The state’s $22.2 billion General Fund budget on Thursday cleared the state House. Now it’s the Senate’s turn.

The budget passed 103-12, with 30 Democrats joining 73 Republican and unaffiliated members . The Senate will take up the House-passed budget and any differences would be settled in a conference committee before the final document goes to Gov. Pat McCrory.

“This bill does continue us on that path of progress in this state, moving our citizens forward,” Rep. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, and senior chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said just moments before the House took its vote.

Rep. Darren Jackson, D-Wake, was one of the Democrats who “grudgingly” voted for the budget.

“Members on our side who vote with you today are doing that to show strength in numbers to the Senate,” Jackson said. He said he had a problem with the House leaving more than $128 million on the table and unappropriated.

Dollar said the unappropriated balance was all nonrecurring — or one-time — money, and couldn’t be used for recurring spending programs, such as state employee and teacher salaries.

Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham, said tax cuts made by Republicans since the GOP gained majorities in the General Assembly have made it difficult for lawmakers to pay for necessary programs. He said many of the tax breaks have gone to wealthier taxpayers.

“The ballooning effect is there,” Luebke said. “We are taking off the table a lot of potential revenues to meet the needs of the state.”

Rep. Skip Stam, R-Wake, responded that tax cuts have gone back into the pockets of taxpayers. He said taxpayers have received $5 billion in sales tax relief since July 1, 2011.

“Because we reduced the sales tax rate by 20 percent, it’s been huge tax relief on a regressive tax,” Stam said. “Lower is better.”

The 2016-17 fiscal year budget amounts to a 2.3 percent increase over the current fiscal year’s $21.7 billion budget. That’s less than the 2.9 percent Taxpayer Bill of Rights index, which adds the state’s population increase to the inflation rate.

The budget provides a 2 percent pay increase, plus a one-time $500 bonus for full-time, permanent state employees. Retirees would get a 1.6 percent cost of living adjustment. Teachers would receive an average 4.1 percent pay increase, with some more-experienced teachers getting an increase as high as 15.1 percent.

The budget bill sets aside $300 million for the state’s rainy day fund, bringing the total in those reserves to $1.4 billion.

Lawmakers hope final negotiations on the budget can be completed and sent to McCrory before July 1, when the new fiscal year begins.