Lawmakers insist on micromanaging local governments

South Carolina lawmakers insist that they support home rule, but those assurances mean little in the face of their interference in local matters.

Last week saw two such moves by lawmakers. In the first, state Rep. Ralph Davenport introduced a bill that would force Spartanburg County School District 2 to sell a portion of land to a Boiling Springs Fire District so that land could be used for a park.

Of course, this is a matter that should be negotiated and worked out by the school district board, the fire district and park officials. Those officials shouldn't be cut off from all decision making by a state law forcing their hand. But Davenport wants it done his way.

Spartanburg residents also found out last week that lawmakers from Laurens and Newberry counties want a say in whether Spartanburg County allows a landfill to be built in this county.

The Spartanburg County delegation was within its rights when nine members sent a resolution to the County Council opposing plans for a new landfill. They are citizens of the county and have a right, even an obligation, to voice their opinion to their elected local leaders.

But Laurens and Newberry county officials are simply interfering. They don't care how much money Spartanburg County may be able to realize through the landfill. They don't care how much Spartanburg County taxpayers have to pay.

They don't care because they don't have to pay it, which should leave them out of the debate.

Now state Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-Laurens, is working on state legislation to take the decision away from Spartanburg County, interfering not with his own local government but with someone else's. He is being assisted by state Rep. Phil Sinclair, R-Woodruff, who insists that the legislation would affect landfills across the state.

If lawmakers think there is a problem with the state's landfill permitting process, then they should fix that state system. But if they are simply trying to prevent the Spartanburg County Council from making a decision they don't like, they should butt out.

State lawmakers need to recognize that they are elected to state rather than local government. They are elected to make state laws, not local decisions. County Council members have been elected by the people of the county to make local decisions, and those choices should be left to them.