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House and Senate leaders agreed to a $19 billion budget deal Saturday. In what is an increasingly rare occurrence, the deal puts the General Assembly on track to approve a final budget deal before the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1.

There are things we won't know about the budget until it is fully drafted and there are copies available, but budget writers did outline some top-line items for me on Saturday.

From the my story for Sunday’s paper:

RALEIGH — Top leaders in the House and Senate Saturday finished negotiating a new $19 billion state budget to go into effect July 1.

The package, which includes $34 million in tax cuts for small business and several funding boosts for UNCG and N.C. A&T, represents a compromise between the two chambers as well as Gov. Bev Perdue, who will sign or veto the pact.

“I believe this is a job creating budget,” said House Speaker Joe Hackney , a Chatham County Democrat. “It’s an attempt to save education jobs and keep North Carolina moving forward through a tough time.”

You'll be able to get the whole story in our e-edition (click here).

Among the last things to get settle were how the state would deal if the Congress failed to provide anticipated FMAP money. More for the story:

North Carolina is one of more than 40 states that anticipated using the funding, which has failed several Congressional votes this year. While there is some hope that the funding — worth about $525 million — will come through, the budget contains a contingency plan for dealing with the loss.

“I don’t think the FMAP is coming,” Sen. Linda Garrou , a Winston-Salem Democrat and the lead senate budget writer, said Friday. “I would hope we get some money, but I’m not holding my breath.”

To deal with that uncertainty, budget writers laid out plans that include but aren't limited to:

• 1 percent across the board cut worth $177 million that would go into effect Jan. 1.
• withholding $130 million in contributions to the state employee retirement fund.
• taking money out of reserves.

Also worth noting, the budget ends the in-state tuition exemption for athletes. The will save about $9 million for the state and has been a major point of disagreement between the House and Senate. The House has wanted to end the exemption, the Senate has defended it.

Under the current exemption, student athletes from other states with full scholarships only had to pay in-state tuition, which was seen as a major boon for booster clubs and bid-time athletic programs. (In-state tuition is cheaper, ergo boosters who fund the scholarships save money and can pay for even more scholarships.)

The House version of the budget had also ended the in-state exemption for those out-of-state students on full-ride academic scholarships. Under the budget deal, that exemption remains.

Also on the education front, budget writers said the did their best to preserve funding for classroom teachers. Among the ways they did that was tapping lottery funds, specifically the unclaimed prize money account. This is one of those areas I'll have a lot more confidence writing about once I see a printed document.

The budget also has about $34 million in tax breaks for small business. They include:

• Most businesses have to pre-pay the sales tax they will owe the state. Under the budget deal, some small businesses will be able to wait until they collect sales tax from customers before paying.
• The state will cut the unemployment insurance rate for businesses with 10 or fewer employees.

As for items important to Guilford County:

• Rep. Maggie Jeffus reports that the budget maintains funding for the Furniture Market’s transportation services at $1.2 million. However, state support for marketing the market was cut by 5 percent.
• Jeffus also said the state will allow UNCG to use about $7 million to build a tunnel and construction of a new railroad underpass to connect the current central campus to West Lee Street.
• The budget boosts funding for the joint UNCG-A&T nanoscience school to hire more faculty.
• Rep. Alma Adams said funding for A&T’s engineering school gets a boost by about $1 million.