Why Wake did well in the budget

Wake County did pretty well in this year's budget.

The capital projects list includes $25 million for the Green Square project in downtown Raleigh, $17 million for planning of a new Jim Hunt library on Centennial Campus and $627,281 for a State Capital Visitors Center, among other things.

Rep. Deborah Ross credited several factors for the money.

First, the Raleigh Democrat served as a conferee on capital improvements, giving Wake a strong voice in the process. But she said it also helped that people like former Gov. Jim Hunt were pushing for the different projects.

Also, she said that House Speaker Joe Hackney was more concerned whether a project had matching funds and how detailed plans were than previous speakers.

"There was more funding based on merit and less based on giving people perks," she said.