Sanford, board halt state leases

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Sanford and other members of the State Budget and Control Board stopped agency property transactions for 90 days, and the governor announced he had vetoed spending $500,000 on a Statehouse law enforcement memorial.

"That's $500,000 that could go to Public Safety or the State Law Enforcement Division," Sanford said. "The notion of constantly looking at the numbers, I think, is a very, very important signal to send to all of state government because it's a signal that every small businessman sends to every one of his employees as they try and watch their dollars."

Sanford vetoed the memorial late Wednesday night but said he supports the project and is willing to help raise private funds for its construction.

"It's not a question of supporting the memorial or supporting our law enforcement community, it's a simple question of timing," he said. "Given the profound budget crisis we're up against - the worst in five decades - I believe the best way to honor these fallen heroes is to put that money directly toward pressing law enforcement needs in our state."

The announcement upset Rep. Shirley Hinson, a Goose Creek Republican and chief legislative sponsor of the memorial.

"I don't like it," she said, adding that the memorial is important to the families of those who died.

Sanford said the number of state troopers is at its lowest point in more than a decade, SLED is down 64 agents and the state's Criminal Justice Academy recently laid off 28 instructors.

But Hinson disputed Sanford's facts and said none of the money for the memorial could be used for law enforcement officers anyway. She said she hopes to persuade lawmakers to override the veto.

The memorial was approved by Gov. Carroll Campbell in 1994 and originally conceived as a privately funded project, Hinson said. But after fund-raising failed to collect the necessary money, she said, officers approached her two years ago and asked for her help.

The state's budget mess also led Sanford to persuade other board members Thursday to stop what otherwise would have been routine approval of state agency property transactions.

In one case, officials with the state's vehicle fleet operation wanted to move from downtown Columbia and a building in need of major repairs to another Columbia location for $2 million.

Sanford suggested officials look at other options, such as using a state transportation site used for off-loading new vehicles and transferring those operations to surplus prison property.

When office leases came up for the State Housing Finance and Development Authority and the Public Service Commission, Sanford again persuaded other board members to halt approval until a comprehensive study can be done of state agency leased space and whether vacant space can be better consolidated. The state leases about 3.8 million square feet of space for offices, warehouses and other government functions.

"I think the small businessman out there would find a way to place extra cars somewhere else and to use existing space in a way that state government frankly doesn't," Sanford said.

Sanford also objected to giving four state National Guard armories in Edgefield, Beaufort, Jasper and Dorchester counties to the local communities. The armories, officials said, are not used by the state and generally need repair.

The Legislature approved the transfer to local governments because they already use the structures for community projects, said Rep. Robert Harrell, one of the board's five members and chairman of the House budget-writing committee.

Sanford and Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom said they don't believe transferring the armories for free is good policy. The state should at least attempt to get money for the armories, possibly through an auction, Sanford said.

"I think some of these have raw value, just in the dirt itself," he said. "If there is no value or negligible value that would be shown on the auction block."

But Harrell, while agreeing the board should re-examine the state's policy on conveyances, said transferring the armories was an act approved by the Legislature and "is entirely appropriate."

The board voted 3-2 to approve the armories transfer, with Sanford and Eckstrom opposed.

The board also delayed approving a 2.4-percent cost of living adjustment for state retirees until next month, when officials will resubmit a financial statement of the state's pension plan including anticipated annual cost-of-living increases for future years.

The state has always granted such increases to retirees but the board decided several years ago to stop requiring that anticipated future increases be used in financial statement calculations.

Not using the information understates the pension plan's deficit, Eckstrom said.

"I don't think we're honestly reflecting what our financial position is," he said.