News-Record.com

Tuesday's No. 2 editorial.

There was no day of rest from politics in the state capital Sunday.

Legislative budget negotiators met from morning till night, and even the governor got worked up. That doesn’t happen often, but Mike Easley decided he wouldn’t be ignored this time.
“I want to be clear,” the governor said in a statement. “The budget must be balanced and have the right priorities for me to sign it.”

Deliberations continued Monday in hopes of passing a budget before today’s start of the new fiscal year. Chances of success were slim.

Easley hammered at two problems: Legislators were counting on more tax revenue than the state is likely to collect over the next 12 months; and they weren’t allocating enough money for teachers’ pay raises or preschool programs.

The governor was right to insist legislators deal with pessimistic revenue forecasts. If anything, budget writers should count on even less in case the state’s economy performs worse than expected. Easley correctly noted that the N.C. Constitution requires a balanced budget, and he must not accept a deficit. But that makes it harder for him to demand more spending, even for his favorite causes. The governor opposes proposed tax cuts, but those are modest, and the tax increases he sought were rejected by the legislature and won’t come back.

The best option is for legislative bargainers to drop their tax cuts and bump up preschool funding and teacher pay raises a little but nowhere near as much as Easley wants. Everyone has to give up something these days.

The governor weighed in at a critical time in the debate. He also helped bring the discussion out of the closed meeting rooms where legislators prefer to operate. But now, with a new fiscal year begun, it’s time for a compromise. Then everyone can rest.