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Article published May 11, 2004
State budget is still spending more than revenue
dictates
South Carolina's budget is still out of balance. Even
though the House and Senate have approved budgets that make the numbers come out
even, the state is still spending more than it expects to take in.Lawmakers say
they are balancing the budget and that they are even paying off an
unconstitutional deficit from 2002.And they have done well to do so, possibly as
well as could be done this year under the current economic situation.But the
state is still spending more money than it expects to take in. Lawmakers are
still depending on funds available only once to cover expenses they can expect
every year. They have been doing so for several years.Two years ago, the state
passed a budget that relied on taking money from special-purpose funds, such as
the cleanup fund for the Barnwell nuclear waste site, to pay for state
expenses.Last year, lawmakers used a bailout from the federal government to
cover the gap in the state budget.This year, they are planning to sell state
vehicles and land to cover the difference between the state's income and its
expenses.That may be the best the state can do at this time. But these one-time
sources of revenue will give out. Sooner or later the state must bring the
budget into true balance.State revenue will have to be increased to cover the
cost of state expenses, or state services will have to be cut to bring them in
line with state revenues.Lawmakers have been unwilling to face that task.
Instead, they have patched together the budget with temporary fixes, hoping that
next year will bring the economic growth needed to increase state revenues so
that the problem goes away.And it might. But will the legislative pattern that
created the problem also repeat itself? Will lawmakers take the economic growth
and spend it faster than it materializes? Will they add programs, growing the
size and cost of state government faster than the state can afford to bear the
burden?It appears likely. Lawmakers have yet to face up to the consequences of
the spending they approved during the growing economy. If they are successful in
riding out the economic downturn through temporary measures, they might just
return to their free-spending ways when better times arrive.