Gov. Bev Perdue wants next NC budget nearly $1B higher

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RALEIGH, NC (By Ryan Sullivan, WGHP) — Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue’s final budget proposal released Thursday hinges on restoring public education cuts with a state sales tax increase that Republicans in charge of the North Carolina Legislature have said repeatedly won’t happen.

Leaving office this January after deciding not to seek re-election, Perdue wants to spend nearly $1 billion more in the year starting July 1 compared to what’s now scheduled in the two-year spending plan approved by the Legislature over her historic veto in 2011.

She uses a three-quarter cent sales tax increase to generate an extra $760 million, a big chunk of which would eliminate mandated cuts for local school districts that are projected to reach $503 million under the budget law currently in place.