To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

RALEIGH – State agencies are looking for new places to make drastic spending cuts, after Gov. Bev Perdue's budget office informed all department heads to start finding new ways to save money as the state prepares for about a $3 billion budget shortfall next year.

At The Association for Home and Hospice Care of North Carolina, which, among other things, advocates for patients, the news is scary.

“I don't know how much you can cut that,” said Tracy Colvard with the Association, talking about the possibility of further cuts to home health care. “You get to the point you might as well eliminate it and just say the people with a disability or elderly that need the program 'I'm sorry your not a priority of North Carolina.' ”

The memo sent out on Thursday told agencies to to develop a 5, 10 and 15 percent reduction option.

Perdue says even though there are many good programs out there, there likely won't be the money to fund many of them next year.

“And those services that our tax dollars are paying for, that provide less value to the people of the state, are the one that we have to shed,” said Perdue. “And I hope that the General Assembly can get that message. Sometimes you have to make cuts that you don't want to make.”

It isn't just optional services that would feel this pinch. Public education makes up the largest part of the state budget. In the current spending plan education gets just over than $7 billion. In the worst case scenario, a 15 percent cut would mean a billion dollars from the bottom line. The state superintendent of public instruction says a smaller cut would also be very detrimental.

“A five percent additional cut affect approximately 3,200 teachers and about 1,500 teacher assistants,” says Superintendent June Atkinson.

With these types of cuts be contemplated, advocates are already preparing for a tough fight during the next legislative session.

“You know it's a scary proposition,” said Colvard. “If you lose, your patients lose and the families of North Carolina start suffering.”

Departments have been told to have their 5, 10 and 15 percent cut proposals to the Budget Office by the end of October.