February 22,
2005
Reported by: Kristen Cosby
It’s a plan to make sure there’s money around for South
Carolina’s children when they grow up. News 12 met up with
Governor Mark Sanford in Barnwell this morning to find out how
he wants to get it done.
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was in Barnwell
meeting some of the people he says will lose out in the future
if the state doesn’t start paying back trust funds.
“As we all know with the tragic situation that comes
with cancer in humans, if not treated early it gets worse,”
Sanford said.
South Carolina has borrowed almost $500 million from
trust and reserve funds in the last four years. Almost $110
million of that came from the trust fund paid into Chem
Nuclear, the low level nuclear waste facility in Barnwell.
For every cubic foot of waste here Chem Nuclear pays a
surcharge, and that surcharge is what makes up their trust
fund to South Carolina. But only $23 million of that money is
in the bank right now. The trust fund is $90 million
short.
“If you say it’s a trust fund, then it’s supposed to be
there, but we use these things as piggy banks in Columbia and
I don’t think that’s an appropriate use of the trust fund,”
Sanford said.
Governor Sanford is using the state assembly to start
paying back trust funds, so South Carolina’s children will
have needed government services and a balanced budget.
Sanford’s proposed budget devotes $158 million to
paying back the borrowed money, including $35 million back to
Chem Nuclear’s fund. A plan, he says, for securing South
Carolina’s future.