Secretary of State Elaine Marshall is calling on lawmakers to help her agency deal with increasing business filings.
Starting a new business in North Carolina means paperwork and fees at the secretary of state’s office. Marshall says her budget hasn’t kept up with a 70% jump in new businesses.
"With the tremendous increase in work volume, it's difficult for my staff to even take a vacation day or have a sick day without a significant down slowdown in the filing process," Marshall said.
Marshall made the case for more staff and better salaries at Tuesday’s Council of State meeting, where Governor Roy Cooper also addressed the pending budget.
"The good thing about it is that the money exists to be invested to do pretty much everything everybody's talking about at this table today. The question is what the priorities are going to be?" Cooper said.
The governor says he’s concerned tax cuts in the final budget could prevent lawmakers from addressing other needs.