The Senate passed its budget this week that includes a 2.5% raise for employees and a 1% bonus for retirees in each of the next two years.

The Senate budget will do nothing to stop the turnover crisis in state government. The vacancy rate across state government is nearly 25%, and 37% of new employees leave in their first year while taxpayers are left holding the bag for training and recruitment to the tune of nearly a half billion dollars. The Senate proposed a 1% bonus for retirees that doesn’t begin to come close to relieving the squeeze of inflation on those who served North Carolinians so diligently.

Now that the House and Senate have passed budget proposals, a conference committee will be formed to iron out a compromise. SEANC is already prepared to work with the conference committee once appointed and is already pushing legislators to raise state employee pay by 5% this year, 5% next year, and a significant retention bonus spread over the year.

SEANC Executive Director Ardis Watkins appeared on several talk radio stations, television programs, and news articles this week to make our case. You can listen to some of these appearances in the links below:

• WPTF Afternoon Show
• WBT Pete Kaliner Show (Interview begins 17 minutes in)
• Watkins’ appearance on Capital Tonight on Spectrum News will re-air on Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m.
• Spectrum News also interviewed District 25 Chairman James Holman. (subscription required)
• WRAL: "High turnover, few applications, half a billion dollars"
• WRAL story on Senate budget

SEANC members have also stepped up to the challenge, sending legislators more than 3,300 emails in the last week. But we can’t stop now. If you haven’t sent your email, please click here to do so.