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RALEIGH — The governor and lawmakers are hoping to set aside funds for new higher education and transportation projects, despite facing a budget that has required cuts to many programs and services.

Gov. Bev Perdue used a news conference with mayors from across the state Monday to push the General Assembly to create the N.C. Mobility Fund to pay for urgent but high-cost projects such as the Interstate 85 bridge over the Yadkin River.

As proposed, the fund would take in up to $300 million per year by 2013 through a combination of fees on drivers and ending a sales-tax break on new car sales.

But at least some House members are skeptical they would agree to raise fees as residents struggle with an economy that has sent unemployment over 11 percent.

“I don’t think this is the time to enhance revenue,” said Rep. Nelson Cole, a Reidsville Democrat who plays a key role on transportation issues. “There’s no support on (either) side of the aisle to make this happen.”

And as House leaders held a public hearing on the budget Monday, dozens of speakers from across the state pleaded the case for priorities such as schools for deaf children and health care programs for the poor — all of them competitors for scarce tax money.

But Rep. Hugh Holliman, a Lexington Democrat and the House majority leader, said Cole may have overstated the objections. He said the mobility fund was still being discussed.

And Perdue said shying away from fee increases was a “political” calculation, rather than one taking into account the needs of businesses.

“I don’t know of any business, both in North Carolina now and outside North Carolina, who will ever walk away from laying down jobs in this state because of what the cost of a DOT fee is or what the cost of a registration fee is,” Perdue said when asked about objections to the fees. Those businesses, she said, would leave if they couldn’t move goods and workers about the state.

The Senate, which has already passed its version of the state budget that will take effect July 1, did not include the fund in its spending plan. But Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight said it may surface as a standalone bill.

“It may be a little bit different from what you’ve written about,” Basnight said, indicating that the Senate may look for a different way to pay for the road-building program.

Basnight has been floating a separate priority over the past two weeks. He wants the state to create a bond package that would pay for improvements to universities and community colleges across the state.

“It would have repairs and renovations, it would have some equipment for universities and community colleges, and it will have some building,” Basnight said Monday night.

He confirmed that one of the projects likely to be included in the package would help N.C. A&T’s engineering school.

He would not say how much money the bond might raise, but staffers for Basnight described the effort as “relatively small,” particularly when compared with the $3.1 billion bond passed in 2000.

Holliman said that House leaders had not seen any bond proposal so he couldn’t evaluate its chances. Perdue said Monday she would be open to a higher-education bond.

“We’ve got tremendous needs in North Carolina, tremendous needs,” Perdue said. “I’m open to all ideas...about how to do what we have to do for North Carolina’s future.”

House budget writers are due to pass their own budget proposal in the next two weeks. Then the House, Senate and Perdue would have to agree on a final version.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com