general fund

Everybody wants a piece of North Carolina’s statutory debt limit. For the third consecutive year, the Debt Affordability Study recommends increasing the debt limit to 4.5 percent of General Fund…

February is the true start of spring. Punxsutawney Phil “predicts” the longevity of winter. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training. Cherry trees blossom.  And in the North Carolina General Assembly,…

If money talks, then the state budget has a lot to say about education, health care, and public safety in North Carolina. These three areas take $21.9 billion of the…

Gov. Roy Cooper’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2018-19 [1] would spend $1.5 billion more than the current year, raise taxes, divert millions in other funds, increase dependence…

Each February, the State Treasurer’s Debt Affordability Advisory Committee preempts the hopefulness of Groundhog Day with the publication of the annual Debt Affordability Study, the committee’s reminder that state…

For fiscal year 2014-15, North Carolina’s General Fund budget rose 2.2 percent to $21.1 billion. It funded an average teacher salary increase of 7 percent, one of the largest pay raises for North Carolina teachers in a generation, and created a Medicaid contingency fund of $186.4 million.

Reverse logrolling applied to the current state budget would result in a General Fund budget of $20.6 billion and a $667 million surplus, which would allow legislators more flexibility when discussing spending priorities, including teacher pay increases. It would also allow enough to be set aside in savings and reserves to avoid any unforeseen shortfalls in the next fiscal year.

Click here to view and here to listen to Sarah Curry discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — North Carolina state government spending has grown “significantly” in recent decades,…

RALEIGH – North Carolina legislators employ a “spend and tax” budget policy that paves the way for regular tax hikes, according to a new John Locke Foundation Policy Report.

The General Assembly is often said to have "tax and spend" policies, but its pattern is one of "spend and tax" policies. During economic booms, tax revenues increase and legislators fund new programs that cannot be sustained during an economic bust. When the bust comes, legislators raise taxes to pay for those new government programs.