State Department of Transportation officials are setting new or higher rates for tolls and commuter passes on five ferry routes, as ordered by the legislature – but they are obeying the governor’s ban on collecting the new tolls.

“We’re in a box now because the law says one thing, but the governor told us not to do it,” said Gene Conti, the transportation secretary.

Proposed rates unveiled today would introduce new charges for pedestrians and for vehicle passengers, who ride free now on ferries where tolls are collected on vehicles and their drivers.

DOT ferry officials figure they will be told eventually to start collecting these new tolls – but nobody knows when that will be. ... [MORE]

Gov. Beverly Perdue’s budget proposal, unveiled Thursday, includes $23 million for enrollment growth at UNC system campuses.

That’s about half of what the UNC system requested, even though Perdue and the university each base their dollar figure on the same projection of 2,337 new students next fall.

Here’s the discrepancy: Perdue’s $23 million is based on her staff’s calculation of what it costs strictly to provide classroom instruction to each of those students. The UNC system’s projection is based on the cost of classroom instruction as well as other services provided to students like the registrar’s office, financial aid and public safety, according to Joni Worthington, a UNC system spokeswoman.

“The funding formula has multiple components and [Perdue] funded a piece of it,” Worthington said. “It would be up to the other institutions to fund the rest.”

Perdue also proposes sending $34.8 million to the UNC system for need-based financial aid. Here too, Perdue and the UNC system are far apart; UNC requested $71 million.

Overall, Perdue proposes a 9.5 percent cut to the operating budgets of the UNC system and its campuses. She said that cut would actually scale back to about six percent once the revenue from a series of tuition increases approved last week is factored in.

Perdue's math there assumes campuses would receive 75 percent of the revenue from those tuition hikes, because she stipulates campuses use 25 percent for financial aid to help offset the extra financial burden created by those tuition increases.

But on some campuses, tuition revenue will be significantly less than what Perdue projects because they already use more than 25 percent of tuition increase revenue for financial aid.

At Fayetteville State University, for example, campus leaders this year plan to use 70 percent of all tuition increase revenue for financial aid.

For more on Perdue's higher education funding plan, click here.

Gov. Beverly Perdue's proposed budget would bring a relatively modest 6 percent overall cut to the UNC system but also prompt the elimination of more than 1,400 jobs across the state.

Perdue actually proposes a 9.5 percent cut to campus operating budgets, but then allows revenue raised through recent tuition hikes - approved last week - to mitigate part of that.

"When carrying out personnel reductions, campuses are encouraged to abolish non-essential positions first," a line in Perdue's budget reads.

For at least the last year or so, UNC system and campus leaders have said there's little fat left to cut in terms of personnel, so this should be an interesting budget season.

The 6 percent cut seems modest in relation to Perdue's proposed cuts to other state agencies, which range from 7 to 15 percent. And it would be less than the 10 or 15 percent cut level university officials have speculated about in recent months.

"I hate to see any budget cuts but I think what the governor is proposing overall is reasonable," said Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the UNC system's Board of Governors.

An early look at Gov. Beverly Perdue's budget proposal, which rolls out today, suggests she wants to protect higher education to some extent.

As Michael Biesecker reports over at our Under the Dome blog, the governor doesn't include university workers in a series of proposed job eliminations.

She proposes modest increases to the UNC system for enrollment increases but concedes a tuition hike of some level is likely necessary.

She has also proposed a new N.C. Career and College Promise, that would provide two years of tuition-free college credit to state high school students who keep high grades and maintain other standards.

Governor Beverly Perdue's State of the State address will be broadcast live tonight beginning at 7pm.

News 14 Carolina, UNC-TV and WRAL will all air the speech, which is expected to last about an  hour. WTVD will air the speech on their digital broadcast channel 11.2. News 14 will begin their coverage at 6:50. The speech will also stream live on the UNCTV.org, WTVD.com and WRAL.com websites.

A hiring freeze for state workers proposed today by Gov. Beverly Perdue would not apply to those employed by the UNC system.

A UNC spokeswoman said the freeze would not apply because the state's public universities don't fall under Perdue's administrative umbrella.

The full explanation, from Joni Worthington, a UNC system spokeswoman:

We are not a Cabinet agency and are not under the direct control of the Governor; therefore, the immediate hiring freeze does not apply to the University.  At this point, we have not received any request to voluntarily freeze hiring from the Governor's Office.  As you know, we are well aware of the the budget situation and our campuses have eliminated hundreds of positions and severely curtailed hiring over the past couple of years.  As we learn more about these proposals, we will certainly continue to work with the Governor and the legislature to help the state address the expected revenue shortfall.

Perdue has proposed a consolidation plan that would merge 14 state agencies into eight and make a series of other changes as well.

Showing support for the state's 734,000 small businesses, Gov. Beverly Perdue today declared Saturday "Small Business Saturday" in North Carolina.

The declaration encourages Tar Heel residents to shop their local businesses on Saturday, which is expected to be one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

The governor's declaration follows a string of "shop local" efforts, including a highly publicized effort by American Express called Small Business Saturday. According to the state Department of Commerce, small businesses provide nearly 50 percent of the private sector employment in the state and contribute half of the state's non-farm GDP.

UNC system officials this fall are starting their annual budget planning exercise under familiar guidelines - cuts, cuts and more cuts.

As the system begins pondering how much money to request from the legislature for next year, it has already heard from Gov. Beverly Perdue, who has told leaders to prepare budget-cut scenarios of five percent and 10 percent.

That means the university should plan out a new budget for next year that would spend 95 percent and 90 percent of its current spending plan.

Thus, the budget won't have any frills, Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the UNC system's Board of Governors, cautioned Friday morning during the board's meeting on the UNC Wilmington campus.

"This is going to be a budget of essential needs," she said.

The current year's budget was approved earlier this year included $70 million in cuts, but could have been worse. The State House's proposed spending plan for universities had called for $175 million in cuts.

Gov. Bev Perdue and the N.C. Commerce Department appear to have had a change of opinion when it comes to those new job announcements.

The one released Wednesday now includes the fact that the annual average wage paid is much less than the county's average. The release notes that the state is giving a company a $45,000 One North Carolina Fund grant for creating 55 jobs in Rockingham County that pay on average $21,856, which is roughly $8,600 less than the county's annual average wage.

We had noted last week on our blog that in previous news releases, the governor and the Commerce staff were not including this comparison when the wage was less than the county average. This was after an announcement that the state, for the first time, would provide One North Carolina incentives to a company paying an annual average wage of less than $20,000.

When we asked Commerce spokeswoman Kathy Neal about it, she suggested further news releases might include the information.

Gov. Bev Perdue and the N.C. Commerce Department have a curious
practice when it comes to announcing economic incentives linked to job
creation.

When a company brings jobs that match or exceed a
county's annual average wage, their press releases mention it. When the
wages are less, as in the case of today's announcement, there typically is no such mention.