A 3/4 billion-dollar political bomb

Here comes another one: A state judge has ruled that state agencies must repay about 3/4 of a billion dollars in fines and civil penalties that should have gone to local school districts for technology. Wake Superior Court Judge Howard Manning ruled Friday that the agencies owe local schools $747.9 million dollars. The list includes the Department of Revenue,$583 million; the Department of Transportation, $104 million; UNC system campuses, $42.4 million; Employment Security Commission, $18 million; and several others that owe less than $100,000.
Manning's order did not specify when the money must be paid. But this does not come as good news for either Democrat Bev Perdue or Republican Pat McCrory, who are vying to be the next governor and who, along with the 170 state legislators, must figure out how to pay the money back. This has happened before,when the court system ordered the state to repay moneys in several retirement funds cases. It means the next governor potentially starts his or her administration in the hole -- at a time when the economy is declining and revenue growth is slowing.
This case has been winding through the courts for a decade. The N.C. Supreme Court made the decision that the money should have gone to the school. Judge Manning's order determined how much.