With every passing day without a budget in place, it’s more likely that state employees and retirees will receive another paycheck without an increase in pay.

Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the legislature’s budget on June 28 because it did not include Medicaid expansion. House Democrats feel an obligation to “stand with their governor” and are refusing to override this veto.

Cooper is still insistent that any budget contain Medicaid expansion. Legislative leaders have offered to return for a special session to consider Medicaid expansion but Cooper has not accepted, leaving state employees and retirees uncertain of their financial future.

The News & Observer published a story Thursday detailing the cost to taxpayers of the budget stalemate. But the story failed to mention the folks with the most at stake in this impasse – state employees and retirees who are facing another month without a pay raise or bonus.

The average state employee is losing about $97 each month that the budget isn’t passed.

The longer the stalemate drags on, the more likely it becomes that the legislature will leave town without a new budget at all – meaning no raises or bonuses. That also means no bonus vacation days, much-needed correctional officer supplements, community college and UNC System employee raises or any of the other parts of the budget that benefit state employees and retirees.

SEANC does not have a position on Medicaid expansion, and it is unacceptable for your pay raises to be used as a bargaining chip in this negotiation. Tell your legislators to override the governor’s veto and pass the budget to end this standoff.