State Budget

North Carolina state government should have at least $620 million to use in the event of a budget shortfall this fiscal year, state budget director Charlie Perusse told lawmakers Wednesday. Perusse's office estimates it will have $469 million from unused funds and holdbacks of up to 5 percent from state agencies ordered by Gov. Beverly Perdue to ensure there's money to pay bills. There's another $150 million in the rainy-day reserve fund. So far, revenues are $95 million less than what lawmakers projected when they passed the $19 billion budget in August. That shortfall is nowhere near the $3.2 billion shortfall Perdue faced last year.(THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 11/18/09).