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RALEIGH — The same sour economy that has pinched family budgets will force state budget writers to be more austere as the General Assembly reconvenes this week.

Although North Carolina won't find itself facing a $1 billion shortfall as Virginia has, neither will budget writers have the flexibility to create big new programs or offer anything beyond modest tax breaks.

As various interests begin to jockey for position, few items have universal backing from both leaders in the House and Senate as well as Gov. Mike Easley's office.

"There will be more money in mental health," said Dan Gerlach, a senior adviser to Easley, who briefed reporters on the governor's budget proposal Friday.

Easley is expected to release his full budget plan at 11 a.m. Monday.

In the past year, news reports have shown numerous problems with the state's mental health safety net, both in patient care and money management. Virtually every legislator interviewed, senior leaders in the House and Senate and the governor's office agree the state will take steps to begin fixing those problems this summer.

"They're going to address those things that they can during the short session and then come back (next year) and try to get on the same page with the new governor and spend some time trying to work out some of the problems," said Bill Holmes, a spokesman for House speaker Joe Hackney.

Beyond a desire to fix problems in the mental health system and hold the line on taxes, the budget picture gets hazy.

The General Assembly will convene its short session on Tuesday. It's a work period designed to make budget adjustments and take on pressing and noncontroversial legislation.

Easley gets first whack at outlining a budget, which according to Gerlach will include "substantial" cuts to some agencies.

He would not fix a number to those cuts but emphasized Easley wanted to protect money for education and social service programs.

In fact, the governor has outlined several areas in which he wants to spend more, including expanding state funding of health insurance for lower-income children, increasing foster care payments and paying for more state-subsidized child care slots.

Easley will also propose an October sales tax holiday on home appliances rated as energy-efficient.

The governor's budget will also continue a series of salary increases aimed at bringing teacher pay to the national average, Gerlach said. The budget won't propose any major new borrowing.

Proposals to issue bonds for road construction, water and sewer projects and community colleges have been discussed by legislative leaders and study commissions.

But those interviewed for this story said that there is not yet consensus on what might be included or how much the state should borrow.

Outside the budget, local legislators say they're bracing for a fast-paced session that could be over by mid-July. Although such predictions are perennially proved overly optimistic, they affect the types of bills legislators are willing to tackle.

For example, Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, was preparing to run a bill that would have banned a certain flame-retardant chemical. But that legislation has been deemed too complex and controversial to handle in the next eight weeks.

Harrison said she was still eager to take up a bill that would give Greensboro residents the right to use protest petitions in land-use cases. If they were available, such petitions would force the City Council to approve changes to a property's legal designation by a 7-2 margin or better.

The tool is available in all other North Carolina cities but was taken away from Greensboro in 1971.

"Most of the people I talked to seem to think we need to do it," said Rep. Alma Adams, a Greensboro Democrat.

The legislation would be a local bill, a designation that usually means the rest of the General Assembly will defer to the judgment of the legislators who represent the area if there is unanimous agreement.

"Normally, with a local bill, you get a resolution from the local government that they're asking for it," said Sen. Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican who represents parts of Guilford County.

The council has not passed such a resolution.

"I don't want to say I would stand in the way, I'm just thinking in broad terms about how this would typically move forward," Berger said. "I would like to hear how the city feels about it."

Rep. Maggie Jeffus, a Greensboro Democrat, leads the 10-member Guilford County delegation. Jeffus said she hoped to call a meeting of the delegation this week to resolve the protest petition question and other items.

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