If they want to have enough saved to weather the next economic downturn, Gov. Roy Cooper and state legislators will need to put another $700 million in the Savings Reserve, bringing the total to $2.5 billion, or 11.3 percent of General Fund operating appropriations.
The targeted percentage will protect state finances for “two years of need for nine out of ten scenarios involving a year-over-year decline in net General Fund revenue,” State budget director Charlie Perusse explained in a memo to the General Assembly.
The Office of State Budget and Management and the General Assembly’s Fiscal Research Division will update the savings goal each year as required by a law that passed nearly unanimously in 2017 and was quickly signed by the governor.
