NC state budget deal includes raises for state employees, teachers

RALEIGH -- A compromise North Carolina state budget would give teachers an average pay raise of 3.3 percent in the coming year, and would raise most other state employees’ pay by a flat $1,000.

Retired state employees would receive a 1 percent, permanent cost-of-living increase in their pension checks – a big change from the one-time increase in the House budget and the lack of an increase in the Senate budget.

Budget writers announced the compromise plan Monday. Votes are expected later this week in the Republican-controlled House and Senate, with the Senate voting as earlier as Tuesday. The plan would have to pass both chambers a second time if Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoes the plan; a veto override would require support from three-fifths of lawmakers present and voting.

The spending plan for the fiscal year beginning in July is said to total “roughly $23 billion” – an exact figure wasn’t released, but the spending level appears to be higher than the $22.9 billion budgets passed in the House and Senate earlier this year. GOP leaders said the figure represents a 3 percent increase from the current fiscal year.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article157032254.html