Rural NC - Taking a Beating

In one of my past posts, I quoted our Legislative Liaison in Raleigh as saying that this session of the General Assembly will boil down to a struggle between rural North Carolina and the metropolitan areas.  Rob Christensen, reporter for the Raleigh News and Observer, recently wrote an article concerning this issue.  In his article he pointed out several budget proposals that would not be in the best interest of rural North Carolina.  Foremost among the proposals is the reduction in funding for the Golden Leaf Foundation and the NC Rural Center.  Both organizations have been very instrumental in our recent economic development successes.  If the Governor's budget proposals are adopted it will make our economic development efforts even more difficult.  The change in our tier status has already impacted our efforts to attract new companies and help existing industries expand.  We don't need any other obstacles placed in our way of trying to attract jobs to Cleveland County.  Give your legislators a call and ask them to restore funding to those two organizations.  If you want read Mr. Christensen's article click here.

If you happen to see Rep. Tim Moore around town be sure to thank him for his vote to defeat
HB298.  If passed this bill would have ended the state’s 6-year-old policy of subsidizing solar farms and other forms of renewable energy and would have placed over 300 Cleveland County jobs in jeopardy.  Schletter, a German firm that recently announced a project in Cleveland County that will create 300 jobs, made the move to North Carolina based upon the incentives offered by NC Renewable Energy and Efficiency Portfolio Standards.  HB298 would have ended those incentives, thus killing Schletter's project. Our thanks to Rep.Moore for preserving those jobs.