RALEIGH - With a number of big deals in the North Carolina news, from Dorothea Dix to the budget surplus, N.C. Spin moderator Tom Campbell says there are more to these stories than would seem at first brush.

On the matter of Gov. Pat McCrory and Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane finally signing a deal for the city to buy the Dorothea Dix land tract, Campbell says this is only the beginning of the plan.

"The real question is what are they going to do with this park and how are they going to develop it," Campbell says. "There's lots more money to come. This is just the beginning."

Campbell says Raleigh still needs to come up with the more than $50 million needed by the end of the year to make the deal a reality. But he says he feels Raleigh will be able to come up with the money and says this is effectively a down payment.

The North Carolina Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging the legality of the state's redistricting this August. But opponents of the redistricting says this is too long of a wait. Campbell, on the other hand, says this is actually a good deal for those who want the court to hear the redistricting case.

"I think the thing that the plaintiffs were hoping for was that they could get this thing on the docket in June or July so that the Supreme Court could deliberate and make a decision and it wouldn't interfere with our elections in filing periods," Campbell says.

But with the need to look at briefs and other steps in the process, Campbell says this is about as good as the plaintiffs could have hoped for.

"When it gets right down to it, they're worried about the clock ticking and a decision not being made in time to fit within the election cycle," he says. "And I think that's a legitimate concern but the truth is the court doesn't move but just so fast."

On another matter, North Carolina has a budget surplus this year as a result of lowered spending and tax cuts over the past legislative sessions. Campbell says the question now isn't how that surplus will be spent but what the General Assembly will do next.

"The real question is what new priorities is this legislature going to fund," he says. "They're on a pretty ambitious schedule. Speaker [Tim] Moore says he's going to turn a budget out and vote on it next week."

Campbell himself says the surplus should be spent on Medicaid and education. He particularly pointed to rising tuition for schools in the UNC system as an item the surplus should address.