There are indications the State Budget Director won’t be able to meet a Thursday deadline for transferring over $537 million into the General Fund as required by SB109. It directs the Budget Director to find money from various trust funds and cuts to make that money available to plug a hole in the budget. Republicans leaders spelled out from which funds that money would come but the Governor didn’t like that so they compromised.
The State Budget Director sent out a memo in March to agencies and listed the trust funds from which he transferred money to set aside. Among the transfers, $30 million from Motor Pool Management and $5 million from the Tobacco Trust Fund. The Golden LEAF Foundation and the Health and Wellness Trust Fund were not touched.
The latest cash report from the State Controller’s Office shows over $81 million in a “SB109 Reserve” taken from trust funds but it doesn’t spell out which ones.
In an email exchange David Brown with the State Office of Budget and Management indicates the rest of the over $537 million will take time to locate.
“It will take at least 3 weeks to finalize the SB109 balance for 2011. The funds in the reserve account are only funds transferred to the general fund from other funds. The remainder of the ending unreserved cash balance will come from reversions within the general fund.”
Update: Apparently the June 30th deadline in SB109 is not a hard date. The primary sponsor of the bill Senator Richard Stevens (R-Wake) says it could take days to weeks to actually close the books. He says if the total amount is transferred by then its okay.
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