NC secretary of state says staffing shortage harms business filings

N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall says her department needs more funding to handle an increase in business filings.

Marshall called on state lawmakers during Tuesday's Council of State meeting to fund more positions and higher salaries. She’s seen a 70% increase in filings to create new businesses in recent years, but the filing fees aren’t being used to help her agency keep up.

"The reality is this: Chronic underfunding and understaffing at the department is having a detrimental impact on the department's ability to deliver the services our business community rightfully expects, resulting in longer processing times and wait times. And that cuts into their efficiency and their profits," she said.

The latest budget proposal from the Senate adds three positions to the secretary of state’s office, and most state workers would get small raises — with funding to give larger raises in hard-to-fill positions.

Marshall argues that might not be enough. "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 slowdown in the filing process," she said. "This is unacceptable to the department."

She says unfunded mandates from the legislature have increased the workload, and she's concerned that could be exacerbated by proposed election law changes that would make her agency responsible for some State Board of Elections operations.

She made the funding request at Tuesday’s Council of State meeting, where Gov. 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," he said. "The question is what the priorities are going to be? Are there going to be yet even more tax breaks for the wealthiest among us and corporations? Or will they choose to invest in these things that we've talked about today?"

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