House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate Leader Phil Berger just announced that the House and Senate have agreed on the following details of the state budget. They stopped short of announcing a full budget, saying they have more work ahead.&nbsp;
It's important to note that this is just one step, albeit an important one, in the budget process. The House and Senate will have to pass a full budget, and it will be sent to Gov. Josh Stein for signature or Veto. If he vetoes it, it will return to the NCGA for an override vote. State Employees • 3% raise for most, with larger increases for certain areas (LE, corrections — see below) • Bonus: $1,750 for employees making under $65K, $1,000 for those making over $65K Retirees • 2.5% bonus (one-time, not a COLA) Teachers and Law Enforcement • 8% average raise for teachers. Raises across the entire salary schedule, including veteran teachers • Bonus: $1,000 for teachers with 16+ years, $500 for those under 16 years Law Enforcement &amp; Corrections • SBI and ALE officers: 20.3% average raise (including steps); civilians get substantial raise too • State Highway Patrol: 17.7% average raise with steps; SHP civilians up to 11.5% • Correctional officers: 15.4% average raise with steps • Probation/parole officers: 10.1% average raise, including steps • Other LEOs (including State Capitol Police): 13% • $40.1 million for one-time $1,750 bonuses for local LE officers statewide&nbsp;
The work is not done. Tell your legislators what you think of this proposal by giving them a call.

Pay raise portion of budget deal announced

I'm a SEANC member and your constituent. I'm writing about the budget agreement.
I want you to understand what it's like to be a state employee right now.
Many of us are doing the work of two people, sometimes three. We're covering shifts that should be staffed by colleagues who no longer exist on the payroll. We're burning out, we're leaving, and the people who replace us are walking into the same impossible workload.
A 3% raise does not change that. A $1,750 bonus does not change that. And eliminating the vacant positions we've been begging the state to fill makes it permanent.
The state is wasting money on turnover — burning out the employees we still have and losing experienced staff to private-sector jobs that pay more and ask less. North Carolina hasn't even formally studied the cost of turnover since the Perdue administration, when it was estimated at roughly $400,000. That was more than a decade ago.
Please fight for a budget that values the people doing the work, not just the announcement. State employees need real raises that keep up with the cost of living, and the state needs to invest in filling positions — not eliminating them.
Thank you for your service.

Budget announced May 12

State Employees Association of North Carolina

I'm a SEANC member and your constituent. I'm writing about the budget agreement.
I'm grateful that correctional officers, State Highway Patrol troopers, SBI agents, and other law enforcement personnel are finally getting the raises they've earned. Those increases are long overdue.
But I'm deeply concerned about reports that the state plans to pay for those raises in part by eliminating vacant positions across state government. Most of those positions aren't empty because the state doesn't need the work done. They're empty because the state can't pay enough to fill them.
Eliminating those jobs doesn't save money. It locks in the staffing crisis that has crushed state employees for years — and shifts more work onto the people still doing it.
Before this budget is finalized, I'm asking you to demand answers: How many positions are being cut? In which agencies? And what happens to the work?
Please don't let this budget be remembered as the one that traded raises for permanent understaffing.
Thank you for your service.

Your constituent needs you to fix this budget

I'm a SEANC member and your constituent. I'm writing about the budget agreement.
I want to talk about the state's retirees.
The budget includes a 2.5% one-time bonus for state retirees. That is not a cost-of-living adjustment. It is the ninth consecutive year that North Carolina has failed to deliver a real COLA to the people who built this state.
State retirees live on fixed incomes. Their grocery bills, their utility bills, and their healthcare costs go up every year — but their pensions don't. A one-time bonus does not pay next year's bills. It does not keep pace with inflation. And it does not honor the promise this state made to its public servants.
Some retirees in North Carolina retired more than 20 years ago at $20,000 a year. Imagine what inflation has done to them. They earned their benefits. They were promised them. They deserve a real COLA — not another bonus.
Please don't pass this budget without doing right by the people who spent their careers serving this state.