Perdue cuts all unnecessary spending

There are many universal truths, one being, “Hogs love slop and bureaucrats love wasteful spending.” I think this quote may be found either on the post office or the Statue of Liberty……..or on a stall in the men’s room of the oyster bar.

I think what this quote means is that bureaucratic spending can not end until hogs quit loving slop. And since love is patient, love is kind and since love never fails, I don’t see an end to wasteful spending or hogs loving slop. Global warming may end but not wasteful spending. And certainly not hogs loving slop.

Wasteful spending will end when the bureaucrats have spent all the money the taxpayers have. At that point we will probably need another stimulus package………… or some more hope.

The private luxury lear jet that took Holden and his kids to the acc tournament was paid for by the UNC Foundation. The UNC Foundation can use it's money to pay for professor's salaries, scholarships etc - instead it paid for Holden and his family to ride on the luxury lear jet probaly with free catering, (shrimp, cheese and crackers etc.)

As to the multimillion renovations - As Chancellor, Holden could have have said - maybe since we are in the worst recession in the last 70 years and teachers are getting cut, taxes are getting raised - I could hold off on spending a couple million to redo our bathrooms.

Hi salary may be in line with his peers - but all of his peers are not running the state univesrity in a state where unemployment is 13% and taxes are being raised on people making $40,000 a year much less $400,000.

JPQuick - I've pointed out to you on other boards that DPI spending includes far more than "Classroom" spending. So DPI could easily see cuts (at least 38% of the budget is towards non-instructional spending).

I’m not sure this will work. How can an agency head/bureaucrat not make unnecessary expenditures? Aren’t unnecessary expenditures part of the job description? Isn’t it in the DNA? Asking a bureaucrat to cease unnecessary expenditures is like telling James Taylor to quit singing. It’s like trying to reverse the rotation of the earth or telling an ACORN rep to only fill out one registration card per Disney character.

Cutting unnecessary spending is a nice thought but we need to be thinking of things that are of this world. I fear for the health and well being of these bureaucrats being asked to do something against their very nature. These people have high professional standards to uphold and doing something distasteful like this is a disgrace to the brotherhood of man. Where is the union on this?

We need to look further for solutions. Have we got any more of that Confederate money lying around? Could we sue the tobacco companies again? Would the Feds pay us for our tobacco allotments again? Maybe a museum exchange with the Europeans would bring in some money.

Overspending bureaucrats are one of North Carolina's most precious resources. Let's not throw the bathwater into the aquarium!

This article is downright funny!!! I GOT A GOOD LAUGH IN THAT I HAD BEEN WATING FOR.

As as retired university employee, try cuting some midle management, such as associate vice chancellors, assistant vice chancellors, etc. The universities are so top heavy it would boggle your mind!! Also, look at all the chancellor's "perks"! These would also boggle your minds!

Mrclean--have to disagree with your desire to have state workers use retreaded tires--Those retreads would be cheaper in the beginning and more costly in the end. These dangerous pieces have littered our highways in the past. Don’t care to see any more lives lost to “blow-outs” and tire litter or “time devoted” by the highway patrol and transportation department to clean up this debris.
There are so many items that must be included in the budget for the welfare of NC citizens. I feel safety must have a high priority.
It appears that a budget will work if the needs of the people are kept in mind and not the wants of a few people.

OK mrclean, I don't know what would be worse for me while driving my state vehicle, having my retreaded tires blow out or ruining my engine because I can only have the vehicle serviced every 8000 miles, regardless of driving conditions. Doesn't matter though, with only half a tank of gas, I probably couldn't get very far anyway...

Honestly though, this order doesn't seem to be much different from what we've been doing for months now, just paying the bills and salaries. Some of us have had to pay out of pocket for things to get the job done because we can't wait afford to wait for approval.

I agree that cuts have to be made. It just seems like no one wants to make the call. Frankly, we've cut about everything except turning off the lights. And yeah, I'm a state worker and a registered Republican. We do exist.

The unnecessary spending has been in place for a while now. I have some POs in for basic supplies that are being sat on. The antivirus software at work expired in late spring and hasn't been renewed - our IT guy cobbled together some hacks to at least allow for some updates.

If they'd cut all of the pork out of the budget and showed that they were trying to work on things then I'd be ok with the 1% sales tax increase. But they're not. I see agencies that still have temp employees despite being told to get rid of them. I applaud the reduction in travel.

MrClean, a reply to you. We've moved out oil changes to 6k. Tires? Only when they won't pass inspection. I have one fleet car that then passed when the tires were way past the wear bars - and the driver spun out on I40 driving in the rain. All printing is now double sided (has been for 6+ months) and is audited. The one color printer was taken offline as a savings. Instead of printing reports users can save them as PDF files. All PCs, printers, etc are turned off at night to save power.

Supplies are another thing. I wish that we were able to price shop more. Some of our items are so much cheaper online than via the "preferred" vendors but we have to go with the approved contract. A few items are 20% more than what I could by locally but we can't.

Incompetent is saying it mildly... I know for a fact that there is so much reversed descrimination going on in this state... that brains is not the first thing they look for on a state application! As far as unnecessary spending... it means that the state can't even afford to buy paper and pens so that state agencies can operate... state employees are practically expected to buy their own supplies if the want the tools they need for work.. our state is totally rediculous!

Well, the $300 million should come out of DHHS budget.........and not all the departments! Lanier Cansler should be fired...wow I can't even imagine being responsible for a $300 million error! Of Course, the Government screwed up too by overpaying!!!!

Perdue needs to stop the pier!

Maybe it would be best for the legislature to just not do anything for a while. Just take the rest of the year off and don't hurry back in 2010. Economic growth is the only acceptable solution to the current mess the democrats created.

Does anyone think this is serious? She has been all over the board in the past 2 weeks and seems to be now in a panic mode. Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing. Operating on the present emergency plan the state is operating on a budget 15% lower than last year. This in itself saves about $2 billion dollars this year maybe more. So doing nothing actually accomplishes more than passing a new budget with an increase of $1 billion. I vote to do nothing til the end of the year, then adopt the present operating cost. By then the cuts will have been done, the budget cut, the pink slips handed out, and we will still have a bloated state government run by the same lame group as the past 40 years. Of course they will never agree to something so simple. Remember the strongest human desire is not love nor hate but the overwhelming desire to edit.

AP,

You are so right about the record written on the face. I noticed that one of the Bev photos in the N&O today was very unflattering, as though she was awake all night and didn't have time to tidy herself up this morning. I have also noticed something about the N&O. If they "like" someone, they use a flattering photo. When they start using unflattering photos, the subject is usually messing up! Bev's approval numbers are starting to show in her photos.

Is the retired CEO of Public Instruction/Chair of State Board, Harris retiring on the salary he made before his job was created? If he isn't going out the way he came in, that would definitely be unnecessary spending. Maybe Bev is cleaning all this up because the Big Guy (Prez) is coming to town next week. It seems like Bev Purdue the Democratic version of Sarah Palin without the glamour.

There is a "school of thought" that is undoubtedly "sexist" but interesting nonetheless .... there are extreme "pressures" on high profile elected officia;s and it manifests itself in their physical appearance most notably their face over time. This phenomenon seems most noticeable in women.

Bev entered office as a smiling little "Dumpling". I've always considered her "attractive" for her age (roughly the same as me!). She has maintained her figure and seems aware of her appearance, fashion et al ..... how will Governor Dumpling hold up appearance-wise over the next few years ????

Thru the miracle of google we will have a running record of Dumpling Over Her Reign.

After reading most of these comments, I want to applaud you on the tax bill
as we are in very serious financil trouble all over the country, It indeed would have been outrageous to have added yet another tax burden, Its a shame you can not convince Washington to do the same I know by reading the comments you are getting it from left and right Personally I do not see an end to this Financil crisis in sight,

So, let me ask this? Is sending the feds $300 million because someone at DHHS can't add and apparently is too incompetent to run an Excel spreadsheet, unnecessary spending? Perhaps paying the high salaries of many of the DHHS top staff is unnecessary spending that should be cut.

Quoting from above: "Under the order, agency heads must preapproval all purchase orders."

Who was approving them before? Isn't the "head" always responsible for what happens in his domain? The buck stops here?

Who does she think she is kidding? She is building a pier that costs millions of dollars for one of the members of the General Assembly.

$300,000,000 mistake..hells bells, who believes that bs.

Bev, time to put the jet ebay.

Cut spending: furlough ALL state paid employees who are eligible for retirement, ALL Easley appointees, and 20% of EVERY admin staff.

California's proposal to Cut Spending rather than Increase Taxes is astonishing.
Could it be done in North Carolina ?

As "Official" Right-wing Extremist Apologist for Holden Thorp let me say ....

1. The plane flight to Atlanta (ACC Tourney time) was coordinated with two alumni fund-raisers. Taking his family on the plane did not involve $1 in added costs to the state or UNC.

2. The renovations to the Chancellors manse were scheduled prior to Holden's appointment as Chancellor and were part of the overall upkeep and maintenance of the facility.

3. His salary is totally in-line with his peers across the country.

If other state employees were just 10% as conscientious about expenses as Thorp and his family, this state would be much better off. I totally understand UNC-hate in general but Holden-hate is off-base.

I'm afraid I do not see any language in Bev's executive order requiring cuts "to mandatory obligations including payroll, utilities, medical supplies, financial aid, required state aid and debt service," as stated in Mr. Niolet's blog post.

On the contrary, the actual language used in Bev's executive order appears to instruct the OSBM to approve spending for each of these "mandatory obligations."

"Special exceptions" protect nearly every department in state government from spending cuts.

Bev would have the OSBM drive spending cuts, excluding:

classroom expenses
anything covered by the Federal Recovery Act
law enforcement
health care
public safety
payroll
utilities
medical supplies
financial aid

AND debt service....

The only department that would actually be required to cut spending is the Department of Environmental Resources.

The exclusion of DER from the list of "mandatory obligations" was most likely just an oversight on Bev's part....

Why are the inmates still in charge of the asylum that is the Republican party?

The GOP has claimed "it's not that big a deficit" while doing *nothing to close it, and now their talking point is crab pots bought with *federal* dollars? Wow. Their out of touch micromanagement has stalled the budget process for months, leaving the state without a budget for almost a month into its fiscal year.

Whoever thinks we would be better under Republican rule must also like the idea of putting foxes in charge of hen houses. Think of the efficiency when there won't be any hens ("wasteful" spending on education and other programs that imrpove the future of the state) left! Of course that leaves us with no eggs to hatch, but the CEO-mentality of GOP will gladly sacrafice the future of the state of North Carolina for "saving" a few dollars today.

There's been a hiring freeze in my department since last fall; spending for training, improvements to our offices and computer upgrades has stopped at the same time. Her order to cut 'all unnecessary spending' is a PR move and little more; at least in our office there's no spending going on right now so there's hardly any 'unnecessary' component left to cut.

She needs to swallow her pride and sign the budget that the legislature is willing to pass, even if it doesn't raise taxes as high as she wants.

how much did thorpe spend on "fixing up" his free house oh and one for mom n law personal groundskeeper for him and one for the pres

How about cutting Holden Thorpe's salary - doesn't he make $400,000? and he flies his family on state planes to the acc tournament?

Maybe Holden could take a pay cut in order to save 3-4 teachers.

Whatta say Holden? Maybe one less trip on the state plane with your kids to watch basketabll while we are cutting teachers?

will she hire an 'executive' to make her orders next week

Comment deleted. Tone it down, PercyKution.

Comment deleted for inappropriate content. BN

I think maybe "government spending" and "unnecessary spending" are the same thing. Like synonymous.

It takes a village.......

WHAT--- Just a few months ago she spent 10s of millions to purchase Chimney Rock Park and Grandfather Mt. Does anyone know how many teachers were fired to pay for these liabilities.

Kinda begs the question.... why is there unnecessary spending at all?

Perhaps I'm missing something, but shouldn't government only be spending necessary money no matter what the economy is like? The fact that there is unnecessary spending to cut is disturbing. Its much like a couple months back when the powers that be were talking about cutting unnecessary state jobs. Again, why were unnecessary state jobs created in the first place? This whole governmental thinking that sees the money citizens make as somehow being owed to the government needs to change.

dubius is right.

Cut the UNC budget by 25%? That kind of comment could only be made by someone who has no clue as to what kind of money it takes to run a University.

Let's just say our budgets were cut by 25% (I work at one of the Universities and know the budgets). Operating makes up only 10% of our department's budget and the rest is salaries. So, we turn off the phones, stop ordering lab supplies so students can't do their research, no pens or paper for anyone, no copies so no exams for the students. The last 15%...eliminate the entire staff for the department (that's brilliant) and you still would have to can at least four professors to make it to 25%.

What a callous, clueless comment.

Sorry fellas, registered GOP, usually vote a split ticket.
"Nodaloft" is an old email from when Noda was a cheap place to live.

Mr. Clean seems to forget that state employees pay taxes. They pay income taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes. They also purchase goods and services from local businesses. Oh, and a large percentage of UNC system employees are paid from research and other grants and cost the state virtually nothing. They also pay 100% of the health insurance coverage for their spouses and children out of pocket.

If you REALLY want to destroy the economy of the Triangle, go ahead and lay off more state employees. We will need to raise your taxes, though. Those out-of-work employees will need unemployment and Medicaid for the whole family!

nodaloft I do not know your politics but if i was playing the odds I would think you are Democrat.

No, people that buy lofts in the Charlotte transitional neighborhood NODA above wine and tofu bars are notoriously registered with the Alaska Independence Party.

Good read otherwise though Paul. Thumbs up!

You probably missed it but getting rid of higher paid employees for younger cheaper ones is a trend throughout America. I am not saying it is right but it surely is the way it is. Why should govmint employees be exempt from this.

On the other hand more attorneys on the open market drives prices down not up.Same thing happens when there are too many builders, landscapers, plumbers and electricians in the same situation.

nodaloft I do not know your politics but if i was playing the odds I would think you are Democrat. But again I only say maybe. It is not your fault the Democrats in charge of our government failed to create a responsible budget over the past 10 plus years. I have always said that during great times, our government must create a large surplus rainy day fund. Instead Democrats just have too spend it on special interest to get votes. I would have accepted the rainy day fund over the small tax cuts we may have got because I knew during bad times the government would be short of our tax money and would want to raise our taxes.

I am serious in saying that it is time to bring real change to NC and elect Republicans and Conservatives who will bring responsibility to our budget process. Republicans and Liberterians will not meet behind closed doors.

Nodaloft with the most intelligent post I've ever seen on this forum.

Thank you.

Hey Wuptdo.
I am an assistant DA with 15 years experience. You suggest cutting my pay by 12% I guess because you think I am lazy and sorry (and expendable?)just because I work for the State. As far as you are concerned, I can go into private practice and you'll replace me with some kid just out of school -- only because it is cheaper. When you drive me into private practice to feed my family, I will only have one option - defending criminals - since my 15 years in the DA's office have made me an expert in one thing - criminal law. If you are the victim of a crime, will you volunteer to have the least experienced ADA in the office take me on? Will you still be prepared to do that when your family member gets raped, robbed or murdered and you want justice? I could have gone into private practice long ago to get rich and I have stayed to fight for victims. But it gets harder and harder to stay when people like you want thank me with a pay cut.

Comment deleted for inappropriate content. Replacing an "s" with a "$" doesn't make it okay to swear in the comments section, wuptdo. — BN

It appears someone in the administration is reading the blog.... Now Governor, line all the state employees up and start counting. All the even numbers go home!

Two words:

Crab

Pots

PowderedToastMan:

You don't get it. Put down the toast and READ the article.

The order cuts spending to mandatory obligations including payroll, utilities, medical supplis(sic), financial aid, required state aid and debt service.

Financial aid and medical supplies are mandatory obligations, and have not been cut.

Wow! Mr. Clean you need to run for office. You have some good ideas there.

MUCH better, Governor. Live within your means is the right message. Thanks for leading the way to improved fiscal responsibility and showing the slower member of the legislature how to manage taxpayer money.