Philip D. Brown

Richmond County Daily Journal

Local public schools and Richmond Community College were caught off-guard by Governor Bev Perdue’s decision Tuesday to issue an executive order to cut the pay of state employees.

Perdue is trying to close the budget’s shortfall by more than $1 billion. The pay cut amounts to one half of one percent for the months of May and June and includes a “flexible furlough.”

“North Carolina continues to experience the effects of a national economic crisis, which forces me to make difficult decisions,” Perdue said in a release. “I will do what I must in order to ensure that North Carolina can pay our bills and provide the essential services required by our citizens.”

“As soon as we have the breakdown of how this is going to work, we will inform our employees, because we realize how important it is they have this information,” said Richmond County Schools Public Information Officer Ashley Simmons. “We’re going to wait until we have more information from the governor’s office before we attempt to do that.”

“The Governor must balance the state's budget, and in these economic times, that requires hard decisions and strong actions,” said RCC President Dr. Sharon Morrissey. ”All state employees, including employees of Richmond Community College, will share the burden to ensure that the budget is balanced by June 30.” 

Morrissey said the move is difficult to manage because there was no advance warning.

“It will be difficult for our personal budgets because we were not able to prepare for this in advance, but we will do what needs to be done,” she said.

Previously, Perdue had discussed the possibility of furloughing employees and has frozen the budgets of state agencies.

Her budget proposal contained cuts for state-funded governmental entities.

Tuesday’s announcement was accompanied by a cautionary statement the state’s budget may come in more than $3 billion short. Earlier estimates put the shortfall at $2.2 billion.

The measure will affect the final two paychecks of the fiscal year for state employees.

April’s paycheck was scheduled to be sent out Wednesday, and will not be impacted.

In compensation, the executive order stipulates full-time state employees receive 10 hours off, to be taken during the calendar year of 2009.

Simmons said part-time employees will receive a prorated amount of time off, which will be formulated by the amount of hours they work.

The temporary pay cut will save the state $65 million, Perdue said, and when added with plans to capture more special funds, tap the state’s Savings Reserve Account and use federal recovery funding, will close the budget shortfall by more than $1 billion.

Richmond County Public Information Officer Crystal Cagle said as far as county officials know the move will not affect the employees of its offices, even if they’re salary is paid in part by the state.