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The administration proposal to increase the cigarette tax by $1.00 a pack would raise an additional $182 million next year and $292 million the following year. The tax would fund most of a $3,300 pay raise for teachers over the two years and give a 5% raise to college faculty and a $500 raise to […]
A bill to lower the cap on the state’s Rainy Day Fund could shift another $200 million in mineral revenues into the operating budget next year. This would be in addition to the $169 million in new money recently added to the revenue estimate. The bill was passed out of the Senate Finance Committee on […]
Efforts to derail the Stelly Plan are building steam for the legislative session. While there has been no ground swell of public opinion against the plan, some legislators are attempting to create one. Others apparently feel compelled to respond to the complaints of a vocal few among the small minority of taxpayers who experienced a […]
The announcement that state revenues for this year and next would be $360 million ahead of earlier projections has fueled a feeding frenzy and the potential for making some major fiscal blunders. However, by honoring the spirit of the constitutional provision regarding the use of non-recurring revenue, the state has an opportunity to place its […]
Many homeowners were shocked last year upon receiving their property tax bills, which were based on more realistic appraisals of their home values. The increased appraisals resulted from the 2004 statewide effort to produce more equitable property tax assessments.
Some members of the joint budget committee seem eager to consider ways to divert revenue from the Rainy Day Fund into program spending. While not part of the administration’s budget plan, the idea of lowering the cap on the fund to free up mineral revenues for general fund use was raised several times in last […]
Redesigning the office of inspector general, the state’s executive branch waste and fraud watchdog, needs to be a front-burner priority for the governor. Nearly a year has passed since the death of Bill Lynch, the state’s first and only inspector general (IG). Yet, it is still unclear when and whether a replacement will be named, […]