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Saturday late: More on the budget
posted at 2007-07-28 23:34 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
I'd considered posting an extensive overview, but the AP's Gary Robertson and Greensboro's Mark Binker have already done a more than thorough job. So I'll just hit the scorecard.
Big Winners:
Counties: So what didn't they get out of this?! A Medicaid swap guaranteed to benefit every county by at least 500K next year, plus the option of a quarter-cent sales tax hike, or a land transfer tax of up to .4 percent, or both, or neither, depending on the will of local voters. And then there's the $100M for water and sewer infrastructure, $120M for land preservation, the $8M for farmland preservation...need I go on?
Low- and middle-income students: $60 million dollars for scholarships to help them get a four year degree without incurring massive debt. Some will make it through college with no debt at all. When it comes to deciding what you'll do with your life after college, that's priceless.
Cancer patients: $25m this year, $40M next and $50M thereafter to fund what supporters hope will become one of the nation's top five cancer centers at UNC Chapel Hill. Lawmakers said today the new center will not only conduct groundbreaking research, it'll treat all North Carolinians, regardless of insurance or economic status.
The State Lottery Commission: The budget bill includes a provision that would allow the Commission to stray from the guidelines on proceeds (50% for prizes, 35% to schools, the rest to operations and advertising) if it'll maximize profits for education. You could drive a truck through that one.
Beer-drinkin' Panthers Fans: A special provision allows alcohol sales at Carolina Panthers' games (and nowhere else, as far as anyone can tell) to start at 11:00am on Sundays, an hour earlier than the rest of the state.
And Governor Mike Easley, who got everything he asked for, and a raise, too (within the 4% state employee average, of course).
Shades of Gray:
Low income families: While the budget does include a refundable Earned Income Tax Credit, it comes out looking more like an honorarium than serious tax relief. At just 3.5% of the federal EITC (the lowest of all state EITC rates), the average refund will be a little over $60. Advocates say it's better than nothing. I say it's much ado about two tanks of gas - nice, but unlikely to lift anyone out of poverty.
State employees: The average raise, 4%, isn't as much as they were hoping for. But it beats the heck out of 2.5% percent, which is where they started this year's budget process.
The State Energy Office: No staff cuts at the moment, but quite a bit less money for grants - and they've been told to review their staffing in preparation for realignment toward advisory work on government buildings, instead of guidance and grantmaking for conservation and alternative energy. Guess they aren't called "power" companies for nothing.
Losers:
Realtors and Homebuilders: If you thought they spent a lot trying to defeat the "NC Home Tax" in Raleigh, wait till you see what they'll have to spend to fight the battle all over again in every county that considers a referendum on the local option transfer tax.
Cigar smokers and chew lovers: The state tax on non-cigarette tobacco products is set to go from 3% to 10% of wholesale. (Unless you manufacture these products, in which case you're off the hook.) Some of the money goes to fund the new cancer center. But the rest goes into the general fund.
Government watchdogs without high-speed: NO printed versions of the budget were available today to the general public, which (at least in my opinion) has the right to know and weigh in on how its tax dollars are being spent. Granted, Joe Taxpayer *could* theoretically access the budget report online as of last night. But it's a darned big download for folks on dial-up.
The bill was read in about 14 hours before its debate in the house. That's usually plenty of time to print it...that is, if you want folks to be able to read it.
Speaking of which...
Plenty of legislators complained they hadn't had enough access to the bill they were voting on, either. In all, the bill plus the "money report" (an abbreviated account of spending) ran upwards of 500 pages. Most legislators only got their copies when they came in this morning. The Senate debated the bill at 9:15, the House at about 12:45pm.
Guilford Republican John Blust name-checked Evelyn Woods in his complaint on the floor today. But not to worry. Mecklenburg Dem Martha Alexander told her colleagues it was a good bill, even while acknowledging that most of them hadn't yet had a thorough look at it.
My other favorite comments of the day
Scotland Dem Doug Yongue said his Raleigh roommate Ron Sutton (D-Robeson) *finally* got his firetruck - a perpetually disappearing budget line that became its own running gag.
Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger finally explained what caused yesterday's fire alarm at the Legislature.
And House GOP leader Skip Stam (R-Wake) made an intriguing, if unsuccessful, argument that raising lottery prizes while funding an EITC amounts to robbing some poor people to pay other poor people. There's a causal leap there I can't quite make. But I still give Stam credit for what was pretty much the only novel argument of the day.
Comments? Drop me a line.
