Agenda - 04-15-2014 - 5e - Laserfiche WebLink

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23 Support legislation that increases the informal bid limit of$1.2 million for NCDOT projects. Current law permits local NCDOT divisions to approve projects that are less than $1.2 million in scope instead of completing the more lengthy and cumbersome formal bidding process. Board of Transportation approval is still required, but this informal bid limit does help to streamline and expedite the building process. The $1.2 million cap was established several years ago and has not been adjusted to compensate for increased construction costs involved in road construction. IGR-8: Oppose collective bargaining for public employees. Oppose legislation to authorize local governments to enter into collective bargaining agreements with public employees, or to mandate dues check-off programs. Salaries and benefits for public sector employees remain strong in North Carolina because different jurisdictions are competing over the same highly skilled and specialized employees, such as police, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and public school teachers. Lifting the state's ban on collective bargaining would require every county in the state to negotiate for salaries and benefits with groups representing local teachers, firefighters, sheriffs deputies, EMS employees and others that are unionized. Collective bargaining for public employees would neither improve county government efficiency nor result in improved services to citizens. The likelihood is that collective bargaining would increase operational costs for county governments, would create an adversarial relationship between management and employees, and would create two classes of employees —those in unions and those not in unions. IGR-9: Support maintaining local control of the NC ABC System and preservation of local ABC revenues. Support legislation to protect local control of the local ABC system, including all local revenue streams generated through local ABC store operations. Given the state's dire budget situation, legislative leaders have considered privatizing all or parts of the state's system of alcoholic beverage control to generate significant amounts of cash in the short term. Many counties recognize ABC revenues in their budgets. The loss of these revenues would create holes in county budgets. In addition, cities and counties are better suited to make decisions about alcoholic beverage distribution, including where to locate stores and whether to merge with other systems. IGR-10: Support release of Help America Vote Act(HAVA)funds to assist counties with election costs. Support legislation that provides the state maintenance-of-effort match to draw down the $4 million in remaining federal HAVA funds. Counties use various county, state, and federal funds to operate election services. Taking advantage of Help America Vote Act(HAVA) funds would be very beneficial to ease funding pressures at the county level.