All state employees will receive a half a percent reduction of their annual salary in their May and June paychecks - including North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin.

“When the Governor announced the flexible furlough program for state employees last week, I began the process of requesting that my salary be reduced as well,” announced Goodwin in a press release Tuesday. “Balancing our state’s budget will not be an easy task, and I certainly want to do my part in supporting my employees at the Department of Insurance and this portion of the state budget solution.”

Goodwin has volunteered for the pay cut because under state law, Gov. Bev Perdue does not have the authority to reduce the pay of Council of State members.

According to Department of Insurance Spokesperson Kristin Milam, the NCDOI is funded differently than other state agencies that receive taxpayer money.

“DOI is receipt supported, meaning that we receive our funding from insurance premiums. i.e. for every $100 in insurance premiums written in N.C., receives approximately $0.15. These monies provide DOI’s budget, and our funding was set up this way by design in the statutes to make sure that DOI is still able to regulate companies even in times of economic hardships,” said Milam. “However, the state ‘fronts’ DOI our budget monies, which we pay back immediately with interest, so we are still affected by the state’s budget woes.”