Perdue: Don't pay for all vacant jobs

Gov. Beverly Perdue expects to save $150 million by not paying for vacant jobs.

Traditionally in North Carolina, the state budget has funded salaries for vacant jobs even though state agencies don't typically fill all of them.

But this year, Perdue proposes to reduce that to a number closer to what will actually be spent on salaries.

For the N.C. Community College System and the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, that's 97 percent of fully-funded salaries. For the N.C. Department of Correction, 92.5 percent.

Perdue alluded to the change during her State of the State address, saying that "truth in budgeting time is here."

In past years, legislators have said that state agencies use some of the lapsed salary money for other budget items, such as paying for prisoner meals or hiring contractors at state psychiatric hospitals.

The accounting change is one of the biggest savings on Perdue's proposed budget. 

Hat Tip: Scott Mooneyham