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Budget Stalemate Prompts DHHS To Cut Ties With Contractors

Mandy Cohen is the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Human Services. Cohen warned lawmakers last October that the state budget impasse would destabilize the department. She now says DHHS will need to cut ties with 163 contractors. Photo courtesy of DHHS.

North Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services is dropping over 160 contractors. This is the latest casualty of the state budget stalemate.

The jobs being cut are all related to information technology.

DHHS released a statement to the News & Observer saying that because funding for many projects is tied to the state budget, it will need to sever contracts with 163 IT service providers.

The department says no state employees will be affected.

Last summer, lawmakers approved a budget proposal written by Republicans, but that was vetoed by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.

A veto override was successful in the House, but not the Senate, and this year's budget has remained in limbo.

DHHS Secretary Mandy Cohen told lawmakers last October that the lack of a state budget would destabilize the department, and hamper a planned Medicaid transformation.

The proposed budget also includes funding for a relocation of the DHHS headquarters from Raleigh to Granville County.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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