During its existence, the state's Legislative Audit Council has provided savings far greater than its budget, yet periodically has been targeted by officials who haven't been receptive to its cost-saving messages. Gov. Mark Sanford, however, has singled out the agency as one of the few to receive a substantial budget increase in the next fiscal year. The idea is to save money by spending money.

The Audit Council would receive an extra $585,570 to hire additional auditors to serve a state Sunset Commission that would operate under the LAC. The commission would be charged with regularly looking at state agencies to determine if they should be eliminated, merged, curtailed or changed in function. The governor cites the savings that similar operations have provided in Texas and Florida.

Texas' Sunset Commission has saved taxpayers $720 million since 1982, and Florida's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability has provided $443 million in savings since 1994, the governor says. Those savings have been achieved at a fraction of the agencies' cost. Texas' commission, for example, has generated $42 in savings for every $1 spent, Mr. Sanford reports in his budget.

The executive budget recommending the Sunset Commission quotes former President Ronald Reagan, who said, "Nothing lasts longer than a temporary government program." And it cites the observations of the Cato Institute, a nonpartisan public policy organization, which recommended a sunset commission at the federal level:

"Government agencies are the only organization in society that can have immortality without good performance. In the private sector, poor performers are routinely weeded out and resources shifted to more productive activities. A sunset law could help bring that same healthy process of renewal to the government sector."

The Legislative Audit Council has more experience in ferreting out waste and duplication than any other entity in state government. The recommended allocation would enable the agency to hire another 10 auditors.

The Legislature should approve the regular review of every state agency to determine how they can be operated with greater efficiency or whether they actually ought to be eliminated. The savings in Texas and Florida say that an allocation for a South Carolina Sunset Commission would be money well spent.