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TPAC Gives Moeser's DPS Budget Guidelines Mixed Vote
By Meredith Nicholson
Staff Writer
The Transportation and Parking
Advisory Committee voted Wednesday
on resolutions designed to balance the
Department of Public Safety budget.
The resolutions Came from a list of five
elements of an “acceptable" proposal that
Chancellor James Moeser and his
Cabinet gave to TPAC Chairman Bob
Knight at the Cabinet’s Tuesday meeting.
But many TPAC members said they
are upset by the way they thought Moeser
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Jen Daum and Will McKinney, candidates for next year's student body president, joke with each other in the Pit on Wednesday
afternoon. Daum and McKinney started another week of campaigning in anticipation of Tuesday's runoff election.
Remaining Candidates Get Back to Work
By Addie Sluder
Staff Writer
The remaining student body presi
dent and senior class officer candidates
left the gate run
ning Wednesday
at the start of
another week of
courting voters
Student Elections
before Tuesday’s runoff election.
Because no one received at least 50
percent of votes cast to win Tuesday’s
ASG Kicks Off Tuition Education Campaign
By Amanda Iler
Staff Writer
Students from UNC-system schools
statewide gathered on the steps of UNC-
Chapel Hill’s George Watts Hill Alumni
Center on Wednesday to kick off a cam
paign informing the public about the
status of higher education funding in
North Carolina.
Officials
from the UNC
Association of
Student
Governments
UNC-System and
State Officials
Discuss Tuition
See Page 3
said they hope the “Keep N.C.
Educated” campaign will focus attention
on tuition increases and prompt voters
to lobby legislators to increase state
funding for the system.
At least 12 UNC-system schools have
either voted to increase campus tuition
imposed the guidelines upon the commit
tee. The guidelines aim to raise revenue
and partially alleviate the projected $2 mil
lion shortfall for the 2002-03 DPS budget
“I think it is absolutely appalling for
the administration to step in like this,”
said Joanne Kucharski, a TPAC repre
sentative from the Employee Forum.
David Cooper, president of the
Residence Hall Association, said TPAC
rejected similar guidelines earlier in the
year and that he is displeased the com
mittee is forced to accept them now.
Members voted to approve a recom
election, two runoff races will take place
Tuesday to setde the student body pres
ident and senior class officer races.
Candidates Will McKinney and Jen
Daum will be on the runoff ballot for
student body president. Candidates
Paymon Rouhanifard and Robert
Albright will face off against Tinu
Akintola and David Mclntosh for senior
class president and vice president.
Most candidates said that as they
woke Wednesday morning to anew
week of campaigning, they reflected on
or are considering tuition increases. The
UNC-CH Board of Trustees voted Jan.
24 to increase tuition by S4OO.
ASG President Andrew Payne said
the increases result partly from the
recession and that state legislators are
forcing students to “bear the brunt” of
the state’s S9OO million budget shortfall
by not increasing the system’s funding.
Payne urged students during the kick
off to “embark on a tuition revival.”
Payne said that as part of the cam
paign, students will reach out to people
statewide and talk with them about
tuition. Students also will travel across
the state holding rallies protesting
tuition increases on college campuses, at
PTA meetings and in church groups.
Payne also said the group will cam
paign against state legislators who
See KICKOFF, Page 9
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mendation for some form of paid night
parking permit system. The debated res
olution passed 13-7, with one abstention.
Emily Williamson, a TPAC represen
tative from the Graduate and
Professional Student Federation, said she
is concerned about how the night park
ing recommendation will be presented
to Moeser, who must approve the rec
ommendations. Williamson, who has
been a vocal opponent of any form of
night parking regulation, said she does
not think 13-7 was a consensus and that
she hopes Knight will convey the deep
what strategies they will employ during
the final push for votes. For Daum, part
of that strategy includes securing the sup
port of candidates no longer in the race.
Daum said former student body pres
ident candidates Fred Hashagen and
Bennett Mason picked up campaign but
tons Wednesday morning after deciding
to endorse her in the runoff.
“I hope Jen lets me do as much work
on her campaign as possible,” Hashagen
said. “I think it’s very important that she
wins this election.”
DTH/REBECCA O’DOHERTY
Heather Griswold (second from right), an N.C. State University junior,
rallies during Wednesday's "Keep N.C. Educated" campaign kickoff.
lama kind of burr; I shall stick.
William Shakespeare
Overthrown
Chris Rodrigues and wrestling
suffer their first ACC loss.
See Page 9
division in the committee to Moeser.
TPAC members voted 20-0, with one
abstention, to reject the administration’s
statement that the University will not
contribute money to the DPS budget
next year. TPAC members asked for a
contribution of $500,000 to $1 million.
Knight said officials told him Tuesday
that the University was not able to con
tribute to the TPAC budget because it is
also facing a budget crisis.
Jimmy Workman, a TPAC represen
tative from the Employee Forum, said
the shortages in the DPS budget were
Late Wednesday, former candidate
Brad Overcash also announced his
intention to support Daum. “What it
boils down to is, quite simply, I thinkjen
will make a better student body presi
dent," he said, citing her passion, energy
and desire to achieve feasible goals.
Overcash said Daum plans to incor
porate his platform goal of creadng a stu
dent summit that would bring students
together to voice concerns and convey
See CAMPAIGNING, Page 9
c J
caused by the decision to make some
services, like busing, free of charge. He
said it is not fair for the University to
enact a program like fare-free busing
without increasing funding.
The only money that UNC con
tributes to the service is revenue gener
ated by a $8.49 increase in student fees.
Members also voted 17-4 to increase
the price of daytime parking permits
and create a tiered pricing system that
would charge different rates for parking
permits based on employee salary.
By a margin of 19-1, with one absten
N.C. Leaders ; Easley
Discuss Budget Cuts
By Elyse Ashburn
Assistant State & National Editor
RALEIGH - Municipal leaders from
across the state received a mixed response
Wednesday from Gov. Mike Easley when
they shared their concerns about recent
funding cuts in a closed meeting.
Easley announced Feb. 5 that he
planned to withhold about S2OO million
from municipal governments to contend
with a S9OO million state budget short
fall. But the governor said Wednesday
that he would return the money if and
when finances allow.
But Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy said
Eiaslev painted a grim picture Wednesday
of the state’s economic future. Foy said
Easley told municipal leaders that he
anticipates the budget deficit for the next
fiscal year to be about $l.B billion. “That’s
alarming to us,” Foy said. “Next year will
be a bigger problem.”
Foy said it would be difficult to make
up for lost funding next year if the town
is placed in a similar situation by the state
government because the town might
have to dip into recurring funds, forcing
them to cut services. Much of the money
planned to help cover this year’s shortfall
will come from nonrecurring funds.
Despite the fact that he was unsetded
by Easley’s economic projections, Foy
said the meeting was positive and pro
ductive overall.
“I left the meeting with a better sense
of how to approach this in a collabora
tive way,” Foy said.
Easley said after the meeting that he
was hesitant to withhold municipal
reimbursements but that the state sim
ply cannot afford to reimburse munici
palities. “We all understand that right
now are tough times,” he said. “The
nation is in a recession, and no state,
Council; Mayor Speak
On Fiscal Constraints
By Chris Blow
Staff Writer
The Chapel Hill Town Council con
tinued work on the new draft of the
town budget Wednesday, burdened by
an increasingly bleak fiscal outlook.
The meeting was held after Gov.
Mike Easley’s Feb. 5 announcement that
he will withhold more than $1 million in
tax revenue from the town because of
North Carolina’s S9OO million budget
shortfall this fiscal year.
The town meeting was an opportuni
ty for the boards and committees
involved in transportation, libraries,
sidewalks and housing to comment on
the new budget constraints.
Mayor Kevin Foy also told fellow
council members about his meeting with
Easley, which was held earlier that day.
Most of the work session centered on
the need for cost-cutting creativity, though
the council will not make any formal deci
sions until June, when the fiscal year ends.
One idea proposed by the council is
the creation of a position within the
Weather
Today: Sunny; H 49, L 21
Friday: Mostly Sunny; H 57, L 34
Saturday: Partly Cloudy; H 56, L 29
tion, members voted to increase the
departmental transit tax. The tax is
charged to each department of the
University based on the number of
employees in the department
TPAC members rejected the admin
istration’s request to set a date for phas
ing out on-campus parking for students
living in residence halls by a vote of 17-
4. Many members of the committee said
they do not feel there is a need to elimi
nate parking for on-campus students.
See TPAC, Page 9
county or city is exempt from that.”
Easley said the state will probably
have the money to pay at least a portion
of the S2OO million in municipal reim
bursements but that county and city
governments should trim budgets oper
ating under the assumption that they
will not receive the money. “We’d rather
have (the money) and not need it than
need it and not have it,” he said.
Easley said time in the meeting was
well-spent and lauded the municipal
leaders’ cooperation.
He stressed that municipal and state
leaders are upbeat and view the fiscal
situation as a chance for positive growth.
“This is a can-do group with a can-do
attitude," Easley said. “Together we are
going to get through this and grow from
it.”
Pat McCrory, mayor of Charlotte,
which is North Carolina’s largest munic
ipality and stands to lose $17.3 million in
reimbursements, also said the meeting
facilitated productive discussions.
“We don’t agree on everything,” he
said. “But this is a good first step.”
McCrory said he is concerned that
municipalities are being unfairly target
ed because they are fiscally responsible
and can better absorb funding reduc
tions than can many state agencies.
“I’m proud of the fiscal management
that cities have implemented over the past
decade,” he said. “But they should not be
punished for good fiscal management”
But Easley said municipalities are not
being singled out or asked to do more
than is feasible.
“I don’t think anybody will be asked
to do more than what the state has
already done.”
The State & National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory
Committee that would be devoted to
pursuing grants from outside sources.
A second idea that emerged from the
discussion was the possibility of passing
costs such as sidewalk construction on to
private developers and homeowners.
After the various boards commented
on the proposed budget changes, Foy
spoke informally about his meeting with
Easley earlier in the afternoon.
Foy and 15 other mayors met with
Easley in Raleigh to discuss North
Carolina’s budget and the relationship
between municipal governments and
the state.
“We can’t tolerate this kind of unpre
dictability,” Foy said, referring to
Easley’s new cuts. “We have to have
absolute security about revenue sources
-and that means more authority at the
local level.”
Foy said he is particularly frustrated
with the governor’s decision to withhold
utility franchise tax revenues from local
See WORK SESSION, Page 9