Officials debate spending caps

State's budget surplus raises questions about what is and isn't included in growth limit

By David Ingram
Winston-Salem Journal

RALEIGH

Legislators are faced with a significant surplus in the state budget - $1 billion in unexpected tax collections plus another $1 billion in savings and reserves - after five years with either deficits or small surpluses.

Easley and the Democratic leaders of the legislature say they want to spend or save most of the $2 billion available. That's leading Republicans to object to what they call excessive spending and a broken promise by Easley to limit the growth of state spending.

The governor once ridiculed the idea of a spending cap, calling it a "gimmick" during a governor's race debate in 2000. He changed his mind and proposed a cap in 2003, when he said that state spending should grow no more quickly than the 10-year average growth in personal income in the state, which was about 6 percent at the time.

Last week, Easley recommended that the state spend $18.9 billion next year, which would be an increase of 10.6 percent from this year. But he said that such numbers are overstated because certain items should not count against the cap.