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Easley's Budget
posted at 2007-02-22 22:49 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
Governor Mike Easley released his budget proposal today for 2007-2008. I haven’t had a chance to break out the fine-toothed comb yet, but here's the gist.
Highlights:
The total figure is 20.1 billion dollars. That’s up more than 6 percent over last year.
More than half – 11.6 B – goes to education, an increase of about 8 percent. A sizable chunk of that increase will pay for Easley’s new EARN program. That’s the new 2-year college grant initiative for low- and middle-income students. It also includes funding for more Learn and Earn schools, and for expanded online courses and school connectivity. State Community College leader Martin Lancaster is thrilled.
Teachers would see a 5 percent average pay raise, weighted in favor of new teachers coming in at the bottom of the pay scale. Other state employees would see 2.5% - nowhere near as generous as last year’s bump.
One million low-income workers would pay less or no state income taxes. (But there’s no proposal for a state earned income tax credit – and progressives like the NC Justice Center and NC Policy Watch's Chris Fitzsimon aren’t happy about that.)
The court system would see an additional 10 million for personnel and tech upgrades.
Transportation would see a big jump – an additional 935 million, largely for highway maintenance.
How it’s paid for:
The remaining “temporary” 1/4 cent sales tax and 1/4 percent income tax at the top would stay. That elicited some quick and unhappy reactions from conservative groups like the John Locke Foundation and Americans for Prosperity.
And then there’s debt. The governor’s budget includes some big new bond issues – more than a billion for sure, and maybe as high as 1.7B, according to the folks at John Locke.
What it means:
Well, it’s a starting point. Now it goes to the House, where we’ll see what survives appropriations. Speaker Hackney has already voiced his support for the expansion in education, though not necessarily the numbers Easley’s proposing. But this is only the beginning of the process.
Other news
Black reax
Easley finally said something today about Jim Black’s Tuesday plea deal, according to the N&O’s Ryan Teague Beckwith.
Speaking of which, the N&O is in the process of launching a full-time political blog operation, headlined by the redoubtable Beckwith, who’s proven himself on his popular WakePol blog. Look for the launch in the next week or two.
Some of my best friends are chiropractors...
Charlotte's Mark Johnson says state Dems are hurriedly jettisoning their donations from – and their connections to – the three chiropractors whose names were dropped in state court Tuesday. The three – Fletcher Keith, Steve Willen, and Thomas Brown – helped supply Jim Black with walking-around money. Wake DA Colon Willoughby says there are no current plans for criminal charges against any of them. But state pols can’t step away fast enough. For example, Greensboro's Mark Binker says Willen resigned his seat on the state chiropractors' licensing board yesterday after Senate leader Marc Basnight, who appointed Willen, asked him to step down.
Better late than never
Speaker Joe Hackney and Senate Pro Tem Marc Basnight have announced
their appointments to the joint Ethics Committee. The full list is here. They also announced today that all lawmakers
but one (Sen Jeanne Lucas, who’s been ill) have completed their mandated ethics
training. Guess we'll see later how much it helped.
