FLORENCE - Gov. Mark Sanford was in Florence on Thursday in an effort to explain how he wants to use an increase of revenue that is coming into the state’s coffers.

Standing outside Florence National Bank, Sanford said the state has $600 million of new money in its budget from an improved economy and that he expects it will swell to $800 million by May.

“If we’re not going to return more to the taxpayers, then we can return more to the (state’s) trust funds,” Sanford said, after noting that $7 million has been used for a small-business tax cut.

Sanford said for the past three years the state has borrowed from its trust funds and that 90 percent of any new money should go to pay the trust funds back.

“We’re proposing to pay back $362 million in money taken from trust and reserve funds,” Sanford said in a statement handed out at his stop.

View Gov. Sanford's Press Conference

He said current legislative budget proposals by the S.C. Senate and S.C. House pay back less than half of that.

Sen. Hugh K. Leatherman, R-Florence, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he is in favor of paying back the trust fund, but he said state funding for essential services would suffer if all new money goes to restore trust funds.

“We’re going to restore the trust fund over the next three to four years,” Leatherman said.

“If we fully restore (the trust funds) this year, we would have to take the money from education, Medicaid, state employees pay raises and a host of other critical needs facing the state,” Leatherman said.

Leatherman said he favors a budget that increases base student costs to $2,290, an increase of $315 million, or 23.6 percent.

Leatherman said the governor’s budget funds base student costs at $2,213 and that he cuts $20 million to get to that level.

Leatherman also said Sanford recommends a $5 million reduction for instructional materials in the classroom, while the Senate Finance Committee is recommending a $7.4 million increase.

Leatherman said the legislature has been fiscally responsible and provides for critical needs.

“This year’s House budget and the Senate Finance Committee budget completely restore our general reserve fund to $155 million that was emptied as we tried to keep state government operating during tough economic years,” Leatherman said in a prepared statement.

Leatherman said the House and Senate finance committees’ budget versions would pay back $35.2 million of the $129 million that was borrowed from 2002 through 2004. Leatherman said the $35.2 million is more than the $34.6 million Sanford requested in January in his executive budget.

Sanford presented charts Thursday showing that the governor’s office budget calls for $160 million in spending cuts, with the state Senate proposing $33 million in spending cuts and the House proposing $45 million in spending cuts.

Sanford’s chart showed that the Senate proposed to allocate $516 million in new spending and and the House is proposing $502 million in new spending, while both would commit $117 million in trust fund repayment. Leatherman said much of the spending the Senate advocates is for mandated services.

“I’m asking the voters to get involved,” Sanford said, when asked why he came to Florence.

He had a similar appeal in Rock Hill earlier in the day.

Leatherman said he is hearing from local voters.

“The people of Florence County make sure I hear their voices everyday,” Leatherman said.

“They say get more money into the classroom and improve education. They want us to adequately fund public safety agencies to protect their families. They want us to fund Medicaid to help seniors and other citizens who can’t afford health care.”

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