North Dakota's public colleges are getting a 21 percent increase from the Legislature in a university system budget bill that includes 5 percent limits on student tuition increases for each of the next two years.

The state House and Senate on Wednesday both approved the measure as the 2007 Legislature ground toward final adjournment. It includes $468.4 million in general fund spending over two years, an increase from the present budget of $387.1 million.

It provides money for 5 percent annual pay increases for university system workers during the next two years. The Legislature pegged the compensation package for other state employees at 4 percent in each of the next two years.

The university system budget does not include student tuition payments and other money sources that the Legislature does not control.

"This is a good budget," Rep. Frank Wald, R-Dickinson, said in a House floor speech Wednesday. "We think this is fair and balanced. I think we addressed all of the issues. Certainly we could have done more. Some people think it's too much, some people don't think it's enough."

The legislation says that if North Dakota colleges wish to raise their tuition rates more than 5 percent in each of the next two years, they will need permission from the Legislative Council's Budget Section.

The section is a 43-member committee that includes members of the House and Senate appropriations committees and legislative leaders.

Much of the general fund increase includes money for building projects and deferred maintenance expenses, computer projects and software improvements.

"We are paying for long-delayed maintenance on steam lines" at Valley City State University, Minot State University's Bottineau campus and the North Dakota State College of Science at Wahpeton, Wald said. The steam line repair expense alone is $4.1 million.

None of the money is provided by bonds, which are sold and then repaid over time. Using bonds to finance the building projects would have resulted in much smaller up-front expenditures.

Gov. John Hoeven had recommended $470.2 million for North Dakota's university system over two years. The state's general fund is financed mostly by taxes on income, sales, corporations and energy.