Sen. Britt and Rep. Lowery secure critical improvements for Robeson County

The Robesonian, Lumberton, N.C.
·4 min read

Sep. 22—RALEIGH — Sen. Danny Earl Britt Jr., R-Robeson County, secured critical improvements for Robeson, Scotland and Hoke counties in the compromise state budget approved by state Senate Thursday. The compromise state budget reflects considerable concessions to Democrats.

Sen. Britt said "After many months of negotiation with my house counterparts, we have crafted another monumental budget for the citizens of Robeson County. This budget includes pay raises for all teachers, state employees, law enforcement agencies as well as decreased individual personal income taxes. By the year 2027, all personal income taxes will be reduced to 2.49 %. No citizen will pay more than 2.49% individual income tax.

Of what I am most proud of in this budget, is an item that I began working on my first session in the General Assembly. The legislation that I introduced later led to a study which revealed the need for an optometry school in North Carolina. I am happy to announce that I have secured $20,000,000 in funding for the School of Optometry at UNC-Pembroke.

There are also numerous other items within this budget that I am very proud of. There is $20 million dollars in funding for a health center to be constructed at Robeson Community college, hundreds of thousands for training for our law enforcement, thousands for STEAM funding for schools across Robeson County, millions in water and sewer upgrades for municipalities across the county, over $10 million for upgrades and renovations at the Lumberton Regional Airport, and hundreds of thousands to assist volunteer fire departments to purchase turn out gear. This budget provides additional funding to complete work at the Industrial Park in Lumberton, and at the Carolina Civic Center. I have also been able to fund the Lumberton Downtown Riverwalk which is a project that I have been passionate about since I began serving as a Senator. Additionally, I worked to continue funding for the drug treatment court program which I initially funded in 2020. Also, to deal with addiction in Robeson County and our ongoing opioid epidemic, I worked to secure $1.1 million in opioid addiction treatment funding for Breeches Buoy program in conjunction with UNC Health Southeastern.

I greatly appreciate the assistance of my counterparts in the House to craft this legislation. Rep. Jarrod Lowery, R-Robeson County, also worked very hard to ensure these items were in the budget."

The budget includes:

$21,000,000 for Robeson Community College for the Health Career Center, technology upgrades and related equipment

$1,100,000 in grant support for Breeches Buoy Addiction Medicine Service

$250,000 to Carolina Civic Center Foundation for equipment and improvements

$20,000 to Communities in Schools — Robeson County for STEAM program funding

$25,000 to Robeson Art Guild

$50,000 to Robeson County Animal Control for facility upgrades

$170,000 grant funding for Robeson County Emergency Management

$350,000 to Robeson County Sheriff's Office for law enforcement training

$200,000 to Robeson County Parks and Recreation for Rennert Community Park Project

$150,000 to Robeson County Sherriff's Office for helicopter and related maintenance

$2,500,000 million to Lumber River Wire Pasture for visitor contact station, access road and parking lot

Funding for multi-family Dunn Rd. Housing Project

$6,100,000 UNCP Givens Performing Art Center renovations

$5,000,000 to City of Lumberton for resiliency projects

$20,000 to Antioch Baptist Church of Lumberton for STEAM program funding

$300,000 to the City of Lumberton for downtown riverwalk project

$500,000 to the City of Lumberton for improvements at Industrial Park

Funding for DAC for small storage building at Lumberton Correctional

$10,000,000 to Lumberton Regional Airport for runway extension, rehabilitation, and related improvements

$7,000,000 to Laurinburg-Maxton Airport for runway extension and facility upgrades

$30,000 to Allenton Volunteer Fire Department

$134,000 to the Town of St. Pauls for equipment and renovations

$500,000 to the Town of Rowland for downtown revitalization

$50,000 to Rowland Rescue Squad for rescue truck and associated costs

$20,000 to Southeastern Academy for STEAM funding

$1 million to the Town of Red Springs for water park installation and electric utility upgrades

$2 million to the Town of Red Springs in grant funding to support the Emerging Technology Institute

$2.5 million to the Town of Maxton for improvements and equipment for the municipal building