COLUMBIA--For the third straight year, the S.C. Department of Corrections can't make ends meet.
On Thursday, officials with Corrections, the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice and the state Elections Commission are expected to seek permission from the state Budget and Control Board to operate at a combined deficit of $25 million for the fiscal year ending June 30.
Such requests are common. While the state must pass a balanced budget, agencies can get special permission from the budget board to operate programs in the red.
Corrections has been hardest hit, facing more than $21 million in deficits. Juvenile Justice and the Elections Commission face shortfalls of slightly more than $1 million and $3 million, respectively.
Nearly every state agency has been hit hard by the current budget crunch. South Carolina faces a $350 million revenue shortfall.
The S.C. House of Representatives approved the state's $5.3 billion 2004-2005 spending plan Friday, a document that slightly increases state employee pay and K-12 education spending.
House budget writers addressed the deficit through targeted cuts and the sale of some $56.7 million in surplus property. The proposed state budget reduces base appropriations to state agencies by $90 million, replacing them with $90 million in one-time funds.
The moves, however, do little to help agencies struggling this budget year.
Corrections faces its third straight year of deficits. The past two years, the agency wrestled with shortfalls of $6.6 million and $27.7 million. The department's budget of $257 million is considerably less than the past two years when it received about $282 million.
The loss of revenue comes as the agency is dealing with a growing prison system.
Officials have instituted a number of cost-saving measures, including a hiring freeze for all non-security, medical or food services personnel and producing as much food as possible in-house.
Corrections officials did not immediately return calls for comment.
Gov. Mark Sanford's spokesman Will Folks said the governor is well aware of Correction's struggles, which is why he proposed a $19 million increase in the agency budget for the 2004-2005 budget year. But as for the agency's current problem, Folks said the governor is but one vote on the five-member budget board.
The Election Commission's shortfall was the result of legislators last year not funding the June statewide primary with general fund dollars. The commission has run the statewide primaries since 1992, and this is the first time lawmakers opted not to fund the program."The thinking at the time was they would wait until later to fund this," said the commission's Executive Director Marci Andino. "It had something to do with them trying to balance the budget."
Andino said the primary is not in danger as long as the agency can operate at a deficit.
Juvenile Justice Director Bill Byars said his agency was left short this year when expected revenues fell short.
About $5.4 million from a surcharge on traffic tickets, imposed last year, was earmarked for the agency.
But the program generated only about half that amount for the Juvenile Justice Department.
Democrats have criticized the Republican architects of the 2004-2005 budget for funding too many programs with money not yet raised, fearing that a fate similar to the Juvenile Justice Department's awaits the rest of the state.
That practice, combined with changes to a couple of programs, left the agency $3 million short of their goal for the year.
"We were able to make up all but about $1 million of that with internal cuts," Byars said.
