Bladen Adopts FY 2013-14 Budget, State Has Not
 
Bladen County Commissioners, using the best estimates available to them, approved their FY 2013-14 budget Monday evening.
 
In the meantime, the state has not adopted a budget and the NC House, Senate and Governor's budget proposals are from one end of the spectrum to the other.
 
Many local agencies, DSS, Schools and others are funded by federal, state and local funds.
 
Bladen County's current budget is their "best guess" based on information from various sources in Raleigh including the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.  However, nothing is sure until the state budget is adopted.  A conference committee will negotiate the differences and then return to their various bodies and hold a vote, if approved it moves on to the Governor for his signature..
 
In the NC House Plan, Bladen County would gain $224,166 according to NCACC numbers.  However, if the current Senate plan were to be adopted the county would receive $483,182 less than the current year, mostly due to cutting of nearly $1 million in sales tax revenues.
 
Based on the Senate version, the county would be forced to cut services, re-levy sales tax on food or increase property taxes and some of those options would have to approved by the state legislature.
 
The state legislature has less than 2 weeks to complete their budget by the June 30 deadline.  Meanwhile, Bladen County government and area towns are moving on using their best estimates, hopeful the numbers work...