By Tom Campbell: NC Spin

North Carolina’s leaders have been hoping against hope that we will grow our way out of the budget crises experienced since 2000, a strategy that worked in the 1970, 1980, and 1990 recessions, but won’t work this time around for a number of reasons.

While one can argue the correctness of the decisions, state government grew exponentially in the 1990s. The total authorized annual state budget was a shade less than $12 billion in 1990. By 2000 this cost had grown to $24.5 billion, a 49 percent increase.

Much of this involved greatly increased costs to fund enrollment growth in public and secondary education. New initiatives added since 2000 like More at Four and class size reductions have driving costs even higher. The Leandro lawsuit promises to escalate costs even more. Our costs to fund Medicaid increased exponentially without significant cost containment strategies.

Meanwhile, North Carolina’s economy was in transition from an agricultural and manufacturing base to a more service-oriented economy. Unlike previous recessions, many of the manufacturing layoffs won’t ever return, as textile, furniture, and other companies moved offshore or closed altogether.

There is no clear course as to how to put people back to work and where economic policy should lead us. Many are working at jobs that pay considerably less that the ones they lost.

For the fifth year in a row, North Carolina is beginning a new year faced with a projected state budget deficit for the July 1 fiscal year that will exceed $1.1 billion, assuming the state keeps its promise to sunset the half-cent sales tax and upper bracket income imposed as temporary measures several years ago. The hole may even be deeper. Our legislature has had long enough to figure out these problems aren’t just temporary but require real solutions.

Our lawmakers’ strategy has been to plug holes in the budget using any trust fund, one-time revenue, or other pot of money available. Leaders simply won’t face the fact that times have changed and require hard decisions. North Carolina is either spending too much or generating too little revenue. It’s time for leaders to recognize the facts, stop hoping for a miracle while taking the easy way out, and do the jobs they were elected to do.

There are many definitions of leadership, but one true test is that a leader will do the right thing at the right time for the right reason.

A true leader doesn’t worry about re-election but focuses on doing what is right. Using that litmus test our leadership has clearly failed us for too long. It is time for leaders to lead.