Hurricane recovery, teacher pay among top priorities for Burke legislators

Helping communities in Western North Carolina rebound from Hurricane Helene and increasing pay for teachers and other state employees are among the top legislative goals for Burke County’s senator and representative.

Sen. Warren Daniel and Rep. Hugh Blackwell outlined their priorities and answered questions for an hour Friday morning at the Burke Chamber’s annual legislative breakfast.

Helene recovery is especially important for Morganton, which sustained $25 million in damages to its recreational amenities. The state’s most recent allocation of more than $500 million is expected to be spent largely on home and road repairs.

City Manager Sally Sandy asked if there is any help on the way for cities like Morganton, which depend heavily on revenue generated by tourism.

Blackwell said he expects the focus to narrow as legislators learn where the money is needed most. “We’re trying to learn as we go and identify needs,” he said.

The representative hopes the next round of relief money, which he expects to total around $870 million, will help cities like Morganton and small, tourism-based businesses.

Daniel added he’s hopeful a recreation recovery component can be built into the funding allocation.

He also said it’s important for the state to take all the help it can get from the federal government.

“The first thing we want to do is not pay for one dollar of something that the federal government will pay for,” Daniel said.

“I’m still tracking the $500 million we just appropriated,” Daniel added. “We appropriate money but we don’t necessarily implement it. So, a couple things in that $500 million were home and road repair funding, and we’re not sure if that has hit the ground yet. There’s an application process, and nothing seems to go as fast as you want it to.”

As for teacher pay, Blackwell said it’s vital for the state to become more competitive nationally. North Carolina ranked 38th in teacher pay in 2024-25, and 42nd in starting teacher salaries.

A bipartisan bill currently in the works would raise salaries 22%.

Blackwell is hopeful increases like that will make bright, young people want to go into the profession.

Daniel added it’s important for N.C. to raise pay for hard-to-fill positions like correctional officers, state crime lab personnel, and other criminal justice workers.

Blackwell pointed out Burke is one of the top three counties in the state in the number of state employees and would like to see better retirement benefits for those workers.

“We have fallen further behind our neighbors, and I think we seriously need to do something about that from a retention standpoint but almost more of a recruitment standpoint,” Blackwell said.

Among the other issues the two lawmakers cited as priorities are exploring the feasibility of child care subsidies; making it harder for cities requesting interbasin water transfers to obtain them; focusing on mental health care; continuing to tackle the opioid issue; and continuing to lower the corporate income tax with the goal of eventually eliminating it altogether.