COLUMBIA, S.C. - The state Budget and Control Boards voted Thursday to delay approval of cost-of-living adjustments for state retirees for a month.

The board also said that it would not approve any new deals for building leases for three months as it tried to get a sense of how much open office space it has after budget cuts.

The retiree pay decision does not necessarily mean a delay in the July 1 increase of 2.4 percent.

The annual adjustments keep retiree pay even with inflation and have received routine approval for years. "It has never not been approved," Republican Gov. Mark Sanford said.

Sanford and others said they don't expect any reduction or delay in the retiree pay increase. But it's important to review the math behind the adjustments, Sanford and Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom said.

"You want to have real numbers," Sanford said.

The move passed on the vote of Eckstrom and Sanford, who as governor is chairman of the Budget and Control Board. State Treasurer Grady Patterson and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bobby Harrell chose not to vote and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman was in the Senate chamber when the vote was taken.

Leatherman said he would not vote to reduce or delay the increase for retirees, and Harrell said he withheld his vote as a courtesy to the governor.

Senate Minority Leader John Land, D-Manning, said a delay would create "some upset people and unhappy retirees out here."