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Location: Nashville, Tennessee, United States

11/21/2002

On the Right Fiscal Track in North Carolina
Good news from North Carolina, where the projected budget gap is approaching $1 billion. Remember: a projected budget gap is merely the difference between projected future spending and projected revenue. Since no money has been collected or appropriated, it is merely a difference of opinion between what the bureacracy desires to spend and what the taxpayers have provided.

According to News 14, a television station in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, "some lawmakers are trying to find new ways to save money," and a special legislative committee on government efficiency spent two hours looking at cost-cutting measures Thursday. "With a state budget shortfall projected at $1 billion or more, leaders of the House committee say they're going to need to find ways to help the state tighten its belt," the news program reported. Republicans took control of the state House in the November election. According to one legislator, the leadership in both parties have "said absolutely, we need to find more efficient ways to operate." State Rep. Wilma Sherrill, a Republican, says: "A lot of us have been talking about duplication of service and consolidation of services for years, and I'm excited that someone is finally talking about it. It is time that we get rid of the fat." The news report says some members of the House Government Efficiency Committee "want to take a closer look at the state personnel system, state grant programs, and zero-based budgeting."

All good things.

Incidentally, the story doesn't mention tax increases. They're on the right track in North Carolina.