Unfinished business

The governor is asking for authority to borrow nearly $3 billion for transportation, university buildings and other infrastructure work. The sooner, the better.

“If we delay, each 0.25 percent increase in interest rates will cost the state an additional $7.5 million the first year alone,” he said recently.

Yet, legislative leaders seem to be in no greater hurry to endorse bond projects than they were to meet the June 30 deadline for passing a state budget.

It’s probably going to take several more weeks to reach a budget agreement. The House plan is reasonable, allowing for enough increase in state spending to begin making up for cuts imposed during the long recession and slow recovery. The Senate budget is a disaster, spending too little, eliminating thousands of teaching assistant positions, cutting corporate income taxes too much, redistributing sales-tax revenue from urban counties to rural areas and bloating the document with significant policy changes that were never given a public debate. One would let residents of cities’ special service districts petition for a vote on their elimination.

The conflicting budgets clearly show that the House and Senate represent two very different wings of the same Republican Party. One is merely conservative. The other is regressive. The House plan is much closer to North Carolina’s political mainstream and the state’s needs and should be adopted.

There are also differences over Medicaid reform — the Senate favors a radical overhaul; the House doesn’t — and so-called regulatory relief bills that have been stuffed by the Senate into a corporate polluter’s grab bag.

McCrory, also a Republican, has expressed concern about some of the Senate proposals, including the Medicaid changes. He opposes the practice of loading budgets with policy measures. He’s still pressing for economic development tools and historic preservation tax credits. He needs to speak up for film incentives before North Carolina completely loses this lucrative industry to more progressive states, such as Georgia and South Carolina.

The governor has invested most of his energy in his bond initiatives. He’s covered the state to promote his proposals and has gotten endorsements from dozens of business groups, local governments and elected leaders. Benefits would accrue to all parts of the state, improving highways, ports, science and technology programs at state universities, including the College of Engineering at N.C. A&T, parks, the state zoo and more. Infrastructure was neglected during the economic downturn, but North Carolina must begin moving forward. The governor is leading, but so far the legislature isn’t following. Legislators say a vote should be delayed until next year, or that McCrory is asking for too much.

As the governor noted, with interest rates likely to begin rising later this year, waiting adds to the costs of borrowing. Penny-pinching legislators should be averse to postponement. The state has sufficient borrowing capacity to finance these projects, Treasurer Janet Cowell has said, and McCrory believes no tax increase would be necessary to pay off the debt.

Legislators are only being asked to put a referendum on the ballot so voters can decide whether to approve the governor’s proposals. It will be up to him to campaign for them and convince the people that his plan is not only prudent but essential for progress.

McCrory promised this kind of leadership when he ran for governor in 2012. The legislature must clear the way for him, and soon, so it can take care of the rest of its unfinished business.

http://www.greensboro.com/opinion/n_and_r_editorials/unfinished-business/article_f4551712-2bf7-11e5-937c-ef486d176d77.html