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If you owe the state money, please send it in today. Then, maybe the state can afford to cough up my $600 refund.

Yes, finances in Raleigh are that precarious. The state is just about broke.

We can blame the recession for the dire straits. Fortunately, we're bound to see better days again.

There's another and worse kind of poverty in state government, though: a dearth of democracy. It gives me little hope that, good times or bad, the people's resources are being well managed.

The state Senate passed a $20 billion budget last week. That doesn't sound like much money these days, but even $20 billion may be more than the state will have to spend. No one should trust the truthfulness of the Senate budget or the means by which it was assembled.

In our editorial Saturday, we said the Senate isn't a deliberative body but a well-oiled machine run by a few leaders. The budget was written behind closed doors, released last Monday night, run through a committee on Tuesday, allowed a little debate and a preliminary vote on the Senate floor Wednesday and given a final vote but no debate Thursday.

Chris Fitzsimon of NC Policy Watch wrote a stinging assessment as the smoke was clearing Thursday: "The process is not only undemocratic and offensive, it is a symbol of the worst of the legislative culture. Yet virtually everyone in the Legislative Building accepts it, not troubled by the concentration of power and the backroom budget writing. Republicans complain some, but not nearly enough. Democrats don't dare say anything."

Another veteran observer of state politics, NC Spin's Tom Campbell, added an explanation of why the majority allows a few bosses to make all the decisions: The few control big campaign money.

"Those who know what's best dole out large sums of cash to elect friends to office," Campbell wrote last week, with more than a touch of sarcasm. "Those friends, when elected, keep those who know what's best in power, and if they vote like good sheep, meaning the way the power wants them to, they get enough campaign money to get re-elected."

These "good sheep" will vote for the most glaring absurdities, like $500 million in unspecified tax increases included in the Senate budget.

The budget also contains all sorts of policy changes that are approved with little notice or review. For example, it would double the tuition surcharge on UNC system students who take more than 140 hours to earn a degree. And it would further shift responsibilities for public education from the elected state superintendent to an appointed CEO.

A few protests are raised. Editorial writers regularly decry the secrecy, and political outsiders complain. Sen. Phil Berger, the Republican leader, wrote this even before the fact: "Expect legislators to commit to tax hikes without knowing which taxes are being raised. Like their national counterparts, North Carolina's Senate Democrats talk a lot about bipartisanship, open government and transparency but their actions speak far louder than words."

Not many citizens, however, take an interest.

John Blust, a Republican representative from Greensboro, has spoken out for years against business as usual in Raleigh -- making him one of the capital's most ignored legislators. As a member of the House, Blust didn't witness the Senate budget rush last week, but he did make an impassioned plea in his own chamber for integrity in the legislative process. He was trying to deliver the message that greater openness and deliberation, and letting all representatives have their say, will improve the chances of working through the current economic crisis.

Some proposals have been turned down in the past because they didn't suit a few leaders, he said in a phone conversation Friday.

One was limiting state budget increases to population growth plus inflation. That would have saved billions of dollars, state Rep. Dale Folwell, R-Forsyth, said Friday. Instead, North Carolina budget-writers are like a driver who pushes the pedal all the way down in good years, then slams on the brakes in lean years, he added.

Zero-based budgeting is another device that would force close examination of state programs, allowing elimination of those that are ineffective.

"Zero-based budgeting would pass with over 90 votes in the House," Blust said. But it's never brought up for a vote.

Good ideas never should be suppressed just because they don't suit the elite few. If they had all the answers, my tax refund might already be stimulating the economy.