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Easley's plan also met with resistance from state employees, who would get a 1.5 percent cost-of-living increase and a one-time $1,000 bonus. Easley said he would like to make that bonus permanent, but he can't be sure that the economy would support it in years to come.

"It's not a question that the money isn't there," said Toni Davis, a spokeswoman for the State Employees Association, which represents 55,000 members. "It's a question of priorities."

Legislators from both parties also questioned the disparity in the raises for teachers compared with those of other state employees.

"Every year, he tries to do this to state employees," said Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam, of Apex, the House Republican leader. "I don't know who he thinks they are. They are the people who carry out the mission he assigned to them. Just because four years ago they supported someone else for governor, he ought to stop taking revenge on them."

In the 2004 election, the employees association endorsed Patrick Ballantine, Easley's Republican opponent.

Cigarette taxes have become a popular source of state revenue, according to research by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington-based nonprofit. Since 2002, 43 states, the District of Columbia and several territories increased cigarette tax rates more than 75 times.

Public health organizations, such as the American Heart Association, says Easley's proposal is not enough. Betsy Vetter, government relations director for the association's North Carolina council, said the tax would have to be at least 75 cents per pack to cause a significant decrease in youth smoking.

"We're always glad to see cigarette taxes go up," she said. "We'd just like it to be more."

(Staff writers Samiha Khanna, Kinea White Epps, Ryan Teague Beckwith and news researcher Lamara Williams contributed to this report.)

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