State budget reflects fiscal discipline

e-mail this story discuss this issue in our forums More details Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

In my 20-plus years serving the people of South Carolina in the General Assembly, I have never seen a budget unanimously adopted by both the House and Senate. Though minor differences will have to be worked out, the Legislature is speaking to our priorities with one voice.

Such bipartisan agreement is rare, if not unheard of, these days.

We worked with Gov. Mark Sanford to pass the Fiscal Discipline Act of 2004, which enabled us to repay the $177 million worth of deficits incurred during recessionary years. This year's version of the House and Senate budget restores the general reserve fund to $155 million. The fund was emptied while trying to keep state government operating at a basic level during the recent lean budget years.

I am proud of the work both the House and Senate have done on the budget. It is a fiscally responsible document that meets basic human needs without a tax increase.

We were forced to borrow money from state trust funds as another means to keep government operating in the worst economy since the Depression. We are now replenishing them. Both the House and Senate versions of the budget repay more to the trust funds than Gov. Sanford's executive budget recommended, and we are committed to fully restoring them over a three- or four-year period.

The reason we did not fully replenish the trust funds this year is that to do so would gut public education, public safety and Medicaid. Neither the House nor Senate was willing to do that.

Education is the cornerstone of economic development and prosperity. This budget increases the Base Student Cost (per pupil funding) by over 23 percent, or roughly $315 million, increasing the Base Student Cost to $2,290, the highest in state history. We also increased teacher pay, helping to keep quality teachers while attracting new ones to the profession. The Senate also increased the supply reimbursement for teachers, better equipping those on the front lines of education.

Our university system has been entrusted to train our work force for the knowledge-based economy. That is why higher education funding, which has been cut the pervious two budget years, received a much-needed $33 million increase. This enables us to fully fund all major scholarship programs including the LIFE, HOPE and Palmetto Fellows.

Public Safety also gets a boost in this year's budget. We fund 100 new state troopers, and over 100 positions in both the Department of Corrections and the Department of Juvenile Justice. One of the most basic duties government serves is protecting our people from those who wish to do them harm. This budget begins to address the growing need for more law enforcement on our roads and in our neighborhoods.

We have increased Medicaid funding by $40 million simply to maintain the program at its current level. Medicaid is the only safety net to meet the health-care needs of seniors and poor children. By national standards, this level of funding is by no means excessive.

And we did all of this without raising taxes; to the contrary, we cut them.

The Senate can be most proud of the fiscally responsibly manner in which we cut taxes on every small businesses in our state. Small businesses create over 80 percent of all jobs in South Carolina. I have personally spoken to many small businessmen and women who have thanked us for leveling the playing field with major corporations. Those same small businesses will plow money back into the private sector creating more jobs and more growth.

Assuring education and higher education funding is essential to maintaining a strong economy. Protecting our citizens and delivering health care to those in need are moral obligations. And delivering tax cuts for small business while paying down our debt and restoring trust funds is very important.

While there will always be nitpickers and naysayers, the fact is that 170 legislators heard from the people and reached broad agreement on a budget to meet critical needs. Anyone differing with the major thrust of our priorities might be hearing voices, but they are not the voices of working people, taxpayers and parents.