Why Fiscal Conservatism is Good For Everyone

From John Hood:

“As the North Carolina General Assembly gathered for its Oct. 2 special session on Hurricane Florence relief, the state’s rainy-day fund stood at $2.01 billion. There was another $737 million in reserves earmarked for other purposes (including $104 million specifically for disaster relief) along with an unreserved credit balance in the General Fund of $1.2 billion.

That North Carolina had billions of dollars socked away to address emergencies such as Florence was no accident. Prudently and methodically, the General Assembly has spent years building up financial reserves. Foolishly and repeatedly, critics faulted lawmakers for saving these dollars rather than spending them.

There has been a partisan dimension, no question. After winning majorities in both legislative chambers in 2010, the Republicans made it a high priority to accumulate a substantial rainy-day reserve equal to at least 8 percent of annual state spending, and preferably upwards of 10 percent. Former Gov. Pat McCrory, who served from 2013 to 2016, was if anything even more hawkish about the rainy-day fund.

Democrats favor keeping some money in reserve, of course, but have often argued that GOP policymakers were overdoing it. Larry Hall, then the Democratic leader in the North Carolina House, complained during the 2016 legislative session that the Republican majority was saving too much and spending too little. “We artificially starved ourselves,” he said just before that year’s budget bill passed the House. “We have funds available, and we’ve decided not to invest.”

And while campaigning against McCrory in 2016, Roy Cooper blasted the governor for “building up the rainy day fund in excess of what’s necessary for the state,” and for letting the money “just be sitting there” rather than spending it.

A few weeks later, Hurricane Matthew hit North Carolina. As you might expect, Cooper immediately stopped complaining about an overly large rainy-day fund. […]”

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