The state General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division yesterday presented an update on North Carolina’s General Fund revenue. The results?
FRD can report that through November,
General Fund revenues are running $110
million below a $7.4 billion forecast target.
– Collections have not rebounded from the lows
established this summer. Economy-based tax
collections reached their largest year-over-year
decline this summer and through November have
not begun to recover from that low point. Total
collections are 1.5% below expectations.
The 1.5% below expectations remains unchanged from last month’s results. Fiscal Research also has begun sounding the fiscal alarm for summer of 2011, when the state will be tasked with crafting a budget for fiscal year 2011-12 without some major sources of revenue:
A looming issue on the horizon will be the FY
2011-12 revenue picture. Temporary taxes are set
to expire, fiscal stimulus money dries up, and
early projections indicate revenue growth will not
be sufficient to close the gap.
Now more than ever, North Carolina lawmakers need to implement some meaningful spending reform or they will continue to find themselves in this situation over and over again.