North Carolina Senate approves budget on 3rd reading 37-13
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- The North Carolina Senate passed a budget bill on third reading 37-13 Wednesday. It now goes to the House of Representatives.
The 429-page bill spends more than $21.7 billion this year and a little more next year.
House members agreed Tuesday to stick to their operating rules and begin voting Thursday. Senate rules don't require any such waiting period. The budget bill was supposed to be on Gov. Pat McCrory's desk before July 1.
Instead, it should arrive 11 weeks late and has required three temporary spending measures in the meantime.
The plan spends barely 3 percent more than last year, with much of the increase going to the public schools and the University of North Carolina system.
It fully preserves funding for teaching assistants and driver's education in schools. All teachers and state employees get $750 bonuses, while teachers moving up the career ladders get experience-based raises. State reserves also could grow to more than $1 billion, thanks in part to last year's revenue surplus.
The House-Senate compromise "maintains our spending discipline and continues our commitment to pro-growth tax reforms," said Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, co-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The agreement cuts the personal income tax rate to 5.499 percent in 2017 while increasing now standard deductions by up to $500. The corporate income tax also is primed to fall from 5 percent to 4 percent based on a 2013 tax law.
The bill also expands the sales tax to apply to repairs on automobiles and installation of appliances, with a good chunk earmarked to benefit almost 80 of the state's 100 counties. Division of Motor Vehicles fees also would rise.
