Perdue will release budget proposal today (News and Observer)
Published Tue, Apr 20, 2010 02:00 AM
Modified Tue, Apr 20, 2010 06:48 AM
RALEIGH Gov. Bev Perdue plans to release her budget proposal this morning, and the big question is who and what will get the ax.
Budget forecasters agree that the state is facing a deficit for next year that has already reached $788 million, nearly 4 percent of the state’s general fund. The state is still counting all those tax returns from people and businesses that were mailed April 15, and officials generally accept that the news on state revenue is likely to get worse.
That means something or someone in state government is going to get cut.
“This budget is going to cut close to a billion dollars,” said Perdue spokeswoman Chrissy Pearson. “She will find savings through trimming the fat, finding efficiencies, improving the way state government works and the way state government spends our tax dollars.”
The legislature convenes in May to consider Perdue’s budget proposal. Each chamber takes a turn writing its own version of the budget. When the House and Senate reach agreement, Perdue can either sign or veto it.
The current $19 billion budget was balanced through a combination of spending cuts and about $1 billion in new taxes. It’s an election year, and the Democrats who control the legislature are unlikely to add new taxes. That leaves lawmakers wondering what real cuts are left to make.
“People are beginning to sense this,” said Sen. A.B. Swindell, a Nashville Democrat and budget writer in the Senate. “I hear from people who say, ‘My God, how much more can you cut?'”
Plenty, say Republicans, who complained that last year Democrats overstated the spending deficit and raised taxes instead of just making do with the money available. Unlike the federal government, North Carolina must have a balanced budget under the constitution.
State Rep. Paul Stam, an Apex Republican and the chamber’s majority leader, said he expects to see Perdue float some small tax cuts or credits that are meant to distract from the tax increases last year.
“She’ll come out with a half a dozen tax credits or tax rebates that won’t amount to a hill of beans,” Stam said.
Perdue’s proposal will include revenue numbers that will be outdated before the ink is dry because the state’s tax collections are not yet tallied. But lawmakers said it’s helpful for Perdue to get the conversation started now.
“It gets everybody looking,” said Rep. Mickey Michaux, a Durham Democrat and budget writer in the House. “If she waited too late, minds probably would have been set.”
Swindell said any significant cuts to programs would most surely mean significant cuts to the state’s work force.
“If you’re talking about programs, you’re talking about people,” he said. ” …[H]ow does one find that kind of money? That’s people. Your money is in people.”
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