's fourth trip to Washington, D.C. since September to request additional funding. It comes the same week as U.S. Senator Ted Budd, Representatives Chuck Edwards, and others announced a funding package that includes more than $267 million in FEMA public assistant grants for more than 65 projects and more than $30 million through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, known as the HMGP. The awards support debris removal, road and bridge repairs, utility restoration, water and sewer infrastructure projects, emergency response costs, and long-term flood mitigation efforts across Western North Carolina.
The governor said in a press release late last week: North Carolina is grateful for every dollar the federal government has put towards Hurricane Helene recovery. recovery, and we're putting those dollars to work. I am encouraged by today's meetings with North Carolina's congressional delegation, and I look forward to working with them to deliver more federal resources to Western North Carolina. The people of Western North Carolina are working hard on their recovery. Their state and federal government needs to do their part.
Hurricane Helene cost an estimated $60 billion in damage in western North Carolina as the storm affected the region in September of 2024 and currently is on the books as the costliest natural disaster in state history. Although the latest request is $3 billion less than the previous request in September, the state's housing and water infrastructure request is increased from the previous due to ongoing needs. That includes some $3.07 billion to repair and rebuild damaged homes and recover lost housing stock, and $1.03 billion to rebuild strengthening water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure. Democrat Governor Josh Stein told lawmakers in a letter that only approximately 14% of total estimated damages have been covered by federal funding as of March the 31st of this year. In his letter to the delegation, the governor said that through state and federally funded efforts, more than a thousand homes have been repaired or rebuilt, and more than 2,800 others are in process.
A far cry from the 56,000 damaged or completely destroyed homes that remain in the western North Carolina region of the state. He also pointed out roughly 2,100 applications remain unserved in the state's current single-family housing program. The governor added that North Carolina was the first state to award its share of EPA state-revolving fund allocations for Hurricane Helene, funding 127 water and sewer projects totaling more than $645 million, but noted that eligible water and wastewater investments of an additional $655 million remain underfunded. You add all that together. We're talking about well over a billion dollars in water or wastewater either repairs, replacements, or improvements.
Funds for dams, roads, bridges, and local communities and economic recovery were also part of the governor's most recent ask to Washington, D.C. The governor has requested $792 million in additional state funding from the General Assembly as part of a third phase of recovery in his budget proposal. In September of last year, Stein and local officials from Buncombe, Ashe, Haywood, Madison and Rutherford counties traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with the Trump administration and members of Congress about his request for an additional $13.5 billion in funding for Hurricane Helene recovery. He also met with acting FEMA Administrator Karen Evans in January to give thanks for the approval of some.
Of the Hurricane Helene funding. During his January visit, Governor Stein also met with that acting FEMA administrator to again express some of that gratitude. In February, he visited the White House and asked President Trump to support additional federal funding. Stein's latest request comes as FEMA recently approved another $297 million in disaster recovery and mitigation funding for North Carolina communities. The latest funding package includes more than $267 million in FEMA public assistant grants.
That's for 65 projects and more than a $30 million through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program that awards support, debris removal, road and bridge repairs, utility restoration, water and sewer infrastructure projects, emergency response costs, and long-term flood mitigation efforts across western North Carolina. This announcement represents Presents one of the largest single batch of recovery funds approved since the storm affected the region back in September of 2024. And this does remain a major priority, not only for Governor Josh Stein, but for North Carolina's congressional delegations, members of the North Carolina House and the United States House and Senate. Also, some tie-in here from the General Assembly, as both the state and federal governments are ones that are doling out additional monies for Hurricane Helene recovery in Western North Carolina. We will be keeping an eye on a couple of different avenues here, awaiting additional funding from Congress, additional FEMA dollars on one hand, on the other side, waiting for details to be released on a full state budget that would provide additional funds, or is expected, I should say, we don't know for certain, but is expected as we understand it right now to provide some additional funding for Western North Carolina.
In additional economic recovery, additional money for recovery efforts, whether we're talking about homes, structures, roads, bridges, wastewater, a lot of different venues to be looking at needing some of those dollars in Western North Carolina. We have had extensive coverage going all the way back to September of 2024, just that weeks actually after we started the Carolina Journal news hour right here on WBT. We've got all of that this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Our most recent story: look for the headline: Stein seeks $10 billion more for Helene Recovery in Western North Carolina. Uh Good morning again, and welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT.
We've got an update this morning on the city of Rocky Mount, as officials there say that they have made significant headway in dealing with their financial issues that were the subject of an audit by state auditor Dave Bollock's office back just a couple of months ago. This update pretty recently at a local government commission meeting. According to the March audit, if this is the first time you're hearing about Rocky Mount, a former city manager was left unchecked from August of 2023 to August of 2025, contributing to the town's current financial crisis. During that time, the city's cash and investment balance declined by approximately $80 million, falling from about $100 million to just over $21 million in a relatively short two years. year span of time.
City officials were first asked to attend the local government commission meetings beginning in April. At that time, the commission agreed to postpone a full state takeover of Rocky Mount's finances contingent on the city complying with specific requirements. They attended again in the month of May, where it was noted that the town had noticeable progress and have substantially built upon their efforts. State Treasurer Brad Bryner, who oversees the local government commission, told city officials at the most recent LGC meeting last week, every time we see you, the news gets a little bit better, so I guess keep coming back. According to current city manager Elton Daniels, it said that the audit had been submitted and accepted, and most of the things that they've discussed have already been addressed from an operational standpoint.
Everything from an administration standpoint that the city has stated that it would do has been done, and they are seeing results from those decisions now. The budget has been presented to city council and will be up for a vote coming up on June the 22nd. Daniels, the city manager, said, you all have received our monthly updates for quite some time now. You'll see steady improvements over the last closeout of May where we're actually $8 million above our projections, noting that we're not out of the woods yet, but it feels like we're making steady incremental progress. The only exception to that progress is the transit fund, which remains at a negative balance, with Daniels telling the local government commission that they are looking at multiple ways to offer that service, possibly changing routes, reducing them in some areas, but because federal funds are tied to them, they cannot make those decisions as of right yet.
Daniels commented that it really isn't profitable for anyone. Operating a transit system across the state, noting it's one of those quality of life things that you deal with, and so it's similar to parks and recreation. It's something that you put in and you don't expect to have a full return. Daniels dismissed any concerns in dealing with federal authorities because former city employees in those positions requested funding that required a match that the city could not afford, and that's not something that they will do moving forward. He also added that the city has a proposed seven-cent tax increase because of obligations they want to continue and a need to close the financial gap again and nearly losing $80 million in the span of just two years.
Daniels noted that ending non-essential programs like Summer Camp for Children was a difficult decision, but from a financial and operational standpoint, it was just money that wasn't seeing the best return on it. Luckily, he said other people in the community have stepped up to replace those systems and services.
So the private sector really stepping in big time over in Rocky Mountain. He pointed out that there is a lesson that Rocky Mountain's situation can teach everyone across the state of North Carolina, noting that between the nonprofit and private sector, many of these situations can be dealt with. Mayor Sandy Robertson told the commission members that the only thing really left to address is what revenue shortfalls may exist associated with Senate Bill. 1076, which is called limit electric slash natural gas revenue uses and what contingency plans need to be in place for it. Republican senators introduced that legislation during the legislative short session to block the city of Rocky Mount from using revenue generated from its electrical utility to support other parts of its municipal budget, citing concerns about financial mismanagement and unfair costs imposed on out-of-town customers that do receive their utilities from the Rocky Mount utility but are not voters and do not live within the city itself, meaning they do not have a vote for the members on council.
That legislation has been introduced. We are continuing to track its progress. It is in the House Rules Committee as of right now. That's going to do it for a Tuesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT.
We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT.
