Exactly right, the State Constitution prohibits NC from running a deficit. What does happen though is that each budget is based on "anticipated" revenues. If during the year it appears that revenues are not keeping up with projections, then cost-cutting measures must be taken to that the state budget is balanced by June 30th (end of the fiscal year). What happen to Easley in his first year as Governor, Jim Hunt and the General Assembly had passed a budget that was based on the most optimistic projections imaginable, so during Easley first year, he had to take measures such as a hiring freeze, stopping contributions to the State Employees/Teachers Retirement system, etc to make sure no deficit appeared on the books come June 30, 2001. Last year's surplus came about because revenues came in at a greater rate than projected by the Legislature. Technically, North Carolina never runs a deficit budget because it is balanced or has surpluses every June 30th. It just plays out throughout the year sometimes. What would solve that problem is if the budget was based each year on the previous year's revenues.
I said pretty much the same thing, but the real question is what they do with the surplus? They never seem to give it back to the taxpayers now do they?
Yeah right, which one was that. Every other one went up. NC leads the South East in taxes. What do we get for the money?
How much? How much does the Governor's office run for nowadays? Just in case someone else wants to buy it....
