Senate passes budget with little debate

ROBERT W. DALTON, Staff Writer

COLUMBIA -- The Senate on Monday gave second reading to the state's $5.8 billion budget and, in the process, sent a message to Gov. Mark Sanford that it would stand strong on not allocating more money to repay trust funds.

With little debate, the Senate gave unanimous approval to the spending plan, which includes $500 million in new spending and provides $117 million to replenish $402 million taken from trust funds during recent lean years.

Sanford wants to see $360 million paid into the trust funds and said there would be a "significant problem" if the budget came to his desk in its present form.

It's now a step closer to his desk, and could inch closer today.

The Senate, which usually moves at a more leisurely pace, could give the budget its final blessing today, according to Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence.

After that, it heads to a conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions.

Then Sanford gets his crack at it.

Sen. Jim Ritchie, R-Spartanburg, said Leatherman's committee crafted a budget "that serves the taxpayers by funding priorities such as education and job creation." The committee unanimously approved the spending plan.

"To have bipartisan support for second reading sends a signal that the Senate agrees with that framework," Ritchie said.

The Senate version mirrors the House version in fully funding the Education Finance Act -- a formula that determines per pupil spending.

It also gives all state workers a 4-percent pay increase -- with law enforcement officers eligible for 2 percent to 6 percent on top of that -- and increases payments to Medicaid health care providers.

"We've met the needs of the people of this state very clearly," Leatherman said. "There's nothing more I see we can do."

Sen. Tommy Moore, D-Clearwater, who announced Saturday that he will run for governor, made the motion to give the plan second reading. He called the budget a "very sincere effort to help those who can't help themselves,"

"It's a fiscally responsible, fiscally prudent budget that sends a strong message to public education," Moore said.

Sen. Glenn Reese, D-Boiling Springs, said it's the best budget that he's been involved with in five or six years.

"The teachers could use a little more money. That's the only complaint I have with it," Reese said.

Reese said that the budget wipes out about 25 percent of the money owed to trust funds while restoring money to agencies that have seen cuts the past several years.

"You finance a car for four or five years, so we're right on target," Reese said. "Doing it the governor's way creates almost a credit card situation with agencies where they have to beg and borrow and still cut services."

Sanford spokesman Will Folks said that the "sad thing is that the credit card bill ultimately gets passed on to the taxpayers of South Carolina."

"It's pretty clear, either you're going to put the state's fiscal house in order or you're not," Folks said. "Unfortunately the current budget proposal doesn't put our fiscal house in order and the bill will be passed on."

Robert W. Dalton can be reached at 562-7274 or bob.dalton@shj.com.