North Carolina’s budget for fiscal year 2013-14 is underway and is in the process of being certified by the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM). What does certified mean? The budget goes through many steps during the fiscal year. After it is ratified by the General Assembly and then signed by the Governor, it is sent to OSBM where it is certified. The certification process is when OSBM calculates and officially directs additional funds that were earmarked in reserve accounts for each agency. The funds held in reserve accounts for the agencies include budget items such as employee retirement, pension, and health care benefits and salary increases.
Below is a breakdown by agency of the ENACTED budget, the one passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. The certified budget won’t be available for a while and will surely change the total amount of these agencies funding, but how much is not certain. Another reason why when budget comparisons are done from year to year, it is very important to compare the same budget type from year to year. Actual spending is of course the best measure, unfortunately it isn’t available until after the fiscal year – so until then we have to watch closely as the state starts its spending during the 2013-14 fiscal year.
