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Date Published: February 25, 2004
House Rural Caucus can play with the big boys
The recently announced initiative by state legislators to establish a funding pool for rural development is one with a lot of merit, particularly for our neighboring counties of Lee and Clarendon.
Spearheaded by Reps. Harry Ott, D-St. Matthews, and Jay Lucas, R-Hartsville, the pool of state money would be used to boost economic growth in the state’s poorest counties.
The two legislators, in a bipartisan effort, have reorganized the House Rural Caucus, composed of 65 representatives of both parties from the state’s smaller counties that for years haven’t received their fair share for economic development.
South Carolina’s largest, richest and most metropolitan counties, such as Greenville, Spartanburg, Richland and Charleston, have been feasting on the state’s limited resources for economic development and attracting most of the blue-ribbon industries that locate within our borders. The state Department of Commerce has eagerly pitched in while too often ignoring the needs of the rural areas.
However, there is strength in numbers, and if the newly revitalized Rural Caucus so chooses, it has the majority of votes within the 124-member House to pass favorable legislation as a bloc.
First on the agenda for this group is a rural infrastructure bank bill that would pool the state’s resources designated for rural development of water and sewer projects and add new money to total between $35 million and $40 million. Large amounts of this money would be concentrated into specific projects to get a “bigger bang for the buck.” Details of the funding still have to be worked out.
Water and sewer projects are the meat and potatoes in attracting new industry, and as Ott has described it, “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know development follows water and sewer.” Once infrastructure is in place, the industry will come.
Rural counties in the state have the highest rate of unemployment, and they deserve special attention at a time when the more prosperous counties are getting richer. Nine of the 10 counties in the state with the highest unemployment are rural, with nearby Williamsburg at the top of the list with a whopping 17 percent unemployment rate. These rural counties represent half of the state’s 46 counties.
Lee and Clarendon counties, based on the most recent economic studies, are considered among the “least developed” counties in the state, while Sumter is rated as “under developed.” If they haven’t done so already, it would behoove the local legislative delegation to join the House Rural Caucus at a time when Sumter County is receiving little respect in its efforts to improve the local economy by obtaining four-year status for USC Sumter and to retain Shaw Air Force Base during the next round of closings.
The thrust of this new initiative by Ott and Lucas is to consolidate more clout among the rural counties so they can be better heard at the legislative bargaining table when the funding pie for development is divvied up.
These poorer counties can play with the big boys if they use their votes constructively and responsibly. Our region’s legislators should join up and start making some noise, otherwise we will continue to be drowned out by the fat cat metropolitan areas.
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March 31, 2004
