The budget is late. Do voters care?

by Mark Barrett, Asheville Citizen-Times, August 14, 2015.

Local school officials will tell you when a state budget is adopted affects what they do. People in politics are wondering whether it affects what voters do when they go to the polls.

The answer seems to be voters may or may not notice this year’s budget is late and will pay more attention to what’s in it.

Legislators have yet to approve a budget despite the fact that the state fiscal year begins July 1, but they rarely have a budget in place by that date. They are further behind schedule this year than they have been since 2002, however, prompting some finger pointing in Raleigh.

Andrew Taylor, a political science professor at North Carolina State University, said Republicans may pay a political price next year since they are in charge, but probably not a huge one.

"One thing it does do, I think, is raise questions of management," he said. "You've got the General Assembly, you've got the governor's mansion and you can't seem to get things done."

Along with other disagreements between the House and Senate or Gov. Pat McCrory and legislators, "The cumulative effect is to sort provide the Democrats with an argument," he said.

Thankfully, problems getting agreement on spending issues in Raleigh usually don't have the same impact as they sometimes do in Washington. Even before there were signs late last week that the budget stalemate may be breaking, no one expected state government to close up shop without a new budget.

As Becki Gray, head of outreach with the conservative John Locke Foundation put it, "Nobody's paycheck's going to bounce. Nothing's going to shut down."

Gray's organization has argued for no more than a modest increase in spending over last year, saying it's best to leave more money in taxpayers' pockets.

Alexandra Sirota, head of the N.C. Budget and Tax Center at the liberal North Carolina Justice Center, said both the House and Senate budgets fall short of making the investments North Carolina needs for its future.

People in Raleigh have been arguing the merits of the leaner Senate plan or the House budget that attempts to address some areas where funding has been short the past few years. Meanwhile, "We've sort of missed that bigger picture," Sirota said. The House budget "makes progress to replace the worst cuts, but by no means ensures that every child in the state will get a quality education."

Gray would like to see legislators come to an agreement because it will make state government and schools run more smoothly, but said not just any agreement will do.

"It's important to get it right. If it takes them a little longer to get it right, that's OK. ... We're talking about $22 billion," she said.

Voters, Taylor said, will probably look at it the same way.

"The more important thing is going to be what is in the budget they pass in the end and what is its effect on the economy," he said.