The John Locke Foundation will target some of Mike Easley's pet projects.
The conservative think tank's fiscal analyst told Dome that it will urge state lawmakers to cut newer programs and expansions of older ones in the state budget in the face of a massive drop in tax revenue, including expansions of dental schools, a research campus in Kannapolis and a Shanghai office for the N.C. Department of Commerce.
"Some of the more recent additions to the budget should be the things that are on the chopping block," said Joe Colletti. "We survived until 2008 without some of these things; we can do without them now."
He said the think tank will also argue for higher user fees on budget items such as the N.C. Zoo, the N.C. Symphony and college tuition.
Colletti said he is hopeful that an initiative to provide "Google transparency" to state contracts proposed by Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue will cut costs as similar measures have done in other states. He said private contractors who can provide services for less will be more likely to put a bid in if they can easily see on a public Web site what the state is already paying.
"Most of those other (Web) sites are less than a year old, but they're already having a tremendous impact on savings," he said. "The more we can make it open and allow people to see what we're spending money on, the better off we'll all be."
Previously: Liberal think tanks fire first shot on budget
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Re: Think tank targets recent spending
"He said the think tank will also argue for higher user fees on budget items such as the N.C. Zoo, the N.C. Symphony and college tuition."
Of course it will, because its virulent anti-elitism can't be contained by common sense, and will likely produce the exact opposite of what JLF intends. Increasing fees in these areas will reduce the number of lower income folks taking part in these State-sponsored operations, which will make them more elitist in nature.
The last time I took my three kids to the zoo (all over 12 yo), the entire day ended up costing around $75, and that's only because I cheaped out and hurried them through the gift shop. Symphony tickets are a steal at $15 a pop for some shows. And even though some parents are willing to take out a second mortgage to purchase Hannah Montana tickets, fifteen bucks is fifteen bucks, and if we ever want to get to the place where a Bach Vivace concerto is washing over the cars at a stoplight...
(that's for Joe Coletti: relax, dude)
...as opposed to sustaining traumatic brain injury from the bass in Fitty Cents' newest beer ad, we need to keep them ticket prices reasonable.
And take it from somebody with two kids in the UNC system: tuition is already astronomically, not-a-lot-of-oxygen-up-here, go-into-debt-until-the-second-coming level. My kids are already on the Ramen Noodle Diet; please don't turn that into a luxury.
"...a research campus in Kannapolis..."
If I'm not mistaken, the State's share of the funding is a fraction of what David Murdock is putting up. You cut this off, and the phrase, "dollar waiting on a dime" comes to mind. You want to cut, and I understand that. But cutting public funding that results in losing much larger matching funding from the private sector is foolishness.