Governor Bev Perdue has completed her second state of the state speech this evening. The governor stated that the budget she will be presenting on Thursday is 2.2 billion less that the budget she inherited in 2009.
The governor proceeded to explain that she will reduce the size of state government from 12 departments and agencies into 8. She will reduce state jobs by the thousands and will offer early retirement packages to those state employees who are eligible.
Governor Bev Perdue stated that she will reduce the corporate tax rate to 4.9 percent, the lowest in the south east to continue to recruit new jobs to our state.
In addition Governor Perdue unvieled her NC Career and College program. She will offer a full two year community college degree or training to any qualified student who meets a set core of requirements.
She stated that she will in her budget fully fund all exisitng teaching and teacher aide positions.
In an interesting moment, Governor Perdue stated that the current budget is now at a 2.4 billion dollar deficit. That is down from both the 3.7 billion that we started with on January 28 and it is lower than the 2.7 billion of last week.
Here is what was missing from her speech, how does she pay for all of this. She also did not touch on Medicaid or the retention of critical support services for people with mental illness, addictive disorders or developmental disabilities. In addition she did not discuss how she would include the hunderds of students with developmental disabilities in her career preparation programs.
On Thursday we will get a first hand look at the details of the 2011 budget.
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