Posted: Aug. 13, 2009 2:33 p.m.
Updated: Aug. 13, 2009 2:33 p.m.

What’s $37,000 in a $19 billion budget? It’s everything to a small, statewide non-profit that works on behalf of crime victims.

NC VAN, or North Carolina Victim Assistance Network, receives about $150,000 of its $350,000 annual budget from the state government. The organization learned recently that their annual appropriation would be cut by 25 percent in this budget, or $37,500. That’s more than ten percent of their total operating budget for the year.

The organization argues a cut of that magnitude will severely hamper what they do for crime victims, while another state appropriation, the Indigent Defense Fund, could sustain that hit, and still operate. What does the Indigent Defense Fund do? It provides legal services to people accused of committing violent crimes.