THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 14, 1995 TAG: 9503140307
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Eastern North Carolina lawmakers say it's too early to tell how they and other members of the General Assembly will respond to Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.'s $10.6 million spending package for new coastal and water quality programs and projects.
But they say that package and a variety of existing natural and economic resource spending programs will come under close scrutiny as Hunt's budget makes its way through the General Assembly.
``Right now the feeling is that we need to make some cuts,'' said Rep. W.C. ``Bill'' Owens Jr., a Pasquotank County Democrat. ``But . . . let's not try to throw out the baby with the bath water.''
Owens is a member of the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Natural and Economic Resources - a committee of senators and representatives that will review Hunt's new spending proposals.
Existing agency budgets are coming under close scrutiny by Owens and other state lawmakers. They have been asked to find about $15 million in cuts in existing natural and economic resource programs before they move on to new programs.
The coastal package includes about $5.7 million in new spending items related to coastal and water quality issues and about $4.9 million in Hunt's capital budget for construction projects related to the coast.
Hunt is scheduled to discuss his coastal agenda on March 31 at an eastern North Carolina joint meeting of the state Marine Fisheries Commission, the Coastal Resources Commission and the Environmental Management Commission.
Under Hunt's proposal, the Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources is slated to lose 99 staff members, including the director of the regional office in Washington, N.C. But it is scheduled to gain 31 staff members through new programs.
``There are a lot of questions being asked, and you and I both know that's not a popular agency with the state,'' said Rep. John M. Nichols, a Craven County Republican and a member of the joint subcommittee.
``In the past, the agencies have pretty much gotten everything they wanted, but that's not the way it is this time,'' he said.
Lobbyists for some of the state's environmental groups, who had hoped for a larger environmental budget package, and Senate leader Marc Basnight, said last week they were generally pleased with Hunt's coastal budget requests.
``There are not many flaws in the recommendations,'' said Basnight, a Manteo Democrat. ``They are all legitimate spending items to me.
``I have to weigh these against other budget needs in the state . . . but these are important,'' he said. ``I'll see that we're properly represented in the budget.''
However, some coastal coastal legislative leaders, environmental groups and agency staff members say that Hunt's budget does not include money to buy critical coastal natural areas and expand the state's coastal reserve properties to include a site in the Albemarle-Pamlico region.
In the wake of findings by the Coastal Futures Committee in September, the environment department staff had reportedly included about $25 million for the purchase of the coastal natural areas. But that amount was reduced to $10 million after the Nov. 8 election by the environment department staff and Hunt in early budgets talks.
By early this year, as the legislature prepared to convene in Raleigh, some state coastal management officials privately hoped to salvage a $5 million appropriation to buy land in the coastal region. But, when Hunt's budget was unveiled in February, no such money was included.
Jonathan Howes, secretary of the environment department, said last week that the appropriation was one of the last items deleted from Hunt's budget before it was presented to the legislature.
``The general feeling was that we needed to do some additional planning before the state spent any money to buy land,'' he said. ``You can't have everything in a constrained fiscal environment.'' by CNB